High Dynamic Range image processing - Is it getting an undeserved bad rap?

High Dynamic Range photography, or “HDR” as it’s known by those familiar with the technique is basically the process of merging various exposures of a subject into a single “merged” image.  This merged image typically contains image fine detail in the extreme highlights, mid-tones, and shadow areas.

With a light touch, the technique gives photographers the ability to capture scenes that would be impossible to capture with a single exposure. For example, balancing scenes consisting of varying daylight and incandescent light sources. The technique essentially gives photographers the ability to represent in an image the dynamic range that we’re able to capture with our eyes but typically not with our cameras.

But with great power… (More after the jump...)

It's not how good you are, but how good you want to be...

One of the things I find myself saying during my workshops and seminars is that, "it's not how good you are, but how good you want to be."

Well, in 2010 I am going to stop reading my press clippings and get this ball rolling. Over this past year watching the [M] School take shape, I have really found that I have a passion for helping people.  Well, I knew this already, but the more I do it, the more I like it. I have always enjoyed helping others master something new and challenging and, truth told, I should have been a teacher of some sort.  Mom knew it too.  She always said..."if you know something well enough to teach it someone else, you know it really well..and you know it well!"  (She also sent me out to 'get some fresh air' as the universal remedy for what-ever might have been ailing me... thanks Mom.  I suppose fresh air is better than Windex).

This year I am going to really focus on motivating and inspiring people, and encouraging them to step up and reach beyond their self-imposed boundaries.

I'm not messing around. No more wasting time, no more excuses. I am all about helping others, busting free and having fun at the same time. A reputation of changing peoples lives will precede me. 

I have a lot on my plate for 2010 and a lot to share...I hope you'll stick around to listen to, watch and read my stories. Thanks in advance for following along.

A fresh look

When evaluating your images after a shooting session or correcting a photo in post processing, be sure to take frequent breaks and come back later. Looking at your work with fresh eyes will let you see problems you might have overlooked.

Saved by RAW...

Or... How not to BLOW IT!  And if you do, how to make sure you can recover....

There is constant chatter about which file format should be used when creating digital images..  Jpeg?  RAW?  TIFF?  Which is better and why?

Well... it depends.

Few people capture directly to TIFF, so let's leave that out for now.  By far the most common choice is jpeg.  It's easy to share, has very small file sizes and in general requires less work from camera to computer to output (print, web or computer display).  Jpeg's are the result of the camera's automatic processing of the raw data captured by the camera sensor.  A lot of highlight and shadow information the captured by sensor is discarded during this processing as camera's cpu deems it unimportant to the image.  This brings us to the jpegs biggest drawback..  If you want to use some of the information in post production to bring up detail in the shadows or highlights, you can't.. it's on the cutting room floor.

So you need to be dead on with exposure and white balance because there is very little room to work with a jpeg image in post processing.

On the other hand, the RAW file format is, as it's name would lead you to believe, the raw data the camera's sensor has captured....all of it, nothing is discarded.  This leaves a genrous amount lattitude in post processing techniques to utilize the additional information for creative reasons, like High Dynamic Range processing, Double RAW processing or just extending the dynamic range in the image.  Or, to save your butt when you screw up!

As an example..  I live on the Great South Bay.  I see lots of Sea Gulls, plenty of sparrows, an occasional Osprey or Egret but rarely an in-land bird of prey...  So when I spotted a Sharp Shinned Hawk perched in pines at the back end of my property, I immediately grabbed the camera.  But I the last time I had used the D300 I was doing bracketed sets of the Christmas tree and I had unknowingly left the settings that way.  Well, sunlit medium bright bird on a predominately neutral back ground...might need some exposure compensation... long story short, I blew it, I dialed over the bracket set and blew out the image...

If it weren't for having shot in RAW the image would have been trash..if this was my daughter at a dance recital I would be dead meat...  But shooting RAW saved the day..  Below is the before and after...  Not an award winning image, but it proves the point..

A gem of a place...

Elizabeth A.Mortons National Wildlife Refuge is a gem of a place to experience the beauty of nature and it's wildlife.  Each winter I make a few trips out to Mortons to commune with and photograph the avian inhabitants as I did this weekend.  This is one of the few places where feeding the birds is not only allowed but encouraged.  It is quite common to see a Black Capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse or Downy Woodpecker feeding right from a visitors out-stretched palm!

 

The photographic opportunities should become obvious.  But it's a wonderful place to visit with the family if only for a an hour or so.  Other inhabitants of the Reserve are Wild Turkey, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, White Tailed Deer, Northern Cardinals and countless other species.  Put it on your list of places to visit on Long Island.


More images from Mortons can be seen here!!

Maximizing the iPhone's camera with some great apps

In my eyes, Apple has hit a home run with the iPhone.  Not too long ago I would not leave home without a cell phone, a palm pilot and a USB memory stick on me.  The iPhone has rolled all these devices into one.. and.. sports a pretty good digital camera as well.

Pretty safe to say that the best camera is the one you have with you, so being able to create and edit images using the iPhone's awesome display and then instantaneously upload and share images right from the iPhone changes the way we communicate and stay in-touch.  But gone are the days of crappy thumb-nail sized camera-phone images!!  The iPhone is an awesome camera and with the addition of a few simple and inexpensive apps we can document and share moments of magic with relative ease.  Here a just a few of my current favorite iPhone apps..


Snapture from Snapture Labs 

This is a multi-function app.  It has a burst mode that allows for three images to be taken in quick succession along with a leveling aid to help you align your horizons and some decent filter effects that allow for black and white captures, sepia or creative colorizing.  But my favorite feature stacks thumbnails of the images you capture off to the side of the display so you can review them before saving.  Or just tap the Snapture logo at the top of the screen to auto save them.

Includes integration with FaceBook and Twitter
Available in the App Store for $1.99.

PhotoGene from Omer Shoor 

There has a lot of hype around the PhotoShop iphone app but I was left cold with it's lack of features.  Seemed like Adobe had to get into the app game, but did a really weak job at it.  My heart skipped a beat when I purchased PhotoGene and found a true histogram, Levels and Exposure adjustments and sharpness filters.  This is my first stop for image post processing.

It includes the most robust set of instructions and tips I have seen on any app.   Not the cheapest app for post processing of images ($2.99 in the App Store) especially when the PhotoShop app is a freebie, but it is absolutely worth the few dollars.

GorillaCam by Joby 

This app is from the makers of very useful Gorilla Pod line of portable and flexible mini-tripods.. and there is now a model that is designed specifically for the iPhone called the GorillaMobile!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite apps! 

Like many other camera apps it has a PressAnyWhere mode that makes the entire iPhone screen a shutter release so you don't have to hunt for the tiny release button Apple includes in their camera app, but it has a host of really cool, unique and useful features..  A bubble level and grid line overlays help with keeping your images straight and the grid adheres to the compositional guide called the Rule of Thirds.  There is a Self Timer feature, the three shot burst and the continuous unlimited rapid fire capture at 1.6 frames per second.  These features work best when combined with the GorillaMobile tripod to keep the phone steady.  But my favorite feature is the Time Lapse which can be set to capture up to 200 images hands free, with an interval of from one second to two minutes between captures!

I have few more apps that I find extremely useful for capture and editing iPhone images and helping with general photography.. stop back for the next install!!

And, we go! Welcome to my blog!

2010 has just been launched and so has the e[M]otion i[M]ages blog!

Choosing a first blog post is challenging as it can set the theme for all to come.  I was at a loss for what to do...until today..

A few months ago a friend and fellow photographer sent me a link to the Audubon Magazine's annual Natures Best photo competition.  Audubon magazine is the Nat Geo to the birding community and it's images are created by some of the worlds best photogs.   I toiled over which images I could submit..after all, I love photographing birds and I have thousands of bird images to choose from.  I narrowed it down to four I thought were the best I had to offer and sent them off well ahead of the October 2009 deadline and waited for a response..and waited...and waited.

A few months later I recv'd an email thanking me for my submission which I assumed was the thanks-but-not-thanks and I promptly forgot about the contest.  Until today..

Another friend emailed me that he had come across two of my images among the top 100 images submitted!!  There were over 16,000 images from well over 2,500 photogs around the world and 100 were selected for publication in Audubon Mag's online publication, and I had two images chosen!!

Follow the link to Audubon Magazine...  If you float you cursor over the images in the montage they will expand larger. 

You can click on the above images and be taken directly to my web gallery...

So, I didn't win anything big, but I sure got some bragging rights!!

In any event...this will serve as a means of keeping those interested updated with what's going on..track the progress of my photography exploits, share family events and just be a dumping ground for my mental ramblings.  Check back often...and feel free to leave comments!!