Picture of the Week 12-29-09
December 29, 2009
Today I took our dog Pearl out for a hike in nearby Peters Canyon. Here in California we are having beautifully clear days even though it’s supposed to be winter outside. I got this weeks picture as I was walking back to the car. There’s something about wooden fences that I love. I also love HDR, especially fake HDR, which is what this image is. To clarify, fake HDR, is when you make an HDR image out of one single photograph instead of three different images. It may be cheating but at least I don’t have to use a tripod to make sure the three images align correctly.
Photo Info: Shot with the 5D Mark II. ISO 400 at F4 at 1/4000 of a second and the made into an HDR with Photomatix.
Picture of the Week 12-17-09
December 17, 2009
As I was walking my dog around the Tustin Sports Park I noticed a few of the trees which inspired this week’s photo. Although fall is almost over there were still a few trees that still retained their brilliant autumn colors. I chose to shoot in the late afternoon which provided me with very warm light. I also tried to do auto exposure bracketing on all my shots but it was actually very windy when I was photographing. The photo below is an HDR image and as you can see the trees in the background didn’t line up perfectly when I put the images through Photomatix. I still love how the oranges, yellows and reds blend together and it reminds me that my favorite season of the year is coming to a close.
For more non-HDR shots of the fall foliage check out the GALLERY.
Photo Info: Shot with the 5D Mark II and made up of three images. Image 1- ISO 800 at F8 and 1/500 of a second. Image 2- ISO 800 at F8 and 1/1000 of a second. Image 3- ISO 800 at F8 and 1/250 of a second.
Picture of the Week 10-26-2009
October 26, 2009
This week’s picture is yet another HDR image done in Photomatix. I shot this with a rented Canon 50D in Mission Hills during the Trail of Torment. While I was waiting at the finish line for the runners I noticed the beautiful foliage around me and the perfect golden lighting that the early morning sunrise was providing. I thought it would make for a perfect HDR image. The great thing about the 50D is it’s ability to shoot in high speed continious mode. Because I almost never use a tripod my HDR shots usually don’t line up right when I put them into Photomatix because I always shoot hand held. With the 50D in high speed continious this was not a problem, the burst was so fast it was like the wind didn’t have any time to rustle through the leaves.
Photo Info: This photo was made up of three images and shot with the Canon 50D. Image #1- ISO 400, F7.1 at 1/640 of a second. Image #2- ISO 400, F7.1 at 1/1250 of a second. Image #3- ISO 400, F7.1 at 1/320 of a second.
Picture of the Week 9-24-2009
September 24, 2009
I am using an older picture that I’ve posted on my blog before to show how awesome Photomatix is. I’ve been taking a lot of old photos and making them into HDR images. I didn’t think I would get so obsessed with it, but it does make the images pop that much more. I’m actually going to show the three images that I used to create the final HDR image. I cheated a little bit by using only one image and saving it at different exposure instead of actually doing Auto Exposure Bracketing in my camera. But the result is still the same.
Photo Info: Photo underexposed by 1 full stop
Photo Info: Photo perfectly exposed at ISO 100, F16, 1/100.
Photo Info: Photo overexposed by 1 full stop
Photo Info: Three above photos combined to make HDR image.
Picture of the Week 9-15-2009
September 15, 2009
Hey look what’s back, it’s picture of the week! I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I posted one of these. Honestly my August was crazy and I just didn’t shoot that much. We recently purchased an Adventure Pass that allows us to get into many Orange County parks. One of our new favorite parks is Peters Canyon, located off of Jamboree Road and very close to our house. We have been hiking a lot lately which is a lot more fun when we bring Mimi the cattle dog along. Most of the time we hike after work which is when the sun starts to go down. The lighting during this time is beautiful and the past few days the clouds were being very photogenic. This week’s photo is a shot from one of our after work hikes. I’ve taken the liberty to put it through Photomatix and make it into an HDR. This photo was shot hand held which I don’t recommend when doing HDR because as you can see the objects don’t align perfectly but I still love the results!
Photo Info: Shot with the 5D Mark II. Comprised of three photos. Photo 1- ISO 500, F8 at 1/400 of a second. Photo 2- ISO 500, F8 at 1/800 of a second. Photo 3- ISO 500, F8 at 1/200 of a second. I also used a polarizing filter for a more dramatic effect.
Picture of the Week 7-30-2009
July 29, 2009
I chose this week’s picture from our archives but I chose to run it through Photomatix. This shot is one of my favorite photos that Bryan took when we visited Burnet, Texas in 2007. The shot was already very colorful but I thought if I made it an HDR photo I could make it pop even more. This is a single shot so in order to make it HDR I merged the original correctly exposed RAW file with RAW files of the same image where I overexposed and underexposed by 1 F stop. I know it sounds confusing but it’s actually very easy and look at the result. In order to grasp how awesome HDR is I put the before and after photos. Enjoy!
After
Before
Photo Info: Taken with the Canon Rebel XT at ISO 100 at F5.6 at 1/320 of a second.