Archive for the ‘HDR’ Category:
Clinging to Life
This picture is from the rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I was there to shoot the canyon.. but the light conditions were really unforgiving for capturing the harsh contrasts in the canyon. The light was filtering through thin clouds making for ugly grey high contrast light. As I was making one last stop, the light burst from behind a cloud lighting the landscape above the rim with brilliant warm light. I scrambled to find a great foreground (there are lots of gnarly trees in the area) and set up to shoot. Since the sun was right at my back, I had to be careful not to allow my own shadow into the scene.
Since I had dramatic light and awesome skies – I knew that if I shot it as an HDR it would be a very dramatic, slightly surreal scene. This would help control the crazy contrast and would capture the skies so they would look as cool as they were in my mind’s eye.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm ISO 100, f/18, +/- 2 stops bracketed
The Box Canyon at Ouray
We stopped to see the famous Box Canyon at Ouray, CO on our way through town on Sunday afternoon. There is a set of metal stairs to get down to the floor of the canyon and the waterfall is tucked way in the back. There really isn’t a way to take a great picture of the main waterfall – but the lower waterfall can be reached by walking around the steps and down some slick rocks to get to the water level. This is where I had to climb to in order to get this picture. It was raining pretty hard outside while I was taking this – and just enough water was filtering down to make it a challenge to keep the camera dry.
Because of the huge contrast in light between the inside of the canyon and the outside of the canyon, I shot it as an HDR to get maximum dynamic range. I combined them in Photomatix Pro and did some final color correction with Adobe Lightroom.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm. ISO 100, f/20, 3 shots centering on 3 seconds
Door County Haven
Here’s an image from an architectural shoot that I did recently in Door County, WI. This is the little cabin that we stayed in for the weekend – and I was shooting it for the owner’s website. The cabin is located right in Ephraim, Wi about a block from the waterfront.
It’s surprisingly tricky to shoot architectural pictures – HDR is almost a mandatory prerequisite. The dead giveaway is that you can see out the windows – it isn’t a white bleached-out mess. The net result is a nice warm homey-looking picture that will hopefully drive more rentals for her adorable cabin. If interested in more information, the owner is on VRBO right here: http://www.vrbo.com/249849
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm. ISO 100, f/16, 1/4 sec. +/- 2 stops
By The Dawn’s Early Light
Believe it or not, I didn’t get around to downloading this image from the camera until about a week after my trip. When Heather and I were out at Whitefish Dunes at dawn, we brought my old 40D as a second camera in case Heather wanted to shoot. As the sun came up through the mist over Lake Michigan, I set up the 40D on my gigantic studio tripod (I don’t have a lightweight 2nd tripod) and tried for a sunrise shot. Since I only shot a few shots on the 40D, I forgot there were pictures on that compact flash card. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded this picture!
Technically, this was a big challenge. Shooting directly into the sun brings out the worst in a lens since lens flare can occur. I also had to contend with heavy fog that hadn’t quite burned off – which you can see along the tree line. To deal with the wild dynamic range differences between the sun and the shadowed tree line, I used a 3-stop graduated neutral density filter. I also shot three images bracketed at +2, 0, and -2 EV so they could be combined as an HDR.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 ISO 100, f/16, .6 sec. +/- 2 stops
Venice Skyline
This isn’t the standard view of Venice – it’s nowhere near the Grand Canal. It’s back in one of the neighborhoods and the shot was taken out the window of the apartment we stayed in. It was a cool spot – because real Venetians lived around us. It was November – so it was pretty cold outside when we were there. It was probably about 40 degrees and it rained quite a bit later that day. Fortunately it wasn’t enough to trigger Venice’s legendary floods.
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm, ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/100 sec.
Keeping Cinque Terre Safe
As you walk down the final parts of the Via del Amore’ in Cinque Terre into Monterosso, if you look on the left at the base of the castle you see a cool bit of history left over from World War II. During WWII, the Germans built the low rounded bunker to defend the coastline against invasion. I’m not really sure why – you’d be insane to try to invade the rough territory of Cinque Terre. It obviously must be to protect the wonderful seafood, pesto, and wine from the region. There’s nothing to see inside the bunker – but it’s amazing how cramped it is. It would not be fun fighting a battle from inside of there!
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 @ 17mm, ISO 200, f/10.0, .008sec.
The Fall Glow
One of my favorite location is on the backwaters of the Mississippi just across from downtown Minneapolis. This spot is on the iron railroad bridge leading from Nicollet Island to Boom Island. This was taken on a gray fall day over my lunch hour – and I was on a photowalk with my co-workers. This shot was processed with Photomatix to boost the skies and the color so that it has a surreal look.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/200 sec.
Palazzo Communale
Siena is one of the real gems of Italy. It’s got the most eye-popping cathedral in Italy bar none. It’s got a great medieval feel. And, it’s got the perfect piazza. That’s the town square – not a dish with crust, sauce and cheese – though I’m sure you can get a good one of those there too. This is the Palazzo Communale – located right on Piazza del Campo.
We spent Thanksgiving, 2007 in Siena. My Thanksgiving dinner that year was cingale – that’s wild boar to you. I can see making a tradition out of that..
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 @ 17mm. ISO 100, f/7.1, .0099sec average exposure for a three shot HDR.
The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
In honor of Elden who loves religous architecture – I’m doing back-to-back churches after yesterday’s shot of St. Peter’s Cathedral. This is the the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, located rather obviously in Assisi. It was raining like crazy when this shot was taken – I had to whip the camera out and fire quickly before getting too wet. We did a quick day trip to Assisi from Siena – and had a great day of touring in spite of the rain.
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/4 sec.
Every Rose Has Its Storms
I really can’t believe it didn’t storm up into something nasty last night – it was Africa-hot around my house last evening. The skies looked pretty nasty right around sunset, too – so I had to run out and shoot SOMETHING! Being that I was watching the little ones – I was pretty limited on what I could do. I was going for an HDR with the roses in the front and the nasty sky in the back. It didn’t come out exactly how I wanted – but I still like it. It’s really tough to get the sky looking like that!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm ISO 100, f/16, +/- 2 stops HDR