I finally found some time a few weeks ago to get out and snap some “real” HDR photos.
The ones I have posted here on the blog previously were done by adjusting contrast from a single photo and thus, the results were sub-par. These new shots, however, were done taking three individual photos and combining them using Photomatix Pro.
Below are a few examples, but I decided not to post them all here simply because doing so at such low resolution really lowers the overall quality. You can see some “full size” examples by Clicking Here.
Here are a few more HDR pics that I worked on earlier today. I’m still awaiting a good opportunity to snap some pics specifically for this, instead of using old photos I have already taken…
I plan to put these on Flickr soon, as this low resolution doesn’t really do them justice.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to try my hand at HDR photography. I finally spent a few hours tonight trying it out on some older photos I have. The results so far are pretty promising, but I know I have a lot more to learn still…
Yeah, I am a bit late on this one, but I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday. This is the first time I can remember where Easter was not in April, which totally threw me off for a good week or so beforehand. Anyway, just an update to a previous post about the Vancouver Union Gospel Mission - John Chow members raised over $7,500 in donations, very nice!
NCAA Tournament
Are any of you college basketball fans? The NCAA Tournament is in full swing, with the Sweet 16 already announced. I am not a basketball fan, but I watch the occasional game here and there. Keith isn’t a fan either, but that didn’t stop him from joining a pool with some of this other friends. He won this pool a few years ago simply by picking “teams with funny names” - nice! He has the championship game as Memphis vs Tennessee, with Memphis taking the win. Are any of you betting in pools this year?
Tax Time
Josh came down yesterday to help me get my taxes done. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not good with taxes, but hey, I’m learning. We usually wait until the last moment to work on my taxes. I think this is the earliest they have been completed… ever. Have you prepared your taxes yet? Are you able to prepare them by yourself? And most importantly, what do you plan to do with your “economic stimulus” money?
HDR Photography
As many of you already know, I am pretty interested in photography. I love taking pictures of anything and everything. I got into infrared photography about two years ago with my old Nikon D50, but when I got rid of that camera / lens / filter setup, I didn’t pick up another IR filter for my new camera. I have been wanting to do more IR shots but can’t justify spending money on the filter since they are so expensive.
But, something new I am looking to try is HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. HDR is a technique that “allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques.” I am sure you have seen some photos online that have amazing colors and you wonder how exactly they were able to take such a nice photo, when nothing you snap comes even close. HDR is your answer.
I will be experimenting with some HDR photos in the coming weeks and if any turn out decent, I will post them up here. Have any of you created HDR photos? If so, were you happy with the results?
The Screen Savers Video
I thought this video was lost forever, but turns out, the former site owner Josh had a copy of his appearance on TechTV’s The Screen Savers. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to ask him about it sooner. Anyway, you can check out the first segment below.
Besides computers and technology, one of my other main passions in life is photography. I have always been somewhat interested in taking pictures, but I didn’t really get “serious” about it until January of 2006 when I purchased my first DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera, a Nikon D50. The main reason I bought this camera was for taking pictures of review products, but I soon found myself shooting more for pleasure than work.
The awesome thing about most DSLR cameras is that you don’t have to be a photography whiz to operate it; simply using the Automatic settings can net you some good results. Once you feel comfortable with your camera, you can start experimenting with some of the manual settings. Your camera’s user manual is a great place to start, but you can also find tutorials and guides online to further help you understand some of your camera settings, or even take some photography classes.
Once you have a good collection of photos, it’s time to start marketing them. There are several “stock” photo sites that will host your images and help you sell them. Stock photos are a bit different than most photos you will probably shoot and have several demanding requirements that must be met. These are pictures that can be licensed for specific uses and must be “generic” in form. They cannot contain any business logos or copyrighted material. If you have a person / people in your photo(s) that is recognizable, you must have them sign a model release waiver. Also, if you photos are not absolutely perfect, many of these sites will not accept them. Some of the more popular ones include iStockphoto, Big Stock Photo and fotolia.
If you are not interested in stock photos, you can elect to try and sell photos on your own. There are many ways to market your own photos, many of which are absolutely free!
Social networking sites are a great place to start. Sites like Myspace and Facebook allow users to create free photo albums. You can host your photos here and detail your pricing information in the photo description area and on your main profile page. Both of these sites also have user groups that you can join, where you can meet like-minded people and help share your pictures.
Photo hosting sites like Photobucket, Flickr and Webshots are other options that you can take advantage of when trying to sell your photos. Sites such as these allow you to label your pictures with descriptive “tags”, which will other users locate your images when searching for specific topics. As with the social networking sites, simply list your contact info. and prices in your profile.
Regardless of which method(s) you select, it is imperative that you put some kind of watermark or identifying text on your images. This prevents people from “stealing” your images and also is a great way to advertise your website or blog for free! I use a watermark on all of my online images (Flickr, Myspace, Facebook), either linking to my tech site, OCIA.net (before I started this blog) or directly to my blog.
Have any of you ever sold pictures online? I’d love to hear about what worked best for you…
I finally decided to sign up for a Flickr account. I have been meaning to do it for a while now, but just haven’t had the time.
For those of you who don’t know, Flickr is an online photo community. Think of it as the Myspace/Facebook for your pictures. You are able to upload pictures for free (100 MB per month), sort them and share them with friends or include them in various groups related to your individual picture(s). Flickr users can comment on each others pics, tag them as a favorite, etc.
I decided to purchase a Pro account, which removes several limitations on the free account, such as monthly upload limits and limits on the number of sets you can create. I’ve only uploaded around 400 pictures so far but I have several hundred more than I plan to add in the coming days.
Feel free to check out my profile page and leave some comments if you want
Yesterday I went to the MidSouth Fair with Kiwi, Adam and his friend Bobby. This was the last day that the fair would be in town, and it also happened to be wristband day, so you can imagine how crowded it was.
I’m not big on rides (obviously) so I usually just go for the food heh. I brought my camera along because I had some cool ideas for photos at night. I ended up only snapping a handful of pics because, well, I didn’t exactly feel safe there and I wasn’t about to go off by myself to take pics. Below are a few of the pics that came out semi-decent…
The Kamikaze. I was trying to get the camera settings just right, but the ride stopped before I got it were I wanted and then we moved on.
A little better I guess.
I think this one had the most potential, but way too many people in the way and I didn’t have a chance to get a better angle. The pics look better at higher resolutions; I might upload some larger samples later today.
As promised, here are the pictures from the fireworks event in Memphis on Saturday night. I decided to host the pictures on a separate page so you could enjoy them at a larger resolution than allowed here on the blog. Enjoy!
As promised, here are the rest of the photos from the car show last night. They didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped. A tripod would have certainly been useful. Anyway, enjoy!
I have posted quite a few of my infrared pictures here on this blog. Infrared photography, or more specifically, false color infrared photography, is very difficult to master. A lot of my early work didn’t turn out well. It truly was a matter of trial and error for me. So today, I will show you exactly how I do it.
It is important to first know a little bit about infrared light. Infrared refers to the spectrum of light that is beyond the visible light spectrum (”invisible light”) that we normally see. In order to get this infrared light into a photo, you must use a special lens filter that filters out almost all of the “visible” light.
This is the Hoya R72 IR filter that I used with my old Nikon D50 DSLR. As you can see, the filter glass is black and lets very little light through.
Now that you have the camera, lens and filter, you will also need a tripod. As for software, you will need Photoshop, this False Colors Photoshop Action and Bibble Lite 4.9, available from Bibble Labs. I found the false colors action online last year but was not able to locate it now, so credit is given to the original creator.
Now, you must wait for just the right time of year. The best time of the year to shoot IR photos is in the dead of summer on a bright, sunny day in order to soak up the most IR rays. Camera settings will make or break your infrared photos. Again, most of this was trial and error on my part, and may or may not work for you and your camera.
First, you will need to set a custom white balance. Attach the IR filter, then do a custom white balance sample while pointing the camera at a section of green grass.
Now, you need to find a subject for your photo. Trees, grass and the sky are the best candidates for infrared. The chlorophyll in the green leaves and grass really makes images “pop” and the sky (big puffy clouds are a plus) gives a nice deep contrast to the bright whites we are hoping to achieve.
Once you have selected a subject, you need to get the camera set up on the tripod. Some people compose the picture before adding the IR filter; not me. I just aim and shoot, and so far it has worked well for me.
This is the sample photo that we will be working with today. This picture was taken at .6 second shutter speed, f/8 aperture, 200 ISO at 18mm focal length in RAW mode. The original picture will turn out with a heavy reddish tint. This is perfectly normal.
Next, you will want to open the file in Bibble Lite 4.9. Make sure everything on the right side is “off”, then adjust the “New WB” to Incandescent. Now, save the photo as a .jpg and open it with Photoshop.
Once in Photoshop, select Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Levels. Click OK then click the Auto button, which will give you something like you see above. Now, run the false colors action.
If your original IR image was taken at just the right settings, you should get something like you see above.
Now, just tweak the colors to your linking using the Selective Color option.
Another popular option with infrared images is black and white. B&W IR images look great as well, but personally I like the colored version more.
With the right equipment and a bit of trial and error, you should be well on your way to shooting some great infrared images of your own!
