Archive for October, 2009
Engagement Photos
92 years ago
by JR
in Photography
We have been putting this off forever. We needed to get a photo of us for the local papers back home in Mississippi. We are still trying to figure out which shot to use. I was also using the 10 second timer. It took us forever to take all the photos. We set up on a bench at the top of a hill and it seemed like everyone and their mother wanted to walk in front of the camera. I think these came out okay, but I could probably process them a little better.
Been wanting to try this shot since I first saw it done.
We have hit the real count down now. We have 27 days until we leave for Paris. Everything is almost ready for our trip. We have about 10 more boxes that we need to get shipped. We also need to clear our the rest of furniture. I have already donated a bunch of books to the school and still have some more that I need to get rid of. We need to take care of some financial matters as well. We still need to send more money home and get some Euros as well. The rate has been dropping and we are happy, but we are still only going to send enough money home for the next couple of months. I also need to go apply for my pension refund. My goal is to have everything taken care of before my last week. I really want to be able to relax and just go to school. That only gives us about 3 weeks to get everything done.
With only 3 weekends left we really don’t have that much time to socialize either. I have plans on Saturday to head to the Suwon festival at Hwasung. I also have planned to meet up with some friends for the next few weekends as well. JJ still needs to see some family before we leave, so that basically leaves us with no more free weekends. I am chomping at the bits to get home and can’t believe that it is almost time.
HDR Tutorials and Examples
52 years ago
by JR
in Photography
Wiki defines HDR photography as
In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques or photographic prints. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to represent more accurately the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.
Love it or hate it, HDR photography has gained in popularity over the past few years. I think with the increased quality of today’s cheaper point and shoots and more and more people getting into photography this type of style has become immensely popular.
You can check out this tutorial from Motely Pixel:
You can also check out some other tutorials here:
Vanilla Days -Check out Pete Carr’s tutorial and you can also buy his book that he wrote with Robert Correll here. This looks like the best tutorial that I have checked out. I have already bookmarked it and will come back later to spend some time to check it out.
I follow Stuck in Cutoms a photoblog written by Trey Ratrliff. Most of his work is HDR. Check out his blog for some good examples of HDR photography. He also has a How-To book that you can purchase here.
Speckboy Design- A list of 19 tutorials.
This is pretty much what I do:
- Use a tripod
- Turn autofocus off
- Don’t use auto balance
- Use the A/V mode on my Canon 40D
- Set my camera to 10 second delay or use my shutter release cable
- Set camera to continuous shooting
- Take 3 shots with the E/V meter set at 2 stops apart.
- Merge in Photomatix, although I have been merging in Photoshop lately
- Tonemap in Photomatix
- Correct and sharpen in Photoshop
I have had pretty good luck. I don’t like the too over the top effect, but some photographers love this style and it is their niche.
There are hundreds if not thousands of HDR groups on Flickr. I few that I regularly check out.
I like what Scott Kelby, whose has literally written the book on Photoshop, wrote in his CS4 for Digtial Photography book:
I was teaching a Photoshop seminar, and I asked the crowd for a show of hands, “How many of you shoot HDR photos?” hands went up alol ov er the room. then I asked,”How many of you use Photomatix Pro to process your photos?” Not a single hand went down. Everybody chuckled, but it speaks volumes. Everybody I know shooting HDR uses Photomatix Pro because it’s vastly better and easy to use.
You can check out Photomatix’s website here. It is fairly cheap and a great program to do your tone mapping.
It can be way over done. I really don’t like when the effect is taken to a cartoon like quality or as Scott Kelby says, “the Harry Potter effect’, but it is a style that I like for scenic settings and especially clouds at sunset. I love the way it captures the available light.
Cosplay Photography| Seoul, South Korea
02 years ago
I attended this festival a few months ago in Seoul. I have started to go back and reprocess some of the images. I am trying some of the new actions for Photoshop that I downloaded recently. I actually have a hard-drive full of images that I want to go back and reprocess. This festival is held every couple of months and is usually held at the A.T. Center near Gangnam. There are always tons of photographers and a little crowded, but it is still a good time.
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