HDR Tasters

'Ey up fellas.

Well a honeymoon in Florence/Tuscany is really proving a great breeding ground for photo ideas and inspiration (and a breeding ground for nothing else before you start!!) and although there is no homework set I have still been snapping away.

Haven't really got time for a full write up (you know, honeymoon things to be doing) but in the meantime I thought I'd upload a few shots tinkered with so far as a taster:

A Quiet Pint

The assortment and abundance of churches in Tuscany offer loads of opportunity for playing, both outside and within:


By the Light of God?


A Quiet Place


The Courtyard


Clocktower

And these two little beauties demonstrate one of the main reasons I LOVE HDR. There is just no way (that I know of) that you could get these sort of shots with a normal shot. They are shot in the reflection of advertising boards at a Theatre across the road from the Duomo in Florence.


A Splendid Ballet

If there are any plans for a follow up shutterbug get together at the end of August (presuming David is back by then) then I can bore you all silly with a bit of background/discussion of these a a few others I will have processed by then.

Right, well that's all for now, off to do honeymoon things.....like take more photos

Light Fantastic

Ok You lot, I am on my Honeymoon and I have still managed to get my homework done so you lot better just get your ar$es in to gear, if you haven't already. Here are my offerings:

"The First Light on a Stormy Morning"
This was taken early one morning while taking a walk near my mums in Nantwich. I loved the dark brooding of the storm, the red light of dawn and the whole reflection in the lake. Say no more.



"Light in the Park"
I don't know why but the light in europe jsut seems nicer, cleaner and more envigorating that that we get in Dubai. And nothing is nice than viewed through the tree's while killing time in a local park in Naples. Mmmmmmm



"Stained Glass"
This took a bit of time to get as I wanted the lead frame in focue but silhoetted and the natural light from outside to just make the stained glass glow without bleaching out the shot. After abotu 20 attempts to get it right 'in camera' I resorted to HDR and used an exposure on the frame combined with one on the bright parts of the glass and one in between. See, not all HDR has to look like a computer screen. It is shots like this that make me realise why in medievil times peasants might be filled will awe when entering a church.



"Light at the End of the Tunnel"
This was taken while passing through the Chirk Tunnel on the Llangollen Canal of a boat following us thorugh. Scary part was I had to trust Imogen to steer.

Of course some electrons have been harmed on the making of the HDR photo but otherwise these are all straight of camear all bar cropping. I am sure if you are interested enough in the EXIF data you will also know how to get it ;0)

White Seamless

For those who saw my refference to Zac Arias on the technique I used on the lone thought shot (light bulb in black) here is the link.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=123

A great trick for giving the look of a large endless wall set.

Cheers,
Richard B.

LIGHT: Paul's offerings

I stopped off in Ajman on the way back from a Barracuda run. Having spotted the funfair, I went into the mall for a snack to kill time until it was dark enough for some photos of fairground machinery. Remembering to bring the camera was a good move; what was less good was forgetting a tripod. Therefore a lot of my photos were wobbly, and the offerings below, although strictly hand-held, were abetted by my leaning against solid objects. All of the long exposures involved multiple attempts at various exposures. Aperture priority throughout, cranked down to allow long exposures. Most success seems to have come with a stop or two of under-exposure.

Octopus Merry-Go-Round
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
31mm 1/3sec F22
Hand-held

I confess to some use of the 'clone' tool in this one to get rid of a hideous light fitting. I rather like the hint of the Etisalat golf ball silhouetted against Sharjah's light pollution and picked out by red beacons. The curious coloured smears are the ride itself: a large grinning caterpillar snaking past.

Rollercoaster
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
125mm 3sec F22
Hand-held

I remembered my tripod for this next one. Unfortunately a trip through Festival Centre mall was sufficient to chill the camera, and I spent half an hour in the humid Dubai evening waiting for condensation to clear from the camera's innards.

I rather like the blurred reflections, although it is of course impossible to get a ripple effect in the water and still catch the movement of the rides.

Funfair and Reflections
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
48mm 3sec F27
Tripod

A bit of lateral thinking here. Light as in 'not heavy' rather than 'not dark'. Although the way the birds stuff themselves they're generally not very light! The three finches show successive stages of take-off.

Light as a Feather
Nikon D70S
Tamron 200-400
230mm 1/250sec F5.6
Hand-held

Light

Hi All,

Here are my offerings for light.

I was thinking a bit literal with these and yes a few electrons were hurt in photoshop for these.
As for the subject I guess you could say the light bulb of inspiration hit me ;-)

"Reverse Thinking"
This the one image then worked on in Photoshop, priciply the INVERSE command. As this was shot agaisnt a black background it all went to white except for the light of the filament and dirt / highlights on the bulb. I also added in a inverse radial gradient fill and some manual painting to add the vignette.

EXIF :-
Canon 350D, 105mm Macro
f2.8, 1/250 sec, AP mode (-0.7 ev)
Shallow DOF to allow back ground to go black.


"Lone Thought"
This image shot is actually just the size of the light bulb and then I have used photoshop and Zack Aries technique of seamless white paper to extend the background 400%.

EXIF :-
Canon 350D, 105mm Macro
f2.8, 1/250 sec, AP mode (-0.7 ev)
Again shallow DOF to allow back ground to go black.


"Detailed Thoughts"
As I had the macro out, couldn't resist a close up.

EXIF :-
Canon 350D, 105mm Macro
f11, 1/2 sec, Manual mode
Off Camera flash above bulb at full power, then shutter speed adjusted to ballance the light.

All comments, Critique and abuse welcome.
Any question just shout.

Hope you like,
Cheers,
Richard B.

Light - Come on you slackers

Hi All,

I hearing rumours that YBOD and Paul have done there assignment but not seen anything yet.

Dead Line is the 1st August, come on.
(Remeber the theme this month is LIGHT.)

Cheers,
Richard B.

Next Assignment

Hi All,

After the sucess of first meet up last night it is time for the next assignment.

This time it is :-

LIGHT

Due on 1st August.

Get snapping.
Cheers,
Richard B.