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 A long way around. Summer, 2009Taken southeast of Limon, Colorado, at this location. This storm system eventually grew so large that I had to take a 150 mile detour to avoid getting nailed by it. I didn’t get back to Denver until 1am. The storm cells were powerful and fast, you can see a small funnel poking down near the horizon from the leading edge of this cell.
I had three great opportunities to shoot while in Seattle for an xmas party. The weather was cold and clear, with dramatic skies each night. This is the first batch of edits, I like them best. [nggallery id=27]  The idea of me rating my own photos and then explaining why they are great seems a little silly. This is an exercise in shameless self indulgence, and I feel fine. The list of top shots will probably be less about the photos than it is about the experience of getting them. This shot was taken during the heat of the summer. There were severe storms almost every day in eastern Colorado, and I found this scene after frantically fleeing a storm that blew up around me. After the chaos of the storm, this quiet moment was particularly poignant. Ok, so it’s not true tilt shift photography. But, with the right photograph and a deft touch with Photoshop, you will be able to create a great photo with the same effect. The idea is make a true to life scene look as if it were done as a miniature model. View the slideshow below to see examples of simulated tilt shift photography. A screencast tutorial will guide you through the steps. The PhotoThe photos that make the most effective tilt shift photos are ones that have a wide depth of field (everything in the frame is in focus) with a downward perspective. Photos with a lateral perspective or that have a narrow depth of field are not good candidates for the tilt shift process. The ProcessThe process to convert a standard photo into a convincing tilt shift is very simple. It takes a bit of practice to apply the mask in a way that is effective, but it is certainly within the grasp of anyone with a little bit of patience. Follow the short screencast below to see the step by step process. Tutorial: Tilt Shift via Photoshop from rudy lopez on Vimeo. This is the final part of the HDR tutorial, covering the processing and data management aspects of creating an HDR image. The process is better understood when presented in a way that follows a standard workflow, so I have created a few screencasts that will follow my regular process. Screencast 1: Generating an HDR imageHDR tutorial 1 of 3: Generating an HDR from rudy lopez on Vimeo. Screencast 2: Processing and Data ManagementHDR Tutorial 2 of 3: Processing and Data Management from rudy lopez on Vimeo. Screencast 3: Editing and ExportHDR Tutorial 3 of 3: Editing and Exporting from rudy lopez on Vimeo.
It is important to remember that the key to success is practice, practice, practice. The more you shoot, the better you will like your results. If you have any questions, please comment and I will respond quickly.
I am glad we will be spending the coldest part of the Colorado winter in Seattle. Saturday was very cold, very windy, and very brown. We deposited Eva at the grandparents house, and headed north. After a brief lunch stop in Ft. Collins, we continued north on HWY 287 towards Wyoming. Aside from a few good shots in Laramie, Wyoming, and a very lucky find in Brush, Colorado, I did not have a good day shooting. Jen had a great day shooting, and would have had an even been better if I stopped at the places she wanted to. But we were both fine just cruising and talking. In Laramie, we eventually found a few old cars sitting around a bright blue building. We headed east from Laramie, hoping that the amount of snow would diminish as we moved away from the mountains. Thankfully it did, but the wind was much stronger. But that could have been our fault since we drove to a wind farm. The huge turbines whooshed over our heads, it was a very cool experience. After a drive through the Pawnee Grasslands, past a dozen or so nuclear missile silos, and a helluva good laugh, we ended up in Brush, Colorado. [singlepic id=665 w=320 h=240 float=left] The sun was already down when we drove past the abandoned school, but there was still enough light to get decent shots. I jumped out of the car and took advantage of the 10 minutes of usable light remaining. It turns out that we were lucky to find the old school when we did. If we had discovered it when the sun was still up, it would have been impossible to get the shots I wanted, even with a broad HDR. I want to shoot the inside of this building, I bet the corridors, classrooms, cafeteria are amazing. Shots from the day: [slideshow id=26] 8:42:08 AM: All packed up and ready to go! 9:28:58 AM: On our way! http://yfrog.com/3nhqzkj 9:28:58 AM: On our way! http://yfrog.com/3nhqzkj 9:28:58 AM: On our way! http://yfrog.com/3nhqzkj 9:28:58 AM: On our way! http://yfrog.com/3nhqzkj 10:54:28 AM: At the Ever Open cafe in ft Collins planning our afternoon. http://yfrog.com/1e498qj 12:51:53 PM: Here I am: http://maps.google.com/?q=41.303425%2C-105.595824
It was a very cold night to be out. But with the full moon and the snow on the ground, it was the perfect chance do try some night time HDR shots. City Park is near downtown Denver, very close the Natural History Museum. When I started shooting, it was 13 degrees. I shot for about an hour, walking quickly to keep the blood flowing. On the technical aspect, I was able to get great results by adjusting my bracket towards an underexposure. My lightest frame was only as bright as I wanted the final photo to be. The result is deep detail in the shadows, a very cool effect. Here is the slide show of all the shots from tonight: [slideshow id=25] 
One of my favorite shots
High dynamic range (HDR) photography is a process used to widen the boundaries of traditional digital photography. With traditional photography, the tonal range of a given photograph is limited by the light available and the physical characteristics of the lens and camera. In other words, if the foreground in a given scene was bright and the background was dark (see figure below), you would need to choose which element you want to be rendered in the final photo, since the limitations of the camera will not let you capture dark and light areas simultaneously. By making a composite image of several high resolution photographs, we are able to utilize the tonal ranges from all five photos into just one. This tutorial is geared towards people that are comfortable with the manual mode on their camera. You can learn more about manual mode here. There are two parts to HDR photography: capturing the series of shots, and processing the separate shots into a single HDR. This figure explains the concept behind capturing the shots.
As you can see, the combination of the five images makes for an impressive photograph even before bringing it into your editor for additional processing. In order to get results like this, you need to know how to shoot five (or more) shots with different exposures quickly, without changing composition. This is where bracketing comes in. BracketingRead your camera manual for instructions on how to engage bracketing mode on your camera. On the Nikon D300, the bracketing is set by holding down the function button (near the lens barrel) and simultaneously rotating the index finger wheel near the shutter release button. I have my camera set for five shots that cover two stops over and under the meter setting. On a bright day, I am able to shoot at ISO200 without a tripod. You do not want to increase your ISO any higher than 400, noise becomes a serious issue with HDR images, so carry a tripod if its cloudy or a dark location. Just a few tips:
By the end of your HDR shoot you should have a ton of images. The next step is to organize them. The we process and edit them. The next tutorial will cover these steps in detail, and by the end you will be shooting in a whole new way. |
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