The Unframed World
Photography Tips, Travel Photos, Photo Critiques, Interviews
Notice something different about these photos? Yep, you got it, I shot these HDR photos of a Vermont barn in the dead of winter without my coat on! Few, mystery solved. After a weekend in -25°F weather photographing Montreal and also dining with HDR guru Ken Kaminesky it was pure bliss to romp around in the balmy barely-sub-freezing paradise of Vermont to bracket the shots for these photographs.
Blue Hour is perfect for HDR photography, but I’m always a bit tense since it’s so brief. This time, I had done my homework so that my tripod was in position right as the Christmas Tree was turned on in Quincey Market. The resulting 6 frame HDR photo panoramic was tone mapped in Photomatix, then auto aligned, hand stitched and edited together in Photoshop.
I got sucked into HDR by the pit of Hell. One day last year while avoiding work on the internet, I saw Trey Ratcliff’s image of The Icy Pit of Hell and was completely awed by his HDR. I’d never heard of HDR before, but I got bitten by the bug big time, and spent the next few weeks learning as much as possible from Trey’s Stuck in Customs website. Then I discovered the super-cool Blame the Monkey site of Elia Locardi, who is now my main HDR inspiration. My hard drives started filling up even quicker than before. I blame bracketing for this, and the Monkey.
Mooching off friends is the best. After crashing at my friend Scott’s house for free, Lori and I toured Boston. This HDR photo panomara is from Faneuil Hall. I’ve included a quick infographic tutorial about how to make an HDR panorama yourself as well.
When I was touring Montreal, it was my pleasure to meet-up with legendary travel and HDR photographer Ken Kaminesky for dinner. Between bites we managed to record this short video where Ken talks about when not to shoot HDR photos, what cameras he shoots with, and a fun “Would you rather…” question.
In plain terms, High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is the practice of creating an image that has a broader range of lights and darks than a normal picture could have. The result is a photo that more accurately depicts what it was like to view the scene in person. There are many ways to accomplish this both in the dark room and on the computer. A popular HDR technique is to take multiple exposures of the same scene and use a process called tone mapping to combine the best parts of each into one image.
Getting permission to photograph the Merrill Auditorium was less complicated than I originally thought. Recently, I’ve been getting into HDR photography. Like regular photographs, HDR photos need an excellent subject to look amazing. Unfortunately, unlike an abandoned building, you can’t just waltz into the Merrill Auditorium. However, I figured it couldn’t hurt to take the direct approach and it worked out perfectly.
Yesterday, I posted an HDR photo of the LLBean Hunting & Fishing lodge at sunset. Today, for the benefit of others pursuing similar HDR results, I will reveal “the magic” behind the photo. If you are into HDR photography, no doubt these Photomatix sliders and Photoshop layers will look familiar.
Recently, I was wed to my beautiful wife Lori. From Hilo to Kona, during our time honeymooning on The Big Island we were able to explore much of this peculiar island.