A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
areas block up.
At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
one these occasions.
So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
Ken Hall wrote:
> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
> scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
> what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
> shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
> content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
> of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
> exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
> comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
> the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
> areas block up.
>
> At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
> exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
> now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>
> I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
> range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
> one these occasions.
>
> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
>
> -- Ken
Gradient filter?
Shoot at dusk?
Avoid he problem by composing the shot differently?
timeOday wrote:
> Ken Hall wrote:
>> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
>> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
>> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
>> scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
>> what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
>> shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
>> content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
>> of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
>> exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
>> comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
>> the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
>> areas block up.
>>
>> At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
>> exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
>> now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>> I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
>> range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
>> one these occasions.
>>
>> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
>> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
>>
>> -- Ken
>
> Gradient filter?
>
> Shoot at dusk?
>
> Avoid he problem by composing the shot differently?
>
"Ken Hall" <kenhall2REMOVE@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:qbfo13tfg5ekhnbak8un9ti07qss38t2lv@4ax.com...
>
> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
> scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
> what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
> shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
> content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
> of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
> exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
> comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
> the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
> areas block up.
>
> At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
> exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
> now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>
> I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
> range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
> one these occasions.
>
> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
>
> -- Ken
You don't say what camera you're shooting with, but if you have RAW mode
available, try adjusting the exposure to capture the highlights, then
process the raw file twice (or three times) to push the exposure up 1 to 2
stops, in 16 bit space, then transfer to Photoshop. You will probably find
the shadows have noise, so it may be desirable to apply noise reduction to
the image(s) with increased exposure before layering the images with masks
to select the best portions of each, as in a true multi-shot HDR process.
Often, you will find that resulting image has rather low contrast, since you
have effectively squeezed 8 -9 stops of exposure into 6 stops. You can
enhance the contrast, with a technique called local contrast or haze
removal. Duplicate the combined layers, apply USM with amount = 50%,
threshold = 0 and R = 20 to 100 (let the preview screen be your guide).
Then adjust the opacity of the sharpened layer (50% - 80% is usually enough
to get pleasing contrast). If you find halos around high contrast edges
area to be a distraction, simply duplicate the sharpened layer, set the
blend mode to darken, set the first sharpened layer blend mode to lighten
and adjust layer opacity independently. Usually setting the darken layer to
about 60 - 80% and the lighten layer to 10 - 30 % will yield good results.
Set the histogram to luminance mode and check for excessive clipped shadows
or highlights while making the adjustments. Flatten the layers, resize is
you normally do and then apply normal USM appropriate to your output.
Regards, David "Routemeister Thompson http://picasaweb.google.com/david.routemeister
"Ken Hall" <kenhall2REMOVE@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:qbfo13tfg5ekhnbak8un9ti07qss38t2lv@4ax.com...
>
> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
> scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
> what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
> shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
> content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
> of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
> exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
> comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
> the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
> areas block up.
>
> At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
> exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
> now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>
> I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
> range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
> one these occasions.
>
> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
>
> -- Ken
On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:51:46 -0500, Ken Hall
<kenhall2REMOVE@houston.rr.com> wrote:
>
>A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
>condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
>http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
>scornful way, They show poor technique."
Without wanting to sound mean, the blowouts & CA in the upper half of
the image do look pretty nasty.
> By this they mean, if I knew
>what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
>shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
>content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
>of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
>exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
>comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
>the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
>areas block up.
Yep. It's a standard dilemma.
>At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
>exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
>now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>
>I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
>range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
>one these occasions.
>
>So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
>this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
If you can sit the camera on something solid & use a cable release,
you can bracket your exposures without a tripod. Alternatively, a
carefully exposed RAW format image can be tweaked to give you a final
dynamic range approaching what you can get with bracketing.
--
W "Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them."
. | ,. w ,
\|/ \|/ Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
"Ken Hall" <kenhall2REMOVE@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
newsopo13tj0vsntgu1iacuf57mm59hbdoujq@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:01:48 -0400, "John Smith"
> <shotbred@sneiorglobe.com> wrote:
>
>>Shoot raw and expose to the right?
>
> Wouldn't you have to move the histogram to the left, since the
> highlight are blowing out?
>
> -- Ken
Ken Hall <kenhall2REMOVE@houston.rr.com> writes:
> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg. They say, in a
> scornful way, They show poor technique." By this they mean, if I knew
> what the hell I was doing I could capture the full dynamic range of
> shots like this. I did not post the image for a critique of its
> content, composition, or appearance, but to illustrate a type of shot
> of mine that gets this, I would call it ridicule, because of over
> exposed skies. I take quite a few shots in deep forest were the sky
> comes through the trees. If I expose for the areas of deep forest,
> the sky is blown out. If I try to keep the sky, the main interest
> areas block up.
>
> At first I thought these comments were simply wannabees with an
> exaggerated view of their knowledge, but I've gotten it enough times
> now to make me wonder if I'm missing something.
>
> I know the technique for using multiple exposures to widen dynamic
> range, but as far as I know this requires a tripod, which I don't have
> one these occasions.
>
> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
The Zone System is technique designed to let you control the dynamic
range of an image. You may want to look at: http://hannemyr.com/photo/zonesystem.html
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://hannemyr.com/photo/ ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sigma SD10, Kodak DCS460, Canon Powershot G5, Olympus 2020Z
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Apr 11, 11:51 am, Ken Hall <kenhall2REM...@houston.rr.com> wrote:
> A few people who fancy themselves armature photographers have made
> condescending remarks about pictures of mine similar to this
> http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1690/blownfc3.jpg.
>
> So, my question is, does anyone know of a technique that will capture
> this kind of dynamic range without using a tripod?
Apart from the other suggestions (and they are all good), I'm
surprised no-one has mentioned a polariser. That would almost
certainly help too, as long as you aren't shooting directly into or
away from the sun.
Compressing the Brightness Range 
opo13tj0vsntgu1iacuf57mm59hbdoujq@4ax.com...
Linear Mode
