Category Archives: HDR

Industrial

Posted by Mike on

This morning I set out with a purpose.  I have been wanting to capture some of the industrial and abandoned structures I pass almost every day.  Rather than go out looking for the beautiful sunrise or capture some floral macros I drove around to all the sites on my list trying to catch them in the early morning light.

Awake! Rock beast
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1, 4, 15s bracket), 26mm, f16, ISO 400

From a forgotten time
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/125, 1/30, 1/8s bracket), 21mm, f16, ISO 400

Nature takes back
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/80, 1/20, 1/5s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

The business end
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 1/3s bracket), 58mm, f22, ISO 200

Morning over the Mohawk Valley

Posted by Mike on

Morning over the Mohawk Valley
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/10, 0.4, 1.6s bracket), 17mm, f22, ISO 400

Delta Lake Dam

Posted by Mike on

I finally made the time to finish processing my pictures from the two days of exploration at the Delta Lake Dam.  I posted two images previously but wanted to put together a single post with all the pictures I captured.  I had a great time searching around the foot of the dam and I really hope we get some rain so the water will flow over the top of the spillway.  I will definitely be heading back to the dam when that occurs.

The construction of the dam began in 1908 and was eventually completed in 1912.  New York State constructed the dam as a water reservoir for the expanded barge canal system being built to replace the original Erie Canal.  Unfortunately for the village of Delta, NY, the construction of the dam required the relocation of the residents and the eventual flooding of the village.  You can see pictures and more info about Delta, NY at http://www.nlford.com/history/delta/.

Delta Lake Dam – Overview
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/160s, 50mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Old Bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/60s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Rock Patterns
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f7.1, ISO 200

Delta Lake Reservoir Dam
View from the bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/30s, 17mm, f5.6, ISO 100

The next two images I created using a 3 bracketed set for each image. I used Photomatix Pro to tone map the three images and then finished processing the result in Lightroom 4. I like the ability of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique to ‘bring out’ more of the image. I try not to ‘over do’ the processing so the image (especially landscapes) still looks somewhat natural.

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/13s. 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/5s. 19mm, f16, ISO 200

I’m trying to avoid too many trips back to this area until there is some change.  Like I mentioned above, if the water starts flowing over the spillway, I’ll be there.  When the autumn brings some nice color to the leaves, I’ll be back.  It is a little sad to me that this great area is roughly 10 minutes from my house but I have visited it more in the past week then I had in the past 20+ years of living in Central NY.  I dream of taking trips to those wonderful areas of the US that I see pictures of everyday online, but then I find areas so close to home that I know I need to discover in my own back yard too!

If anyone has suggestions for photographic trips here in Central NY, leave a comment.  I’m always looking for new areas to explore and things to photograph.

A Day (or Evening) at the Beach

Posted by Mike on

Last night after dinner I headed over to Delta Lake State Park just north of Rome, NY.  This park is around the corner from my house (in the country around the corner is less than 10 miles) and although we visited more when the kids were younger it had been quite a few years since I was inside the park.  I can contribute my renewed fascination to my new obsession in photography.  This spring I went to the park to explore with my camera and and old friend has become new again.

I watched the afternoon clear skies become ripe for pictures as the clouds rolled in and I just knew the sunset was going to be worth photographing.  Everything worked out as I was able to get dinner cooked, gobbled down and my hiking boots on to make it to the park with a little over an hour until sunset.

As I topped the knoll between the parking area and the beach this scene stopped me in my tracks.  I quickly made my adjustments to the camera settings before clicking away.  I needed to get a little closer to remove some unwanted elements in the picture but luckily the wide angle lens still allowed for a nice picture.

Delta Lake State Park, beach area
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/50sec, 32mm f/8, ISO 200

I think I have fallen into a routine every time I visit the park but it has given me some really nice pictures in the past.  There is a path that starts to the right of the beach area and mostly follows the lake’s shoreline.  This next picture is right at the start of this path and the view is looking toward the dam which created the lake.  I think on my next visit I’ll use the telephoto to show the dam more clearly.

Delta Lake State Park, view toward the dam
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/40sec, 17mm f/8, ISO 200

My normal route through the path didn’t yield as many photo opportunities as I had hoped and with a limited time frame before sunset I stopped short to circle back toward the beach.  The advantage of living close and being able to get to the park so late is I generally have it to myself.  The few families or groups left are just finishing up their stay so I’m able to setup practically anywhere.

During the summer you are only allowed to swim during scheduled hours when there are life guards on duty. They even rope off different sections of the beach for the varying abilities (or heights) of the swimmers.  I really liked how the buoyed line appears to go on toward the horizon.

Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/100sec, 19mm f/16, ISO 200

In the first picture of this post, the tree filled area is a small overlook which you can get to in numerous ways but over the years small paths from the beach up the hill have been made despite the best efforts of the park to created stair paths.  I always like following the man made paths as you generally find better picture spots along the way.  Once you get to the top there is a area looking west which allows for a nice view of the lake and the setting sun.

Delta Lake State Park, east overlook looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/8sec, 19mm f/22, ISO 100

The last two pictures are back down on the beach and are my attempt at capturing the sunset using three exposure brackets.  I used Lightroom 4 to correct for lens distortion and exported the pictures to Photomatix.  I used the normal exposure image for the water to remove any effects of ghosting and then tone mapped the three exposures with detail enhancing plus a few adjustments.  I brought the finished image back into Lightroom for a crop and some minor tweaks.

Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/15s, 1/60s, 1/4s, 24mm f/22, ISO 100
Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/4s, 1/15s, 1s, 17mm f/22, ISO 100

I ended up not staying until the full sunset.  I had neglected to bring bug spray with me and was starting to get eaten alive.  I had captured enough pictures to keep me processing for a few hours.  I’m not sure the sunset and the time just after would have provided any better views of the lake.  But then, considering how close I am, there will always be another day.

Better or Worse?

Posted by Mike on

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of some ice in the creek.  At the time I really liked the picture and used it as my 365 project picture for the day.  This picture was another of my attempts at HDR processing using the Photomatix software.  I basically let the software do its thing and added a few small tweaks in Elements when it was done.

After staring at this picture for a day or two I feel that I went too far with the processing and ruined the actual look of the ice.  I checked out a few online guides/tutorials to basic HDR processing and didn’t see where I might have gone wrong on that end other than a tendency for the HDR software to produce grey looking whites.  Which is basically what I felt happened to this picture.  I found where most HDR processing brings the finished picture into Photoshop or Elements to ‘correct’ the problem areas.  Some of those problems being the grey whites, the addition of noise, etc.

I couldn’t help trying to improve my original picture so I opened Elements, brought the first picture back in as well as the 0 EV exposure picture.  I added the 0 EV picture as another layer in the original HDR picture.  I set the blending to Hard Light and the Opacity to 75%.  I think this dramatically changed the picture and for me brought it back to what I saw in the creek the day I took the picture.  This picture is the non-cropped version.

I would appreciate any constructive criticism on how to better process the picture.  I realize a lot of the choices we make as we process are to achieve a picture that matches either our memory of the scene or a vision we had when we captured the picture.  Still, any tips for processing multiple exposures would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Day 89

Posted by Mike on

Today was another nice day but a little lacking in sun.  The clouds would not give up any of the sky.  I was going to have to spend some time tonight working on real work stuff so I cut out of work about thirty minutes early.  In the long run work wins because I generally lose track of time when working from home.

My plan was to head back down to the creek for more ice and water pictures before heading to the gym.  I remembered to take my little ten inch bendable tripod with me because I was thinking with the overcast sky I was going to get shutter speeds below my ability to hold the camera steady.  I also thought that with the white ice/snow against the darker stream bed I might need to use multiple exposures to achieve what I wanted.

I have about ten to fifteen different views to process but the one I really liked was of a huge ice sheet against shallow water with visible rocks.  I had the advantage of being able to setup about 4 feet above the ice on a large boulder.  I am really happy with the picture I created.

I captured a three bracket set at -1/0/+1 EV which luckily for me my camera can do by itself.  I brought the three images into Photomatix and used the Enhancer – Painterly option.  I left the sliders as set by this options but brought the final image into PS Elements to tweak slightly.  I adjusted the levels a little and added a high pass filter layer for just the ice.  I used the soft light blending mode for the filter layer.

The resulting image is a little more ‘enhanced’ than I typically work toward but I think it works by highlighting the structure within the ice.  The painterly option for the enhancer mode in Photomatix helped bring the stones on the creek bed into view and I think they contrast with the ice nicely.

Time to go see if I can create anything else with the other pictures I captured today…

Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions or critiques.  Thanks.