1000 Views in under 24 hours…

I know there are those of us on Flickr who complain about the Magic Donkey, also known as Explore… I mean really, how can a computer algorithm really tell us humans what is interesting?

Thing is, when you get in - and high enough, I might add - it really does work… the photo above I uploaded to Flickr Sunday afternoon around 4:30pm local time… by 1:00pm Monday it had over 1000 views. The highest Explore position was #8… in my opinion it’s not even the best photo from the set I took that day (in fact, this sat in my upload folder because I was hedging for the past couple weeks if I should even upload it), but who’s complaining? Not me! Thanks for all the views, comments and faves - and whatever else it took to reach that high on Explore.

Tags: alberta, church, comments, cultural, explore, faves, flickr, hdr, heritage, rural, ukrainian, views, village

Tone-mapping: Single RAW vs 7 exposures generated from single RAW

Had a few people inquiring after reading my blog post about HDR if I’d tried tone-mapping from a single RAW file. So here’s the result… the top image is tone-mapped from a single RAW file using Photomatix, the bottom image is tone-mapped from an HDR file generated from my 7 exposure from a single RAW method that I described in my blog post.

There are noticeable differences, the 7 exposure version definitely still gives a wider range of detail, it’s especially noticeable behind the pipe on the far right… I found it interesting that there was a slight color variation as well. I’ve uploaded this larger than I usually do to give you a better chance to see some of the differences.

Anyways… just thought I’d test it out and fill you all in!

Tags: hdr, jpg, photomatix, RAW, Tips, Tutorials

Published!

Well sort of… submitted my article on HDR processing to DPS for consideration. Just found out they published it! Thanks Darren and DPS staff!

If you missed it the first time around, check it out over at the DPS Blog.

Tags: comparison, DPS, hdr, Published

Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

Headed out to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village east of Edmonton on Father’s Day. It was a mostly pleasant trip with the family, my parents, brother, his wife and her parents. Mostly pleasant because we got dumped on for about the last half hour or so - but hey, a little rain never hurt anyone.

I did manage to get a couple of nice shots.

Both the shots above are 7 exposure, 1 exposure value HDR images generated from a single RAW file. Be sure to check out the rest of the set, I’ll be adding more as the week goes by.

Tags: alberta, hdr, historical, history, landscape, ukrainian cultural heritage village

Just another HDR…

Shot this the other day while on my lunch walk, and it just screamed HDR… I’m pleased with the result - especially the expression on the driver’s face.

Tags: car, hdr, joe fm, lunch walk, radio station, vehicle

HDR Tidbits (links, news, inspiration)

Great little article and list of links regarding HDR over at Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips blog. Few links include software, learning and inspiration.

Happy Friday again. Everyone seems to be enjoying the HDR video so I thought I’d include a whole post about HDR stuff.

Interesting, never though how great using HDR would be for real estate, something I should look into! Check out the post over at the Lightroom Killer Tips blog!

Tags: hdr, lightroom, links, photoshop, Tips

Alberta Railway Museum

Headed out to the Alberta Railway Museum in town, didn’t even know it existed! Went with a few flickr friends on Saturday (Bill, Adam, and Amanda), that place was a gold mine - I’ll definitely have to go back.

Be sure to visit the rest of the set, I’ll be uploading from amongst the 375 odd keepers that I took.

Tags: alberta, alberta railway museum, chairs, hdr, museum, railway, seats

HDR : Battle Royale!

NOTE: Clicking on the images in this post will open them larger in a new window.

High Dynamic Range Imaging

HDR, or High Dynamic Range Imaging seems to be all the rage these days. HDRI is described as:

In image processing, computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

More accurately however, the images that are commonly seen and referred to as HDR or HDRI images are tone-mapped.

Tone mapping is a technique used in image processing and computer graphics to map a set of colours to another; often to approximate the appearance of high dynamic range images in media with a more limited dynamic range. Print-outs, CRT or LCD monitors, and projectors all have a limited dynamic range which is inadequate to reproduce the full range of light intensities present in natural scenes. Essentially, tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reduction from the scene values (radiance) to the displayable range while preserving the image details and color appearance important to appreciate the original scene content.

Definitions and technicalities aside, I decided to look into HDR and tone mapping a bit closer to see if there really was a difference between different processes. I was curious to see if there was noticeable differences between generating HDR/tone-mapped shots from a single RAW, multiple RAWs, multiple JPGs from the camera, and multiple JPGs generated from a single RAW. For the purposes of the rest of this post, I will be referring to my final images as HDR images (even though we all now know that’s not exactly correct).

Here is the original, straight out of the camera image shot with my Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D.

Honestly, not a bad image for SOOC! Anyways, the recommended way to produce HDR is to take multiple exposures using your camera’s Auto Exposure Bracketting (AEB) setting. I’m not going to get into the details on this, I’m merely posting my comparison results here.

(more…)

Tags: bikers, bmw, car, comparison, hdr, hdri, hood, motorcycle, motorcycles, photomatix, photoshop, redynamix, reflection, test, tone mapped, tone mapping, tutorial

flickr Fave of the Day : Lake Beauvert by elementalPaul

Lake Beauvert Originally uploaded by elementalPaul

I had the pleasure of hooking up with Paul while he was in town. I’ve always loved his HDR stuff and it’s really cool to see his treatment of locations I’m familiar with.

I absolutely love this treatment he has given this shot that he took in Jasper.

Tags: alberta, elementalPaul, flickr, flickr Fave of the day, hdr, jasper, lake, landscape

flickr Fave of the Day : No Day is Perfect by Extra Medium

Been following Extra Medium’s stream for awhile now, he used to be stock full of HDR work but has turned his focus on other things… but every now and then he pulls a shot from “the archives” and teases us once again. Not only is this shot great, the processing is superb!

No Day is Perfect, Originally uploaded by Extra Medium

Tags: extra medium, flickr Fave of the day, hdr, landscape