See into the shadows with HDR

Posted by Philip in Follow-up, Photo Processing, Photo Technique

My last post was about selecting which images to use for your HDR… and this is no different, but there’s a bit of a twist on this one.  In this case I have a set of images from the same basic location, but there are a lot of shadows of varying degrees.  Here is the set of images.

Nine exposures taken with a polarizing filter to cut down on the glare of the windows.

In this case I’m more interested in the extremes.  I want to make sure the window frames aren’t too bright.  I also really like the deep sky.  I could take all of the center exposures, but I’ll only opt for 1/50 since it covers the midtones the best.  That should be the case for your photos as long as you properly expose the photo.

Selecting four of the extreme images, but the midtone can make or break the image.

The final tonemapped image allows you to see into the lamps, what’s on the other side of the windows as well as maintain the shadows of the umbrellas, without making them overbearing all while having that beautiful blue sky.  Now it’s ready for any enhancements to bring out selected details.

Good range of shadows covered.

Rotate a Circular Part 2

Posted by Philip in Follow-up, Photo Technique

I had the opportunity to photograph some amazing clouds the other day and happened to have my polarizer on.  This shows a bit more of the effect of a polarizer and rotating it.  Looking back one of the points I’ve always tried to make is that a polarizer isn’t a magic filter.  There are specific instances where it is useful and other instance where it appears to have no effect.  As you can se in this case there was a pretty sizable effect.

A pretty sizable difference in this set of images.

The Photography Tip of the Week #086

Posted by Philip in Photo Technique, Podcast

Reflect the Flash
086 Photography Tip of the Week (audio)

Last week the flash tip was about bouncing the flash off a ceiling and a bounce card which is great if you are photographing on the run. If you have a bit more setup time, get something that you can position close to your subject to reflect the flash. The local hardware store has large styrofoam sheets that have a silver reflective surface for about $10. They are light, reasonably sturdy and if they get messed up it’s not a big loss. The basic and most often use is to have your reflector just out of frame. Remember that inverse square law? You don’t want the light from your flash to have to travel too far to reflect back on your subject. The idea here is to have enough light surrounding your subject to fill in the dark shadows. The reflected light won’t be as powerful so you don’t have to worry about the flash doing even lighting everywhere.

My first image has the flash on the right with a reflector on the left. In this case the flash was stopped down to -2. There was enough ambient light that all I needed the flash to do is fill in the shadows.

The second image is what’s typically called clam shell lighting. You often do this with two lights, but if you are using a reflective surface you can easily perform the look with just one flash suspended from overhead. This creates a nice rim light and creates a classic beauty look.

This final image shows that you don’t have to use the reflector to encompass the whole scene. You can use the edge to create a dramatic look. In this image I increased the power of the flash to overdrive the ambient light since we were in a well lit room.

I hope that you’ll reflect a bit on this and start reflecting your flash a bit more.

Nine Brackets on at Three Bracket Camera

Posted by Philip in Photo Technique

Want to get more brackets, but your camera on does a few at a time?  Don’t want to spend a lot of money to get an external module to do the work for you?  Here’s a quick tip on how to get nine brackets rather quickly and easily.

This is basically doing three sets of three brackets. You just adjust your shutter speed to get the extra brackets.

The Photography Tip of the Week #085

Posted by Philip in Photo Technique, Podcast

Why up?  Most indoor facilities have a ceiling, if not they would be outdoors.  A lot of those ceilings are white.  When your flash hits that white ceiling it becomes a large diffuse light source.  Depending on the height of the ceiling and the power of your flash you will have fairly even light that surrounds your subject(s).  This will get you a more natural look than just having the flash pointed forward as well as get rid of harsh shadows and dreaded red eye.

But this may not be enough.  Pointing the flash up or even back will still make your images seem a bit flat.  Some of that light still needs to go forward to add definition to your subject.  But if your flash is pointed up, how can it go forward as well?  More expensive flash units have a bounce card built in.  If you have a less expensive unit, you can easily make a bounce card even if it’s not very convenient.  Use a white index card, photo paper or just plain paper and attach it to your flash unit.  Add gaffers tape to attach it to your flash or if that’s difficult to come by, blue painter’s tape can be found at most hardware stores.  This tape is sticky but doesn’t leave a residue behind when you peel it off within a few days.

You will have to get used to using your flash this way.  In essence it turns your single flash into two light sources, the big overhead light and a small forward facing light.  In most cases you’ll have to increase the power so it can light up the scene. Remember last weeks tip about the inverse square law?  That definitely applies in this situation. But once you master this technique, you should be able to photograph many indoor events with ease.

Rotate a Circular Polarizer

Posted by Philip in Photo Technique

There is a reason you can rotate the filter on a circular polarizer.  I was going to do this as a video, but the difference on video was so minute that it didn’t make much sense. As you rotate the filter you increase/decrease the amount of polarization.  The images below isn’t exactly how it works but it’s a great way to visualize the difference.

Minimum amount of polarization. Lots of spacing between the polarizing lines.

As you rotate the the filter you get an added effect that increases the contrast in your image.

Rotated to maximum effect you have nearly the double amount of lines to achieve maximum contrast.

So now you want to know what the difference is in an actual image?  Here you go.  This is the best side by side I could come up with.  I was at a 90 degree angle to my light source and I found a very colorful subject.  You can see there is an obvious contrast difference.  It may seem subtle for this image, but it’s difficult if not impossible to achieve this difference any other way.

Split image of the difference between minimum and full polarization.