Seeing in HDR and IR

One of the cool things about taking many pictures is that you become better and better at envisioning the end result. In other words, you see the final image in your mind's eye even before you make a picture. The more pictures you take, the clearer your vision. How cool!

So the idea is to make a lot of pictures.

If you are new to photography and/or have trouble seeing the end result, try this experiment: shoot only HDR or IR pictures for a few days.

With IR, you'll start to see the sky as black and foliage as white. You'll look for pictures that will look especially good in IR – scenes that are not affected by the visible light we normally see, which makes shooting at noon even a good idea.

With HDR photography (I use Photomatix), you'll look for high-contrast scenes that can be enhanced through the magic of HDR, which enables you to capture a much wider dynamic range than even the best digital SLR on the planet.

Sticking to one type of image also works with plug-ins. If you have a favorite plug-in, take pictures with the idea of applying that plug-in in Photoshop. My current favorite plug-in is Topaz Adjust, which I used to increase the detail and tonal range of the bottom images you see here.

Click here to learn more about, plug-ins, Photomatix and Topaz Adjust.

So stick to it. Okay?

Explore the Light,
Rick

The Name of the Game is to Fill the Frame. But....

The other presenters at the Maui Photo Festival have not arrived, so I took a walk on the beach outside the Hyatt Regency Maui, the festival center, and snapped this photo with my G10.

The photo illustrates a technique: The name of the game is to fill the frame. In other words, fill the frame with interesting stuff.

That said, dead space can be cool and very effective, too.

Just stuff to think about when you are composing a picture.

Explore the Light,
Rick

No Time For a Pano? Shoot Wide and Crop

Here's my favorite shot from the Mt. Rainier Aperture Nature Photography Workshop - organized by my friend Scott Bourne. I really wanted to shoot a series of 15 photos (3 exposures each of 5 views of the scene), but we only had 5 minutes at the location. No time to set up my trusty tripod. 

I still got my pano . . . by shooting wide and cropping off the top and bottom of the frame in Photoshop.  

Some ideas on this technique:

- Use the widest lens you have.

- Shoot RAW for the maximum image quality.

- Frame your scene with a pretty darn good idea of how you will crop your image.

- Make sure the horizon line is level.

This is a low-res image posted on a blog – so the color, brightness and sharpness is certainly not ideal. However, if you click on the image and zoom in, you may see nature photographer (and heck of a nice guy) Juan Pons down below. In my original, I will clone him out. Until then, check out his excellent work.

 

Explore the Light,

Rick

P.S. I boosted the color in this image with Topaz Adjust. Info on Topaz and other plug-ins @ the Plug-in Experience.

Big Pano, Small Camera

Who says you need the best digital SLR on the planet to make a great (ok, fun) pano? Sure, all those megapixels help, especially when you want to make a big print and when there is a lot of contrast in the scene.

However, if you are on a budget and only have a compact camera, you can still make cool pano for a Web site or blog - or when making a small print.

I made this pano today at Mt. Rainier with my Canon G10 during the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop. I took four images, hand-held, from left to right, overlapping each image by 1/3. I set my camera to manual exposure - which resulted in an even exposure throughout the image.

From Adobe Bridge, I selected the images and used Photomerge to create the pano.

Have some fun this fall taking some panos of fall foliage!

Explore the light,
Rick

Who Do You Think is The Most Important Living Photographer?

I am thinking of doing a TV series (maybe on PBS or maybe on the WEB or DVD) in which I interview the most important living photographers?

Please let me know who you think is important - and why. A person who has contributed to the art and craft of photography. A person from whom you want to learn how and why they photograph – and what makes them tick.

Please post your recommendations here.

Thank you very much,
Rick