I've still got quite a few shots to post from my trip to Austin (TX) but thought I'd post this one first. It's one of two images I shot yesterday, both of which were taken on Blackpool beach: facing south towards the South Pier. And in case you're wondering about the processing ... I was out shooting with a one-to-one client who wanted to learn more about shooting and processing HDR images so shot a range of brackets, including a few like this one that included the sun.
When I ran this sequence through Photomatix though I wasn't especially happy with any of the tone mapped variants I came up with so decided to manually blend three of the original exposures (the darkest shot, two EV lighter, and two EV lighter again). The net result is a rather moody, dark image, but given that the sky contained a lot of interesting detail I'm happy with the end result.
If you hover your mouse over the 'show the original' link (bottom-right of the image) you'll see the three shots I used to construct the final version.
captured camera lens focal length aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO flash image quality RAW converter image editor plugins (etc) cropped?
Very dramatic! It's like beginning of doomsday in Blackpool!! ... ;-)
comment bybrooks at 04:12 PM (GMT) on 11 February, 2011
Very good. I must say, I think as a rule I definitely prefer blended exposures as to HDR these days. I can't remember the last time I put something through photomatix and was happy with the result. This is a great case and point.
comment bydjn1 at 04:18 PM (GMT) on 11 February, 2011
Thanks Christiane.
Brooks: I still use Photomatix, particularly when the light are dark areas are distributed throughout the scene, but for shots like this I think I prefer manual blending as a) it's relatively straightforward to do, and b) can often result in a more dramatic and plausible image.
comment byCarlos Garcia at 04:56 PM (GMT) on 11 February, 2011
What a pleasant surprise! Yes, a "brooding" kind of image, but in a fantastic sort of way. Beautiful.
comment by Hazel Edmunds at 07:12 PM (GMT) on 11 February, 2011
Amazing...love it... :)
comment byDan Kaufman at 02:40 AM (GMT) on 12 February, 2011
Excellent B&W !!
comment byRobert at 03:30 AM (GMT) on 12 February, 2011
I'm going to fall squarely in the manual blend camp. Brooding, yes. I still think it does a good job of portraying the sun through the clouds view that's bad for the eyes but fun to look at anyway.
comment byJessica Sweeney at 11:43 PM (GMT) on 12 February, 2011
Quite an arresting image. What is that figure on the right? It resembles a person, but looks much too large, proportionally speaking.
comment byPau Blasi at 09:43 AM (GMT) on 14 February, 2011
I love this HDR because it has a natural result, not those artifacts that appear when using this technique in an excessive way. Great work!
I've still got quite a few shots to post from my trip to Austin (TX) but thought I'd post this one first. It's one of two images I shot yesterday, both of which were taken on Blackpool beach: facing south towards the South Pier. And in case you're wondering about the processing ... I was out shooting with a one-to-one client who wanted to learn more about shooting and processing HDR images so shot a range of brackets, including a few like this one that included the sun.
When I ran this sequence through Photomatix though I wasn't especially happy with any of the tone mapped variants I came up with so decided to manually blend three of the original exposures (the darkest shot, two EV lighter, and two EV lighter again). The net result is a rather moody, dark image, but given that the sky contained a lot of interesting detail I'm happy with the end result.
If you hover your mouse over the 'show the original' link (bottom-right of the image) you'll see the three shots I used to construct the final version.
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
image editor
plugins (etc)
cropped?
Canon 5D Mark II
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
16mm
f/11.0
1/8000, 1/2000, & 1/500
manual
n/a
evaluative
100
no
RAW
Camera Raw
Photoshop CS5
none
minor
Very dramatic! It's like beginning of doomsday in Blackpool!! ... ;-)
Very good. I must say, I think as a rule I definitely prefer blended exposures as to HDR these days. I can't remember the last time I put something through photomatix and was happy with the result. This is a great case and point.
Thanks Christiane.
Brooks: I still use Photomatix, particularly when the light are dark areas are distributed throughout the scene, but for shots like this I think I prefer manual blending as a) it's relatively straightforward to do, and b) can often result in a more dramatic and plausible image.
What a pleasant surprise! Yes, a "brooding" kind of image, but in a fantastic sort of way. Beautiful.
Amazing...love it... :)
Excellent B&W !!
I'm going to fall squarely in the manual blend camp. Brooding, yes. I still think it does a good job of portraying the sun through the clouds view that's bad for the eyes but fun to look at anyway.
Quite an arresting image. What is that figure on the right? It resembles a person, but looks much too large, proportionally speaking.
I love this HDR because it has a natural result, not those artifacts that appear when using this technique in an excessive way. Great work!