HDR and such

Ahhh, the human eye! What it can see in terms of dynamic range is quite amazing. If you watch a sunset, your eye can see detail in both the highlights of the sky and the shadows of the foreground. No such luck with a camera. The medium, whether film or digital, will see one or the other well and compromise it’s opposite. Hence the development of high dynamic range, or HDR, software and imaging.

I tried to get out and experiment a little with HDR this weekend. Leaving aside various opinions of HDR images that range from "fine art" to "garish," there are just plain times it's useful. Take this image for example. It was shot at Webster Park and honestly, it was going to take some work to bring out the details of the mural under the bridge. I experimented with bracketing three exposures and importing them into an HDR blending program named Picturenaut, which is donation-ware and at first glance seems to be well worth it.

There is a nice balance between the shadows and the highlights and the image has an overall natural look. That seems to be one of the big selling points of Picturenaut. It delivers a clean image that is very natural looking. Here's another one processed in Picturenaut, with a little help later in the processing stream from Topaz Adjust. It's a five-image blend.

I have to admit to liking this one quite a bit. There could be a little less saturation, but overall not too bad!

And finally, an image processed with Photomatix, another software program for creating HDR images, and one considerably more expensive that Picturenaut.

On the whole, it really is fun to process HDR images and see what one can come up with. It adds a different dimension to photography. While I don't particularly care for the colors of the image generated by Photomatix, it could easily be tamed down for a more natural looking image. However, the over saturation does kind of draw your eye into an otherwise boring composition.

Okay, I couldn't resist. One more...

another bit of hiking

I’m hoping you’re not getting the idea from me that the only time to go out hiking in Winter is during raging snow storms. Although there is a place for that, there is also a place for sunshine, especially that warm, late afternoon sun that adds glow and warmth to images. These are from the Irondequoit Bay Outlet a few weeks ago.

hiking in Durand Eastman

There is just something about Winter that I find appealing. When the snow is falling I feel compelled to get outside, breathe in the crisp air and, of course, take a few pictures. These shots are from a few weeks ago. It was a lazy Saturday morning and the lake effect snow was falling quietly in Irondequoit...

Just out for a hike

Yeah, it can get cold in Rochester but sometimes it’s just nice to be outside, whether it’s cold and the sun is shining or you’re in the middle of a damn blizzard. There is something peaceful about being outside and taking the time to observe the beauty that surrounds us. Here’s a shot from Ellison Park a couple of weeks ago.

And here are a few more…

Tubing at Durand

It was a slow Saturday morning last weekend and Ryan and I were looking for something to do. The sun was out and snow was still on the ground so we headed off to find a snow tube and a hill.

Well, the hill was easier to come by than the tube but we were able to borrow one from Sue's best friend Jennifer and her two boys, Alex and Jacob.



It was warm and the snow was packed and slick, so some good speeds got made! With the bumps on the way down the hill, the boys sometimes went airborn! (I'm not sure mom knows about this yet...)





Ryan wasn't quite in control of this one. This is just before he went face first down the rest of the hill. :)



And the landing! His scores were low because no snow actually went up his nose.



And of course, there's always time for some outdoor portraits!





More pictures can be seen on my website

Some Winter Events

It may be Winter but that doesn't stop Upstate New Yorkers from getting out and enjoying the environment! From the Winter Festival at the Gonandagan Native American Historic Site to "Curling on the Canal" (Rochester Curling Club) in Palmyra, there is no shortage of opportunities to get out of the house and get the camera working!

Pics around town

My friend Renee recently inspired me when she started the Rochester Daily Photo blog. So, last Saturday I took a drive down Goodman Street heading towards the Memorial Art Gallery looking for some 'urban' shots, which is an area of photography I've never delved into before. Here are some shots from the day.

This is the facade of 320 North Goodman Street, just before Village Gate heading south from Main Street. The colors were intriguing.


Having made it to the Gallery, I took this shot of the reflection of University Avenue in the windows of the main building.


This is one outside the store. The architecture is classic and ceiling painting is beautiful.


A next-door neighbor of the Art Gallery is the School of the Arts.


And finally, a small amount of HDR processing was used on this one to bring out the details of residences along University Avenue.

One more holiday image

Okay, I was feeling guilty for leaving out a picture of the white lasagna from my previous post. Sue wouldn't appreciate that, so here it is.




It's popularity seems to grow every year. I almost don't mind that Sue doesn't like red sauce. This has been a nice addition to Christmas dinner. And it's a lot easier than stuffing manicotti!

More holiday images

Oh yeah, more fun at the holidays. My girls aren't big on having their images posted online, but they did let me post this one. Can you tell who is who?



Ryan on the other hand, doesn't much mind having his picture posted at all. Here he is donning his antlers and getting ready for a head-butt!



And of course, what would a holiday be without great food? I have to make lasagna every year, both red and white versions. Here's the red version. It's a handful!



And of course, some sweets...



I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Holiday images

Holidays are always fun with the family. This is Cori and Sherry, and the image serves as a test of image handling in Blogger. And look at that...both are Nikon users! It makes me proud!!

Portait session with Emily

Last summer, my friend Emily Carpenter, a successful Web designer and Social Media guru (find her on Facebook, Twitter, WhizBang Web and just about all over Rochester), was looking for some new portraits. She wanted to keep the shots informal and ended up going to her sister's house in Webster. The landscaping was a photographer's dream! Here are some of the shots from our session.

Sherry's portraits

Not too long ago my oldest step-daughter asked if I would take some portaits of her so she could help out a friend who was starting up a website. I generally can't say to no to any of my girl's requests, much less one to take pictures of them, so I set up the family room to shoot portraits. Here's one of the shots:




I do like the image in black & white. Here's one more, a little closer:




On the whole, I think the images turned out quite nice. I would, however, love to have a longer room for shooting portraits. I was pushing the limits when I attached my 85mm.

Slowing down the shutter

Per my previous post, here's a bit more on slowing down the shutter speed. The first image is without filters and shot at about 1/15. The second image used a 3-stop neutral density filter and a circular polarizer to obtain a 4-second exposure.

As you can see from the images, the filters are nice additions for shots like these, allowing you to obtain that creamy effect on the water. Here is one at 13 seconds; the water looks almost surreal:




And perhaps my favorite shot of the day is this one. It's only a 5-second exposure, but that's enough to get a nice effect with the water.

Using a polarizing filter

I was out experimenting with shutter speeds over the weekend. For me that usually means adding neutral density and polarizing filters to my kit and hiking to a waterfall (hopefully) nearby. I'll post more on the shutter speeds later, but during the course of shooting, I noticed the huge difference a polarizing filter can make. Here's a shot without the polarizer:




I think both shots have their merit but there is something captivating about being able to see the details on the floor of the creek bed through the water. The polarizer will also help to slow down the shutter speed and add to the visual appeal of the water as well.