I took part in the annual Fleetwood Wreck Trek today, a six mile walk over the sands of Morecambe Bay with guided visits to the Wyre Light (an abandoned lighthouse) and the site of Stella Marie wreckage on North Wharf Sands. When I got back I discovered that most of my shots of the lighthouse were terrible, which didn't surprise me as it was raining when we got there and the sky was dull and flat, but what did surprise me though is how much my legs ached - I obviously need to get off my bum a bit more often :-)
Anyway, my shots of what's left of the Stella Marie wreck were also pretty hopeless, but I did shoot a series of shots of this structure. As with most of my recent HDRs, this one was constructed from a seven shot sequence using Photomatix Pro.
I'll take another look of the shots I took of the Wyre Light, and the wreck, and will post something tomorrow if I can salvage any of them.
Greg: no, this one was shot with my 1Ds Mark II. I did think about taking the G9, but as it was raining I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea as it's not weather-proof.
comment byowen-b at 09:30 PM (GMT) on 29 June, 2008
See this is just the right side of 'crazy' when it comes to HDR. It's evidently not a straight photo, but it's not got the overblown (slash, interesting, depending on your taste!) detail that HDR has become associated with. The colours of the object are fantastic, although the more I look at it, the more I feel the very colourful larger end of the objects seems inconsistent with the overall relatively subdued tones of the sand, water and clouds.
The other day I decided to have a look at Photomatix again and in terms of the more restrained look see what I could achieve myself, so it's nice to see one that's in the same vein. I think the big thing that maybe many people might miss is that these shots aren't just skilled use of HDR tools, but also masks and curves. It's getting those masks right that takes all the effort - at least, it is in my case!
comment by Jack at 09:55 PM (GMT) on 29 June, 2008
i miss the imperfectness
comment byJosef Renklint at 11:32 PM (GMT) on 29 June, 2008
Gorgeous. I need to read up on HDR, looks pretty cool.
Excellent - I saw this in the distance as I approached the Stella Marie, but was too lazy to head over there! Wonderful sky and colour, as always. Just going through my shots now but, as you said, the weather was pretty poor at the Wyre Light.
On a side-note, I should've come and said hello today - I was walking almost alongside you as we approached Fleetwood but wasn't sure if it was you or not!
comment byDave Carrington at 12:24 AM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
You lazy git: I'll give you a call next time we're out & about! :-):-)
Nice shot by the way...
comment byDigi - Alistair at 01:12 AM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
Sorry I did not make it today Dave. We did it last year as you know and the weather was a whole lot better than today. But as you discovered there is some interesting stuff out there.
Like this shot makes the best of a not very god day.
comment byClaus at 10:12 AM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
Looks like a iron giant laying covered in sand, looking upwards at the dark clouds!
comment by RD at 04:49 PM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
Could you tell us laymen what we're looking at? I can't for my life figure this out. The dimensions seem all wrong for the background. What is it?
Great as always :-)
I'm just thinking about so many exposures... For me is seems three exp. are enough, so what is the big difference? Is it more soft at the end or it isn't just exposure what did change..?
I'm just curious:-) ...and I am lazy too - my tripod is getting dusty;-)
comment byJesse Moscoe at 07:32 PM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
owen: thanks, and as I've mentioned previously, this way of using HDR software is much more my style than the over the top look of some of the recent stuff I've put up.
Jack: my apologies, but I'm not sure what you mean.
Josef: you could take a look at our tutorials. I'm currently working on a series of HDR tutorials of which part one and part two have already been published.
pete: sorry I missed you, and I was really glad I did walk over to this as it's probably the only decent one I did get.
Dave: yes, give me a call - I definitely need the exercise :-)
Alistair: give me a shout when you've got some free time.
RD: I suspect it's a bit of an old boat, and in case you can't work out the dimensions it's only about 12" high; i.e. I shot it from as low to the ground as I could get.
Tom: the most important thing with an HDR sequence is to make sure that you capture the full dynamic range of the original scene; i.e. no shadow or highlight clipping. If you can do that with three shots then there's not much point in shooting more. That said, the option to alter the number of bracketed exposures with the 1Ds Mark II is only available when you have the camera hooked up to a computer so I can't change it in the field.
comment by Martin at 09:38 PM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
Very nice Dave as always.
On my LCD there seems to be some serious banding going on in the sky at least towards the top of the image. Is this something the HDR-processing adds?
comment by Martin at 09:40 PM (GMT) on 30 June, 2008
Hmm. The banding is gone now. Strange. I swear it was really obvious earlier.
Martin: I can't see it on my screen, and it's certainly not visible in the high res' version, so suspect it was probably a temporary glitch at your end.
comment byXavier Rey at 12:39 AM (GMT) on 1 July, 2008
good work !!
comment by eve at 01:09 AM (GMT) on 1 July, 2008
you work such magic with landscapes. this is just breath taking.
i do find myself wondering how large this item really is..... i am guessing about the size of a bus.
comment byCybasumo at 09:29 AM (GMT) on 1 July, 2008
i like this photo! this is one of the most unique i have seen!
comment by Martin at 04:48 PM (GMT) on 1 July, 2008
I took part in the annual Fleetwood Wreck Trek today, a six mile walk over the sands of Morecambe Bay with guided visits to the Wyre Light (an abandoned lighthouse) and the site of Stella Marie wreckage on North Wharf Sands. When I got back I discovered that most of my shots of the lighthouse were terrible, which didn't surprise me as it was raining when we got there and the sky was dull and flat, but what did surprise me though is how much my legs ached - I obviously need to get off my bum a bit more often :-)
Anyway, my shots of what's left of the Stella Marie wreck were also pretty hopeless, but I did shoot a series of shots of this structure. As with most of my recent HDRs, this one was constructed from a seven shot sequence using Photomatix Pro.
I'll take another look of the shots I took of the Wyre Light, and the wreck, and will post something tomorrow if I can salvage any of them.
Did you shoot this with the cannon G9
Greg: no, this one was shot with my 1Ds Mark II. I did think about taking the G9, but as it was raining I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea as it's not weather-proof.
See this is just the right side of 'crazy' when it comes to HDR. It's evidently not a straight photo, but it's not got the overblown (slash, interesting, depending on your taste!) detail that HDR has become associated with. The colours of the object are fantastic, although the more I look at it, the more I feel the very colourful larger end of the objects seems inconsistent with the overall relatively subdued tones of the sand, water and clouds.
The other day I decided to have a look at Photomatix again and in terms of the more restrained look see what I could achieve myself, so it's nice to see one that's in the same vein. I think the big thing that maybe many people might miss is that these shots aren't just skilled use of HDR tools, but also masks and curves. It's getting those masks right that takes all the effort - at least, it is in my case!
i miss the imperfectness
Gorgeous. I need to read up on HDR, looks pretty cool.
Excellent - I saw this in the distance as I approached the Stella Marie, but was too lazy to head over there! Wonderful sky and colour, as always. Just going through my shots now but, as you said, the weather was pretty poor at the Wyre Light.
On a side-note, I should've come and said hello today - I was walking almost alongside you as we approached Fleetwood but wasn't sure if it was you or not!
You lazy git: I'll give you a call next time we're out & about! :-):-)
Nice shot by the way...
Sorry I did not make it today Dave. We did it last year as you know and the weather was a whole lot better than today. But as you discovered there is some interesting stuff out there.
Like this shot makes the best of a not very god day.
Looks like a iron giant laying covered in sand, looking upwards at the dark clouds!
Could you tell us laymen what we're looking at? I can't for my life figure this out. The dimensions seem all wrong for the background. What is it?
Great as always :-)
I'm just thinking about so many exposures... For me is seems three exp. are enough, so what is the big difference? Is it more soft at the end or it isn't just exposure what did change..?
I'm just curious:-) ...and I am lazy too - my tripod is getting dusty;-)
Crazy awesome!
owen: thanks, and as I've mentioned previously, this way of using HDR software is much more my style than the over the top look of some of the recent stuff I've put up.
Jack: my apologies, but I'm not sure what you mean.
Josef: you could take a look at our tutorials. I'm currently working on a series of HDR tutorials of which part one and part two have already been published.
pete: sorry I missed you, and I was really glad I did walk over to this as it's probably the only decent one I did get.
Dave: yes, give me a call - I definitely need the exercise :-)
Alistair: give me a shout when you've got some free time.
RD: I suspect it's a bit of an old boat, and in case you can't work out the dimensions it's only about 12" high; i.e. I shot it from as low to the ground as I could get.
Tom: the most important thing with an HDR sequence is to make sure that you capture the full dynamic range of the original scene; i.e. no shadow or highlight clipping. If you can do that with three shots then there's not much point in shooting more. That said, the option to alter the number of bracketed exposures with the 1Ds Mark II is only available when you have the camera hooked up to a computer so I can't change it in the field.
Very nice Dave as always.
On my LCD there seems to be some serious banding going on in the sky at least towards the top of the image. Is this something the HDR-processing adds?
Hmm. The banding is gone now. Strange. I swear it was really obvious earlier.
Martin: I can't see it on my screen, and it's certainly not visible in the high res' version, so suspect it was probably a temporary glitch at your end.
good work !!
you work such magic with landscapes. this is just breath taking.
i do find myself wondering how large this item really is..... i am guessing about the size of a bus.
i like this photo! this is one of the most unique i have seen!
Yes Dave, everything looks just fine now!
Thanks all.
Eve: it was about 3' long and 12" high :-)
This is gorgeous. I don't know what it is or if it's real.. .I just love it. Crazy.
It is a fine scenery. Excellent colors and sharpness. Well done!
Fantastic image! Will get my vote for Photo Friday (metal)!