“Eric Meola talks about his photography, his passion for color, and how he approaches the challenge of making authentic photographs when working in indigenous cultures.”
View 12 Great Photographs By Eric Meola here.
Find out more about Eric Meola here.
Read our conversation here.
View 12 Great Photographs Collections here.
Read more in The Essential Collection Of Photographers’ Quotes.
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1 exposure - scenes like this won't benefit from HDR
3 exposures - scenes like this may be made with 1 exposure but benefit from more
5 exposures - scenes like this require HDR
How many exposures do you need for HDR images?
It depends.
It depends on the contrast ratio of the scene you’re photographing.
Ideally, you’d make one exposure per stop of dynamic range in the scene. In your first exposure place the shadows in the top stop of the histogram (to the right), without clipping. Then in subsequent exposures reduce exposure in one stop increments, making a new exposure each time, until the highlights are placed in the top stop without any clipping. Then stop. Making more exposures is unnecessary and won’t improve image quality.
“Meet Seymour Bernstein: a beloved pianist, teacher and true inspiration who shares eye-opening insights from an amazing life. Ethan Hawke helms this poignant guide to life.”
Find Seymour An Introduction here.
View You & The Piano – 4 Lessons – Seymour Bernstein here.
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Seymour Bernstein’s philosophy that playing beautifully starts with living beautifully, extends the wisdom of his music lessons into every creative discipline – and to everyone.
View more on the documentary Seymour An Introduction.
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Get to know photographer Jock Sturges better with this video interview.
Read my conversation with Jock Sturges here.
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Read 25 Great Quotes By PhotographerJock Sturges here.
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My free July Desktop Calendar features an image from Iceland’s Snaefellsness peninsula.
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Find out more about this image here.
image without HDR software processing
image with HDR processing in sky only
image blending 50% normal and 50% HDR processing
image with heavy HDR processing using Photomatix
HDR imagery is expanding today’s photographic aesthetics. Identifying the characteristics of contemporary HDR images will help classicists and pioneers alike. The basic ingredients are desirable for both sensibilities, but in varying combinations and to different degrees.
Pronounced Shadow and Highlight Detail
Preserving significant amounts of shadow and highlight detail even in images containing extreme contrast ranges is something long sought after and continually improving in photography. Prior limitations in the medium have established a conventional appearance for photographs than now needs to be reconsidered, first in light of the way the eye sees at a glance, second in light of the way the eye sees adaptively over time, and third in light of the way we might like to represent a scene expressively. Excessive recovery can alter large-scale contrast ratios unnaturally and in extreme cases may yield localized solarization.
Accentuated Edge Contrast
In an effort to preserve midtone separation after extreme dynamic range compression edge contrast is accentuated. This produces dark lines and bright halos, typically feathered rather than hard edged. As they intensify they begin to drive images away from a classic smooth continuous tone appearance.
Get to know photographer Adam Fuss better with these 3 videos.
Read my conversation with Adam Fuss here.
View 12 Great Photographs By Adam Fuss here.
Read 10 Great Quotes By Photographer Adam Fuss here.
View more in the Essential Collection Of Documentaries On Photographers.
final image double processed
image processed light
image processed dark
the Photoshop layer stack used to blend dark and light together
HDR Without Bracketing
If you need to make an image of a relatively high contrast scene that challenges but does not exceed the dynamic range of your camera (or film), consider double processing. Make two derivative files from one original, one dark and one light. Layer the two together. And blend the best information from each. This practice can substantially improve the quality of the information in your file. Even small changes can make a big difference. Remember, this technique is for challenging files, not for every file. If you can achieve ideal results with Raw processing alone or one layer only - do. Keep it simple, when you can.