Posts in Category: HDR

The Capitol, Part 1

On 18 Jul ’11 by Bill W. With 2 Comments - Austin, HDR, Landmark, Lightroom, Photography, Series, Texas

With a new blog URL and a new design, I figured it should be time for a new blog series.  Currently, I’m on a social media hiatus, so I’m going to have to rely on my followers/readers to publish this on Twitter and share it on Facebook if you like what you see (shameless plug).  Also, while you’re at it, go “Like” my Facebook fan page!

On Saturday, Ryan Ono & Julie Young (now Julie Ono) tied the knot!  You might remember them from that really fun Austin engagement photo shoot earlier this year.  If you DON’T remember, here’s the link.  I was surprised to see how much publicity those engagement photos got at their wedding.  They made a guest book with them, framed some of them and put them on the sign-in table, and put a good number of them in their wedding slide show.  It was cool to see them printed and appreciated by others.

Anyways, earlier in the week, Ryan & Julie informed me that their wedding photographer, Allen Doberenz, was going to be leaving before their white carriage send-off and asked me to take pictures of this part of this fairy-tale ending.  It turns out that he decided to stick around (good call), so I didn’t end up taking any pictures of the actual wedding.  BUT… I did take advantage of a little spare time in between the ceremony & the reception to get some good pictures of the Texas State Capitol.  It’s not too often that I have all of my gear with me, some time to kill, and I’m in downtown Austin.  So, I set up shop and decided to revisit my HDR interests.  Each of the pictures in this series is comprised of five separate images: all spaced apart by 1EV (also known as “exposure bracketing”), merged (using Photomatix Pro 3.1), tone-mapped, and edited with Lightroom.  If you’re not familiar with HDR photography or how it differs from regular photography, check out the basic explanation on Wikipedia.  Feel free to email me with any questions about it.  I try not to “over-do” my HDR processing – my goal is to create an image that represents the real thing as closely as possible.  Let me know your thoughts on this image (click for larger view), and stay tuned for another 4 pictures of the Capitol!  I promise I won’t write as much next time.

Capitol Day HDR

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Texas Fields, Part 2

On 25 May ’11 by Bill W. With 1 Comments - Austin, Bokeh, HDR, Lightroom, Nature, Nikon, Outdoors, Photography, Photoshop, Texas

In my last post, I summarized the story behind these pictures.  I also said that I would post this blog entry last night, but I wanted to leave a little more time for people to enjoy the first set of images.  Here are the other 4 pictures from that set – one of them would be considered an “HDR” image (the first one).  Hope you like them!

Dynamic Field

Chasing the Clouds Away

Windswept

Field of Light

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Dynamic Theater

On 9 Sep ’10 by Bill W. With 3 Comments - Advice, Black and White, Chicago, Comparison, HDR, Photography
Today’s post demonstrates my ongoing affair with HDR photography.  For those who don’t know, HDR is an acronym for “High Dynamic Range.”  (If you want to know more about HDR photography, my recommendation is visiting this site, The Golden Sieve, as Justin Kern presents a great explanation.)  My interest was piqued about this time last year when I first discovered this “dream-like” genre of imagery.  Since then, I have done some research, experimenting, and exploration into this new level of dynamic range (the high level).  Now, I would not consider myself “obsessed” nor would I suggest that I rely on HDR for the majority of my images, but I do believe that it adds a level of excitement to an image that may or may not have been possible otherwise.  Please see below.
Here is the original image – completely unprocessed.  It’s a nice picture, but I was looking for a little something more, due to my desire to produce some cool HDR imagery.  Two exposures and a lot of processing later, the second image was generated.
I have to admit – this was really only my second ever attempt at HDR, so the image is a little “gaudy” for my current tastes.  I was trying to create a WOW factor instead of refining/improving the photograph.  While I could have revisited the files last night and reprocessed to create a “better” picture, I think it’s only fair that I show you this image as I originally presented it.  Future posts will reveal my current “feel” for HDR so that you, the reader, can see my development as it relates to the purpose of HDR, in my opinion.
Instead of reprocessing last night, I did experiment with “black and whiting” the HDR image.  Just like any photograph, black and white doesn’t always “work.”  Sometimes, you NEED the color.  HDR is provides a greater amount light information resulting in better depth and a more complete image – like your eye actually saw it.  This usually requires color to set the HDR image apart from the “normal” image.  Although I don’t plan on turning many of my HDR pictures into black and white, I was happy with this result.

Let me know your thoughts, opinions, compliments, and critiques by posting a comment below.  I actually have another series lined up from the same night on which I took the above photograph(s).  Keep an eye out for that in the near future.  Next up, though, will either be a basic photography tutorial or possibly an answer to a question posed to me by a friend.  Thanks for reading!