Not a Fan of HDR

Every time I look at an HDR image, I am reminded (at this stage in my photographic life anyway) that I don't like them. Most of them seem unrealistic to me. I'm all for artistic expression, but they're just not for me. So don't expect to see them form me for a while.

By the way, HDR = High Dynamic Range. It is a technique where you take multiple exposures of the same image, feed them into a software program, adjust various settings, and the output is an image that limited/controlled contrast. The very dark areas are not black, and the very bright areas are not pure white (i.e. blown out). This is a useful technique in some circumstances, but the result is often lacking in the contrast that often makes an image interesting.

I'm not posting an image (you can do a google search instead) because I don't want it to look like I'm putting down a specific person's work.

'Nuf said, for now.

What Was I Thinking

I'm starting a series of posts to delve a little deeper into particular images that I think could be somewhat instructional. I want to go through my thought process during the image-making process. Maybe this series will help you a bit in your own photographic endeavors.



I was walking in a local park this past weekend, trying to get inspired for the coming fall foliage season. I can across a tree with these very unique and interesting seed pods. It was an overcast day, with the fog slowly dissipating (which is normally a great time for nature photography) but I was concerned about the following things:
- Lighting
- Sharpness
- Background

Even before addressing these concerns I must say that these pods were mostly at or above eye level, so I would have had a very hard time setting up the camera to get a quality shot. So I immediately searched out a sample that I could remove from the tree and shoot elsewhere. I found a small branch with a series of pods, and with the last pod already open exposing the seeds.

I initially looked for a place that I could position the branch in the nice diffused light, but have a dark background, possibly a shady area below another tree. There was no wind, so that was helpful. But I couldn't really find a good place where I could secure the branch and setup my camera to make the shot.

So I decided to take the branch home and work with it there. I set it up so it angled down slightly. The background was some dark cloth, and I lit it with a large softbox. I used a good quality 50mm lens to achieve a very sharp image. I made sure the pod branch was parallel to the image plane.

I made a series of images and under such controlled conditions it was not long before I had an image I really liked. I still have the branch in case I want to try different lighting (such as back-light) or different backgrounds. But I am quite please with my first attempt.

Simplicity

Lately in my photographic work I have been paying attention to keeping the image as simple as it needs to be. In general this usually yields a much more interesting, and often powerful, photograph. When an image is cluttered with too much "stuff", even though at first you might think it adds to the overall scene that was originally there, the main focus of the image becomes diluted and the photo loses its appeal.

This goal can be accomplished in various ways. Framing the original shot is one way (and the most preferred). This can involve many things such as controlling zoom, focus, and camera position. Also when shooting the photographer can manually move clutter out of the way of the image, such as removing trash or temporarily pushing aside live branches or plants.

Also some of this can be accomplished during processing, when either the photographer did not notice the original distracting clutter, or he was not able to remove at shoot time. This can involve further cropping and possibly outright removal using a computer. This last technique is often frowned upon by photographic purists, but when one looks at photography as a form of art the main goal is to create something wonderful, not necessarily represent exactly what appeared at the scene. And when you think about it all of the other tools that photographers use regularly, such as depth-of-field (DOF), filters, computer sharpening and contrast control, all alter the original "scene" to his or her liking.

So remember the old adage KISS: keep it simple stupid.

Fireworks

It only happens once a year, so I like to setup the camera and try to make some unique images of 4th of July fireworks. This involves a couple of key elements:

1) Appropriate camera settings
2) Framing of the image
3) Timing
4) Luck

The camera settings I used are something like: 10-20 second exposure, low ISO, and high aperture. The long exposure captures very nice long lines, and multiple explosions. High ISO is usually not needed, since the light from the explosions is well bright enough. And the high aperture allows for the long exposures without making the lines overexposed and almost pure white.

Framing involves making a nice image of not just the explosions themsleves but possibly the surroundings as well.Timing is obvious: When to open the shutter to capture a nice set of explosions.

Luck is hoping that the set of explosions you capture will ultimately make a nice image. I usually make a lot of exposures during a fireworks show, and hope that something intersting results.

I think the following image is one of my successes. It was taken last night at the fireworks at Peddler's Village, Lahaska, Pa.

Moonshot

I recently made a photo of a moonrise in Yosemite National Park, and I have received some questions about handling the moon in photographs. Many experienced photographers know how to handle the moon but I'll discuss it a little for those who don't.


The light coming from the moon is approximately as bright as other earthly objects in daylight. So if you were to take a picture of the moon during daytime, which is when the above image occurred, you will typically see the moon with all of its details. But if you attempt to include the moon in a nighttime image, with an extended exposure, the moon becomes over-exposed and becomes a bright ball. Some people don't mind that effect, but some do.

There are various ways to handle this problem:

1. Make your photo with the moon during daytime (like the image above)
2. During night-time use a long exposure if you don't mind the "bright ball" effect
3. Some people make two exposures, one exposed for the scene and one exposed for the moon, and they post-process the images to have the moon show with it's detail
4. Some people simply paste in a copy of the moon in a night-time image (I'm not a big fan of this technique, although photography is art so it is not off-limits)

So there you have it.