HDR - The Engulfing Boulder

Working with HDR (Hygh Dynamic Range) gives me a lot of pleasure because, far from being a ritual, is different from the previous one.

This picture taken in Brazil, in the city of Niterói, is a combination of three exposures at -1.0 EV, 0 EV and +1.0 EV. The remaining information is f/3.5, focal length 18.0 mm and ISO 200.

First, I submitted the pictures to Photoshop CS5 to provide the initial adjustments like the clarity, the vibrance  and a bit of fill light as the pictures were slightly dark.

I didn't apply any lens correction at this stage to avoid misalignment of the images but I made sure that no traces of noise would be left there as it accumulates after the HDR processing thus giving that "brittle" result which then requires heavy noise reduction anyway. In particular, thanks to the low ISO setting that I used, the occasional noise was easily removed, if some present at all.

After saving them in the TIFF format at 16 bits, I toned mapping in Photomatix to combine the three images looking specifically for the settings that did not leave behind white halos.

Finally, I submitted the HDR to Photoshop to apply the lens correction, to adjust the alignment of the building, to correct as much as I could the color of the greens and to remove some speckles here and there.

The result pleased me because it dramatically depicts the attempt of the boulder to kind of engulf the house.

By the way, this house seemed to be abandoned even though there were some boats around it. I even tried to go in to check some extra photography possibilities but it was locked and apparently part of the accessing stairs was moved away from its original position.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Bottom line, is the house being engulfed by the boulder
or is the boulder just there to support the house?

Now, looking carefully at the image, I can see that I could have applied some more drama to the boulder by selectively applying a non-destructive layer of burning here and there. Ok, deal! I will do it later.

Large Windows

Still on the the HDR thema (please, take a look at my previous post about this subject matter), I worked on this photograph taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in one of its large sections.

This is a single shot taken with an already deceased Nikon D-5000, focal length 24mmm, f5.0, ISO 400 at 1/100s.

Firstly, I used Photoshop to align the image, correct the white balance and other minor adjustments, remove small distractions and remove noise with Topaz Denoise.

Subsequently, I applied Photomatix over it and finally a worked again with Photoshop to five its final touch. Here is the result.

The huge windows of the Met.

A HDR Tale in New York or... Beam Me Up, Scotty!

I visited a couple of times New York and, the more I do it, the more I find it amazing. There is something there that attracts, not only me, but millions of mes to its architecture, way of living, vibrant life, the colors... My closest explanation to what I feel about New York is the atmosphere or maybe the magnetism that only our inner selves are capable of understanding.

Being what it is, I always try to take zillions of pictures from as many aspects I find attractive (as though something there would not be appealing to a photographer!...). Once, we were walking near the Central Park (my wife and I), when we saw a building with the doors wide open that seemed to be inviting for some exploration and some pictures. Carefully, we looked around and climbed to the fourth floor where I saw the inner part of building built in such a way that it lets the internal windows to breath a bit. It was a confusion of small windows, wires and air conditioners. I thought it would be a nice place of a HDR (more about it later) and I managed to hold my camera steady enough through the cracks of the hall window. There are the pictures I took there before we saw somebody coming along and politely asking, without making an effort to hide suspicion, what were we doing there. Anyway, here are the three pictures that I took:

The "right"exposure, that is, the one I set as the correct one (normal exposure).

The same scene taken one f-stop below (underexposed).

The third picture with one f-stop above (overexposed).

At first, I did not pay much attention to that blue area in the bottom center of the pictures as I thought it would be a lack of white balance correction. Without further ado, I ran this set through Photomatix and look what I got after working it a bit in Photoshop CS5:

The blue are like a cold beam flowing from top to bottom.

Isn't it impressive? It seems that there is a blue beam flowing from top to bottom (or the opposite, if you want this way). I would credit this blue effect to the incorrect white balance but I tried to do it in one of the original pictures and the effect was still there with less intensity, but still clearly there.

Bottom line, where is this effect coming from? What Photomatix only did was to intensify it. All I can say is that it is rather peculiar! If anyone knows how to explain it, please, by all means I will gladly hear it.

Since I was with my hands on it, I played a bit more and I got these two variations. I don't know whether they are pleasant or not.

A dark vision with the beam intensified.

Oh! I was forgetting... There is something missing in this picture. If you didn't realize it so far, it is Captain Kirk that was just beamed up by Scotty!

Where to Go From Here

If you are interested in more details about what I talked about, here are some tips on where to start getting acquainted with HDR:

. HDR in brief words, it stands for High Dynamic Range which is a set of procedures capable of presenting a broader range of luminance between the darkest and brightest areas in a picture. Although discovered and investigated around 160 years ago, it was only with digital imaging that its full capabilities could have been explored. Basically, it relies on the fact that human eyes can capture luminances between 10 and 14 f-stops whereas normal cameras can only capture around 5 f-stops. This means that if a scene is captured for the highlights, the medium and low luminances will have reduced presence; if captured for the low luminances, the high and medium will also suffer. By taking a series of pictures in succession of exactly the same scene, typically 3, one for the highlights, one correctly and the last one for the shadows and then later combining these pictures, the resulting image will have richer details and much higher tonal ranges. The HDR technique can be perfected by taking 5, 7 or more pictures, each one 0.5 or 1 f-stop apart from the other. If you look for the keyword HDR on the Web, you are going to find thousands of examples and many good articles about it;

. Photomatix is one of the leading pieces of software that is used to combine the above described exposures to produce HDR images. You can download a trial version and get additional information about HDR here.

Almost Dark - A Lesson In Black and White

Interesting how our point of view can change from the scene we are looking at, the picture we take from that scene and its final processing stage.

This happened to me when I was strolling around with my wife at the end of the day on a park near a frozen river. At some point, I noticed the Sun being filtered by the naked trees and projecting nice long shadows, prone to a couple photographs. Not much longer, I had taken around fifteen pictures of this subject, both portrait and landscape, varying the exposure time, the angle... because I wanted to play with the subject at home by choosing the best shot.

According to my understanding, the best one straight from the camera (I just added my logo, in case you didn't notice it) is this one:

I was strolling around with my wife when I saw the Sun permeating through the trees. The long shadows seemed to be a continuation of the trees in a somewhat bizarre way. 

I worked this picture a bit by giving it just enough sharpening (very little, indeed), by enhancing the colors, specially the blue in the sky and that orange tang produced by the Sunset. The blue shadows were intensified and didn't look very pretty even after reducing its effect. I intentionally left it darker than normal so that everything would match with the shadows that is, the overall light would just be a long shadow. The result seemed to be good so far. Take a look at it:

It didn't take me longer than ten minutes to tweak it just enough to give it that extra punch. Compare this one with the original.

I decide to go a step ahead and play with the blacks and whites by fiddling the colors (doesn't it sound strange to fiddle with colors in a black and white picture? See the explanation later) until I got this one three minutes later:

Now, this scene has character and is very bold. 

Now, it has character and conveys a strong message. The Sun setting became a single and faded blob of light constrained by the dark sky. The trees and their long shadows completely dominate the scene and gives some chills in our spines. In essence, I was pleased with it!

There are a couple of lessons learned here, starting with the fact that I always shoot RAW no matter what (don't beat me, I know that there are exceptions specially when you want to ship your photos immediately for further processing elsewhere). By shooting RAW, it gives me a lot of room to play with everything because, bottom line, a RAW picture is a picture left "as is" from the camera without any treatment like white balance, sharpening, etc. You do what you want to do, in the amount you consider the best.

The second lesson and perhaps the most important one here is that I never, ever, ever, ever shoot directly in black and white even in RAW for the same reason I don't shoot JPEG. Contrary to the common belief, a black and white picture is not just a combination of blacks, whites and the various shades of grey.

Well - hmmm - yes! The after the fact image is indeed that.

But, reality is rarely a combination of blacks and whites but rather a combination of colors that can render to a combination of blacks and whites. If you place reds, greens and blues side by side and transform them into black and white, they will show up as shades of grey and you are no longer going to be able to tell which grey belongs to each color. This darker grey here was a red or it was a very intense green before?

This is exactly the reason why I never shoot in black and white because the camera will take the decision for me when converting the original color image coming from the sensor to the output black and white image. The camera never knows what are my intentions nor what are the possibilities of fiddling with the various tones of reds, greens, blues, etc. This is a task that belongs to the artist within every single photographer.

Therefore, I shoot in RAW and color and then I play the sliders corresponding with the colors so that relationship between the various shades of grey gives me a pleasant after the fact black and white image. If I want, I could also produce many different black and white pictures from the same original depending on my mood, the light of the day (yes, the light coming from your window can alter the way you see your picture in your monitor) and many other factors.

A final argument is that if I choose to ignore the blacks and whites, I can always use the original colors.

Or, maybe, both!

When It Is Good, You See It!

There are pictures and pictures, once said a poet.

Actually, I don't ever remember reading anywhere this saying from any poet as, I think, pictures (used as photographs) perhaps do not make a nice subject for poetry.

Nevertheless, we have to admit that there some pictures that stand out over other pictures and which differentiate them from others. They can be seen from the distance like a diamond that shines in a different way from regular glass.

It is like a genius in the middle of normal people. A genius may have the same look as everybody else but the minute you talk to them or you see them in action, you immediately recognize that something different is going on. Or, along the lines with poetry, there is someone out there that, once we see him or her, we feel immediately attracted to this person, even in the middle of the crowd, and that person becomes our love or our friend.

The same happens to pictures: among many pictures there is that one that shines and attracts. There is something in it that stands out and makes it different.

This happened to me after a day of shooting in Panama City: among hundreds of pictures, this one just jumped in front of me.

It shows some of the modern buildings that are part of the modern Panama City, including the very distinctive "D" shaped Donald Trump building.

The rocks in foreground are not normally visible as the low tides usually don't go that low but I was fortunate to be there at that time.

I could have chosen this one here instead specially because of little shiny spot on top of one of the buildings, but I felt that first one would bring more impact.

Yours to choose it!

It is not about your camera but about you!

Quite often when I show my pictures to somebody, I get a "Oh! What a nice picture! You must have a good camera!". Every time I hear this, I would like to take this fellow to a restaurant and order what I consider to be a nice plate, a specialty of this restaurant. After enjoying it (the plate, not the restaurant...), I would take this fellow with me to the kitchen and let him/her effusively congratulate the... pots used to cook the food!

Excuse me? The pots? What about the cook himself/herself that combined the raw ingredients into pots, then applied some amount of experience to handle the stove to cook the food? What about the passion of the cook for cooking? And that touch of art to finally arrange the food on the plate?

It is obvious that the pots, the oven, the ingredients and the environment, all contribute but they do not do anything unless someone goes there and applies some sort of procedure to transform the raw materials into the final delicacy.

The same applies to Photography. The gear, the scene, the technique, they are all there waiting for someone to apply a little magic to materialize a nice picture. Needless to say that the magician is yourself!

You and only you is the vehicle for this transformation.

In shorter, one might to take these factors into account that contribute to taking better pictures:

. the equipment: let by a good camera, tripods, lenses, filters and a long array of gear indeed helps but I have seen (and taken) very nice shots with a Kodak Easyshare with 3 megapixels and seen (and taken) horrendous pictures with very good DSLRs. There is a significant co-relation between a good camera and a better picture quality but that is all;

. the rules: there is a established set of rules applied to Photography like the rule of thirds, the white balance, the perspective, the light, etc, all help you  that may help to produce better pictures although rules do exist to be broken. Get yourself acquainted with them and check when they can be applied (or not);

. the passion: there are two types of photographers: the one that occasionally presses the shutter of the camera and the one that studies the best angle, wakes up early to take advantage of the light, compares his/her own pictures with others looking for improvements... In essence, the latter has passion and put whatever effort it takes to take the nicest shot;

. the art: every single photograph should be considered a piece of art just like a sculpture, a song, a painting, a book, a delicious plate... to name a few pieces of art. It is indeed much easier to take a picture than writing a book, for instance; however, good photographers select only one stunning pictures among hundreds. If it would be as easy to produce a nice picture as to press the shutter of the camera, everybody would be a National Geographic photographer, would have pictures published and exposed in galleries, etc;

. the preparation: good photographers do not go on a photography mission expecting to bring back tons of nice pictures without actually envisioning what to accomplish in the mission. By mission, I understand any "operation" that requires taking pictures like going to a specific place, a specific event, etc. In other words, there is a purpose in taking the pictures even if you are just going to a near by river because, depending on the weather and the time of the day, the results can be totally different from expected;

. the luck: sometimes, it just happens that lightning struck motivating you to take that picture that becomes the one above all. Luck explains it and luck does happen once in a while. But, do not count on luck on a daily basis unless you are one of those guys that get everything fallen at your feet (in which case, probably, you would not be a photographer anyway...);

. the time: there is a time for everything, including Photography. There are Golden Hours (at Sunrise and at Sunset), there is Noon and there is the right time for the people as well (for instance, a wedding ceremony requires you to take the pictures during the ceremony itself and not before or after). Also, take your time to take a picture; check the light, the ambiance, your ideas and then press the shutter;

. the place: although there are places that greatly contribute to a nice picture, a great photographer is capable of finding the right angle almost anywhere in the world. A friend of mine, a great photographer, sometimes used this trick at the end of his Photography classes: he would ask all participants to take the cameras and spend 10 minutes locked in the bathroom to get as many pictures as possible, provided they would be accepted by others. That is, you might take 100 pictures in 10 minutes but if they would not be accepted by your peers, they would not count. It is amazing how some photographers use their creativity in a such small space to produce something really good;

. the post-processing: one in a thousand pictures I take presents the situation where I say to myself: "What I can I do here? It is so perfect that if I would change it, it would not do any good to it". Every single picture needs tweaking, from the white balance, alignment, contrast, cropping, sharpening, etc, all need some degree of touching. Depending on the seriousness of your passion for Photography, the post-processing could range from a simple tweaks with Picasa until the heavy profissionalism provided by Photoshop;


. the YOU: without taking thousands and thousands and thousands of pictures of all kinds, automatic, manual, night, day, landscapes, portraits... all sorts of pictures using different types of cameras, we cannot be considered be good photographers, unless you are a little genius that take a camera from your friend, take a single shot and everybody instantly recognize you as the new guru in Photography. Fat chance!

Praise yourself about your pictures and let me know what you think about it!

Changing the Point of View

Have you already noticed how some animals that are notorious hunters chase their preys? As soon as they detect them, they froze their eyes on them and slowly and silently move towards the preys until their close enough to jump on them and... bon apetit!

 As photographers, we tend to do the same. The moment we see something interesting, we get our cameras ready, froze our eyes on our target and snap some pictures. If we know our cameras well enough, we can even get them ready to action without even looking at them.

That's exactly what happened to me when I saw these clothespins against the Sun. That would make a nice picture:

The different colors made translucent by the sunlight coming from behind, altogether against the dark background created a nice contrast.

I shot a couple of pictures but the results were not as interesting as the scene I had in front of me.

Then, it occurred to me to change my point of view: instead of seeing the clothespins from behind the source of light, why not seeing them from the opposite side, that is, from the their faces being illuminated?

Take a look at the result:

The objects are the same, the scene is the same, the background is the same... But the picture is not the same!

Now, it has even more contrast and the colors are more vibrant.

All I did was to change my point of view. In other words, I did not behave like a hunter strictly focused on the prey but I analyzed the situation trying to get the most from the same circumstance.

In many other situations, by changing a bit my position, I could get a better picture. Sometimes, all I needed was to bend gently forward, take a single step to the right or to the left. It's amazing how you can reveal or hide this or that detail by slightly changing your position when taking a picture.