My Choice

The Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 won't come in for another 6 weeks. I don't want to wait so I am going to buy another 100. I will buy my 700 here in a year or so. I have decided to buy accessories for my camera. I am excited about it. Lights and backdrops here I come;-)

One of the Most Beautiful Places in CA!

It is so pretty! This is a great place to take pictures if you are looking for places to get some great shots. Go in the fall or summer. I created this out of one of my photos there. I had to clone out the people. Thanks to http://www.picnik.com/ for the frame.

HDR METHOD

I took this picture in San Juan Capistrano. I took it right outside the mission! Then I used the HDR Method to make it look like this;-)

I used Photomatix! At the time I had Adobe CS2!

What is HDRI?

HDRI means High Dynamic Range Imaging. HDRI is today often used in 3D light rendering and also video post-production. Since Photoshop CS2 supports 32 bit HDR image formats also photographers start to experiment with HDRI. We do not plan to give an in depth explanation of HDRI but rather talk about the basics and show how HDRI can be used for artistic images today.

So what is HDR (High Dynamic Range)?

The dynamic range defines the contrast ratio the eyes can see, the cameras can capture or a print on paper can show. Best we state some numbers (mainly taken from here):

100,000:1 A scene showing the interior of a room with a sunlit view outside the window
1000:1 can be captured by some digital cameras (may even be optimistic if we recognize that the dynamic range is limited by noise)

256:1 Print on glossy paper with a dmax of about 2.4

50:1 Print on matte paper with a dmax of 1.6

Let's think of high dynamic range starting beyond 1000:1 (means beyond what any printer and even most digital cameras can produce).

What is the relation between bit depth and HDR?

If you have an image with high bit depth this does not mean that you automatically have also a
HDR image. Otherwise you would take low DR images and just convert them to a higher bit depth. But on the other side the bit depth limits how much DR you can represent in the data:

8 bit: 256:1 (clearly not a format usable for HDR)

16 bit: 65,000:1 or 32,000:1 (as we understand Photoshop is only using 15 bit internally)

32 bit: Here floating point numbers are used and for our practical purpose there in no real limit

How can we capture HDR images?

Right now most digital cameras capture only a maximum of 1,000:1 (as said this even maybe optimistic). While there are many developments to create sensors that can capture a higher dynamic range (e.g. Fuji in the S3) the main method today is to combine multiple exposures (2 - 10). As always this creates its own problems:

Moving objects (results in so called "ghosting")

Camera move (requires image alignment)

In case of stationary objects and a sturdy tripod quite good HDR images can be created.

Why creating HDR images when prints cannot reproduce the contrast?

Once you have created a HDR image you need to find a method to compress the high dynamic range in a way that it fits into the range of a print. This procedure is called Tone Mapping.

Tone Mapping

Tone Mapping is a way to reduce a high contrast image to a much lower contrast one. It always will be some sort of compromise. That is why there are many different algorithms for Tone Mapping and it is very much dependent on the concrete image how good some of these methods will work.

Photomatix by MultimediaPhoto is on the market for some time. We played with it also in the past but never got really excited for our own artistic work. This changed recently. We are not sure whether this is related to the new version 2.3 or a better understanding in how to use the software (likely both). The following will give an idea how we use Photomatix and is not a kind of manual.

Creating a HDR image in Photomatix

There are quite a few ways to create a HDR image in Photomatix. Normally you should have at least 3 exposures with about 2 f-stops difference (-2, 0, +2 should often work fine). Most of the time you convert the RAW files in your RAW converter of choice (make sure you have the same white balance for all shots) and later combine them in Photomatix. But there is also a way to start directly from the RAW files in Photomatix.

We use in our sample a three exposure sequence (Canon 1Ds, 4, 8, 20 seconds). The image(s) we use were photographed at Fort Point in San Francisco. The scene is really dark and it is quite a challenge not to overexpose the window. We may have gotten a decent result from one single image in the sequence but we would have a hard time to create the final look like in Photomatix.

We create the HDR file using the Automate->Batch feature:

In batch you can automatically process multiple sets of RAW files and create HDR images (even ready tone mapped TIFFs or JPEGs). In our case we only created one single HDR file. Once the HDR file is generated we open the resulting HDR file.

Looks ugly, right? What is gone wrong? Fortunately there is nothing wrong here. Without Tone Mapping a HDR image cannot show on screen properly because it can have a dynamic range way beyond the screen capabilities. Also an automatic Tone Mapping does not make sense because there is no single and even less automatic way to tone map an image.

Because we want to print the final image we need to process the HDR file in the Photomatix Tone Mapping dialog.

Note: We have reviewed before the Photomatix Photoshop Tone Mapping plugin. But we actually did not use the plugin for HDR files. This was not really tone mapping but should be called tone re-mapping. Nevertheless it is an effective way to improve images.

Photomatix provides today two different tone mapping methods:

Detail Enhancer

Tone Compressor

Both can be useful for certain types of images. For our image we want to get a certain gritty look and here the "Detail Enhancer" at 100% Strength is very useful.

Notes of caution using the "Detail Enhancer" method:

Some images may show halos at high contrast edges

The preview is not always 100% correct (but good enough for practical purposes)

Once the image is processed we save it as a TIFF file.

A flower a day makes it even better!

This picture is only to say have a nice day. Thanks to www.FlauntR.com for the reflection effect. I know there is also a Lillie's reflection in the photo too but I still like how it came out. It looks artistic to me;-)

Waiting

I have ordered my Sony Alpha DSLRA-700. Yeah! I can't wait for my camera! I am taking that baby to Malibu and trying that baby out. I will let you know what I think when I get my camera. I love my other Sony Alpha but after reading all the new features this camera has I am so stoked about my change.

THE LIVING DESERT ZOO

The Living Desert Zoo is awesome! I have a year memebership. I saw this capture and I took it right away. It is sweet! I saw so many animals and stayed for the Wild Lights Show that they had. This guy almost lloks like he was posing for me. I put an overlay blending option in Adobe CS3 shotoshop. It made the colors more enhanced for this image. Plus it made the image a lot clearer. I have more images. I am still trying to figure out the whole Adobe Light Room Tool! This is a Falcon st the zoo. I love this zoo! Sometimes they have events that they will take you too. I have been thinking of going to a few!

Filters

Filters are a wonderful tool! In this picture I used the offset in the exposure tool in image adjustmets! I did this till the land and tree were all black. Then In Image adjustments I went to photo filters and used a warm filter for this effect. This made this image look like a sunset with a SILOUETTE effect. I was pleased with this image. This picture was taken at Joshua Tree National Park.

I sharpened this image and made it more clear!

1. I cloned out the power line and a few other little mishaps the photo had!

2. I used the sharpening mask, unsharp mask, sharpen more, sharpen, sharpen edges!

3. I enhanced the color by going to adjustments and using color match!

4. Then I reduced the noise by using the filters.

5. I did all this by using Adobe CS3! This was the result! I like how it came out!

Catherine's First Christmas

The Ultimate Santa Shot

Ingredients

1. Beautiful baby girl in a Christmas outfit of you’re choosing!

2. Find a place that has a Santa Clause!

3. A Sony Alpha DSLRA-100 or a digital camera of your choosing!

4. Adobe CS3 Photoshop!

5. WWW.PICNIK.COM For the frame!

6. Relatives to share these photos with!

Method

I took this photo at the Home Store on base here at Twentynine Palms two days before Christmas! I used the Gaussian blur to 3.5 capacities for the background so when people view this photo they will focus mainly on Catherine and Santa! This is important when you are taking pictures of people!

Then I enhanced the colors by using Adobe CS3! I went to adjustments and then match color! Then I used the enhance tool. I used it to my liking. Everyone is a bit different!

Then I used the Gaussian blur to capacity 13.5 then went to edit in the menu. I used Fade Gaussian Blur! I went to overlay at capacity 40! This was too dark!

So I mage a layer and used the Blending Option Screen! I used this at capacity 50.

I saved image!

Then I went to http://www.picnik.com/

where I got my frame! This is always optional! Some like it and some don't.


Anyway! This is what I did to this image! It was just a few enhancements but I like the results better. Catherine smiles all the time! It is hard to get her to smile behind the camera. One of us always has to get her to smile while the other is behind the camera. Sometimes it takes a while and can be a real job! She is a happy baby! I think the camera just confuses her!

This is a good idea for a gift for the relatives! Take some Christmas Pictures! Find that perfect holiday card and Walla instant Christmas Present! You can never have too many pictures. Our parents are always asking for pictures of Catherine. Why pay hundreds of Dollars for pictures when you can do it yourself and they look just as good or even better! This was our present for everyone this year. Of course we bought gifts for the kids in our family. We have a lot of kids in our family though!

Believe it or not it took four hours to find this Santa. We waited two days before Christmas to take these pictures! It was well worth the search. We got that perfect picture and Catherine looked just like a baby doll! I think kids make the holidays what they are.

I know it is late but I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday!

My Blogger Letter

Blogger Friends,

Welcome to my blog! Not much to say about me or my blog! I am very easy going and laid back! I do not like a lot of drama or excitement! I am a marine stationed at Twentynine Palms at this moment! Soon I will be leaving! I make the most of where I am at. I am into photography and it gives me a way to enjoy this place. Also I have a wonderful family! My husband supports me in everything I do and our daughter is the light of my life. I can't imagine life without them.

I enjoy lots of things! I say be happy with what life gives you! We only have one life and we have to make the most of that life or otherwise it is wasted and our time here would be for nothing. Our children are our legacy so I want to be a great mom. This blog will show parts of me and my photography because a person's passion shows a lot about a person and my photography is a passion of mine.

I have a Sony Alpha DSLRA-100! I take that camera everywhere with me. You never know when you will see that once in a lifetime shot. I also have several lenses and plenty of software! I love Adobe CS3 the best out of all the photoshops! I use a lot of photography books and online tutorials to improve my work! I am always looking for ideas and ways to improve my photography!

My number one passion is my daughter Catherine! She will always come first and that is what matters most to me. My photos of her show that. My love for her has no end but I am sure all parents feel the same way. Welcome to my blog! Enjoy my photos and feel free to comment good or bad. I love getting feedback from other people so I have an idea on how to improve my work! I love people and making new friends!

You’re Blogger Friend
Jeanie