Subtlety in HDR

As I learn the process of HDR in a more pure form, I am learning that keeping it simple works much better for me than going over the top.  There is a time and place for going over the top in HDR and I have really attacked it to some massive extremes in the past – where the image does not resemble the original in the least.  But like I said in my last post, I am now headed down a road of realism in HDR – something new for me this week.  So, as I grow with this, I will continue to share my experiences with you.

Like I explained in my previous post, controlling the light is a very important part of getting three good exposures of one scene.    You really need to choose a time of day with soft light.  Yes, you know the magic times of dusk and dawn.  But the rule of thumb is there for a reason.

Having the sun low in the horizon is the trick for me right now.  Like my friend D_A_N told me, you don’t need filters to get a perfect sunset.  Just patience and the right lighting.  The shot was taken at 4:21pm, just 6 minutes past sunset.  So I wouldn’t have to worry about exposure times, I set the camera to AP and I went with a -1 1/3, 0 and +1 1/3 exposures at f/11 to grab some different shades in my blend.  Also, I chose an angle nice and close to the ground having the wind-swept snow taking the lower 2/3 of the frame while the pastel sky took the remaining real estate.

I also was striving to have the wind-swept snow take up a wide swath (that’s a word, right?) of the lower frame – leading your eyes into the sunset.  I feel it came out pretty balanced!  There wasn’t much I needed to do to the three exposures.  Did the blending in Photomatix Pro, then a touch of sharpening to crisp up the lines in Photoshop CS4.

With that touch of work, I was quite pleased with the light in this shot – and I feel it isn’t an obvious HDR image.  The light was magical – unlike tonights…

I went down to the lake tonight with a much different sky – hoping to get some dramatically different shots with the moody hanging clouds.  Granted, they were puffy, but not exciting.  The sunset yielded no pinks and the sky gave off a dull gray.  Even with the HDR, it’s not sexy.  Like they say, you can put lipstick on a pig… ugh.  I may post them later on so you can see what I mean.  But it wasn’t the right lighting conditions – even though I loved the reflections off the lake ice.

3-exposure HDR Blend

I’ve decided it is time that I combine all my various forms of blogs into one to talk about my true passion – that being photography.  I figured I could go into further detail about my photos, how I created them, and share the details and tips for those starting out like me.  I’ll begin with this shot taken at Massabesic Lake in Auburn, NH a couple days ago, and the tools that were used to put this all together.

The Equipment

• Nikon D80
• Sigma 10-20mm EX
• Tripod

The Location

Massabesic Lake is one of my favorite locations to shoot.  No matter how many times I go to this location, the scenery always seems to change.  Be it a sunset with clouds licking the horizon, or a misty dawn, the lake always holds a magickal life.  For this shoot, I went down to Claire’s Landing on a bitter cold afternoon.  It had been sub-zero temperatures all week and I knew the ice would be forming around the edges.  At this point, about 20% of the lake was frozen.  The edge is thick enough to support my weight, but it drops off quick.  About 5 feet in, the ice crumbled beneath my weight.  Another 5 feet out and you were coming up to open water.  So, I chose a spot along the shore where you could really see the ice forming, yet have a good hint of the open water out in the middle.

The Shot

For this shot, I had my D80 mounted on my Bogen-Manfrotto 725B Digi Tripod in portrait format.  I set the bracketing to 3 exposures at -2, 0 and +2.  These were shot in RAW as follow:

-2, 0 and +2 Exposures

The Magic

The magic happens when the three photos are imported into Photomatix Pro.  This tool really does all the work for you.  I had it align all the images during the import to HDR process, then I adjusted the lighting to keep it as natural as possible.  I can’t really detail this process, as it is different for every shot.  My goal with Photomatix is to make the photo as real as possible, capturing it as close to my eye as possible.

Once I was happy with the look, I saved the file and imported it into Photoshop CS4 for some curves and color balancing, and a slight sharpening.  The colors and saturation are pretty close to what Photomatix spit out.  It truly is a wizard with HDR and DRI photography.

End Result

It does sound like quite a bit of work, but from export of my camera to export of the final product was about 5 minutes.  There are many opponents to HDR photography, but I think with the right subtle touch, you can make some stunning shots that look like they were painted by nature.

Let me know what you think!