On a Bright Day

Experimenting with a long lens for macro photos (in my garden). Unlike portraits flowers can still look beautiful in the harsh Australian sun

PhotoProject ::Getting in Close to the Flowering Grasses

It was mainly the pollen of various pasture & native grasses that where implicated in the storm induced asthma crisis on Monday, so I have been looking at some of the fascinating “grass heads”. Quite an inspiring subject for an ongoing Macro PhotoProject.

 

What I am looking for from HDR

Its a very overcast day after yesterday’s strong wind but with that calm before a storm feel. Not an exciting time to take a few photographs (yet). What I did notice was a new yellow rose had a few buds about to flower but had been very dried by the winds so I gave them a light spray of water and took a couple of bracketed photos of the new buds.

The close up simple composition gives me a great opportunity to compare three of the HDR programs I have used recently, and specifically to discuss what I like to use the HDR Technique to do. I have written a fair bit about HDR. However few people realize how often I use it. I think that is because I am just trying to create an image as I remember the scene, rather that what the camera recorded. The images above are all a bit dark, but that usually doesn't matter within the HDR process. If I was to process just one image I would choose the one on the right and lighten it a little and increase the contrast. Since I have a RAW file that would be simple.

 

However here are alternative ways to process these photos

Picturenaut

This was my go to program for a long while because it was easy to use, free and could process RAW files (which I reasoned gave the HDR process more dynamic range to work with). Importantly for someone that usually hand holds while taking the bracketed set, it has a decent alignment correction. The ghosting (removing ghost from people or things that moved between exposures) work for small movement but my experience was it could misbehave so I only used it when I saw obvious ghosting without it. I also found that it would often need the EV setting of the images updates (ie they would often just all read EV=0). In the table beside each file used.

 
The HDR image (which can be saved) is very dark like my original photos but when I select Tone Mapping I generally select adaptive logarithmic method and accept the default settings and save it was a .tiff file. Preferring to then finish the result in either Lightroom or OnOne.

 

AfterShot HDR

When the HDR was added to aftershot in version 2 I became an immediate convert. It is also handles alignment (mostly ok). It also handled RAW files (unfortunately version 3 of aftershot Pro does not pass raw files nicely into the HDR merge program, so I must maintain a Version 2 copy just to do HDR) and it is vary easy to set up you just select the files you wish to use and then right click and select to Edit With AfterShot HDR\Exposure Merge

 
The ghosting has to be fixed by masking away the ghosts you don’t want (on specific images) which can be a little tedious but can be much better controlled than the automatic methods. Again the aligned image looks very dark. However when you process the three images into one the image generally looks much better exposed (its not magic the dynamic range is being stretched to fit the image)

 

I have the presets turned off and generally only make some minor tonal adjustments. My preference is to add a little contrast and deepen the midtones and/or shadows. In AfterShot there is an extra step where there are as a number of basic edits to finish the image but again I prefer to save the resulting photo as a .tiff file and then do my finish in Lightroom or OnOne.

Nik Efex HDR Pro

Whilst I’ve had Nik software since google offered it for free download. I was a little slow to try out the HDR merge features. I have been working through the various screen via the rather big collection of presets. To my taste a lot of these are just hideous, those strong halos around constraty edges and super crunchy detail and lurid colours are off putting. Still I like enhanced colours and a little extra contrast so I can see a few presets that are getting me close to the nature feel I am looking for. These include default, balanced, Soft Colour and soft Landscape presets. Nik Efex HDR needs to be run from Lightroom and it has to be started a little differently to other plug-ins. Instead of the normal Edit In option, you have to export the photos to Efxex HDR  Pro via a specific option in the export menu (shown on the right). Lightroom does take a little time to prepare these exports.

 

I am still experimenting with how to do minimal tonal adjustments, but already have discovered that I need to slow down the drama (mostly) and often experiment with structure which is a bit like lightroom clarity and OnOne’s dynamic contrast. Again I prefer to save the .tIff image at this stage and do the tonal finish in lightroom. Perhaps with a little more practices I’ll gain more confidence. For the moment Nik’s Efex HDR pro remains an interesting diversion rather than a go to tool.

In the end I choose the Aftershot Pro .tiff image as having the closest to my feelings looking at the water droplets on the new buds. I finished this in OnOne 10 using the perfect eraser to get rid of the hole in the petal and a small curl of another bud below left, crop in a bit and add my favourite big softy vignette to bring the rose forward from the background a little more.

All of these steps take considerably longer than just processing a single image but I tend to think the extra time spent is worthwhile and creates a stronger and more real image.

Don’t Stand So Close

I have been having a little fun with a very cheap accessories I bought at Typo (yes the stationary and scrapbooking accessories place). Its a simple clip on design and the lens just sits over the small camera lens. It works fine on both my Android phone and my HP Spectre (a tablet laptop cross over) although there is some vignetting at the edges.

 

As a wide angle of a distant screen it is fine, but I’m not really a fan of the fish eye effect on a landscape. However letting it get right upclose (the macro aspect) definitely gives a different, aka interesting, perspective of some familiar items around my studio

The Brave Ones :: Flickr’s Global Photo Walk

It was a wild afternoon but a few of use enjoyed a Photo Walk in Jells Park as part of  global Flickr Photo Walk

PhotoProject :: Non-Bending Macro

Cracking and bruising some ribs a couple of weeks ago has slowed me down a lot. Especially in terms of getting out specifically to take photos.

This week I was planning to do some more on macro/closeups and just focusing on textures. Unfortunately that typically means a lot of bending, not something I want to do at the moment. However my favourite telephoto (a old sigma 70-300 DL Macro Super, no idea what the super stands for) has a macro setting, that basically lets you focus in close when using the longest focal lengths.

 

Focusing close in this case is however 0.5 to 2 meters, not inches, away. This is perfect because I can stand and just focus at around ground level, ie no bending required. So I was able to get out in the garden (between rain showers) and have some close up fun.

PhotoFriday :: HDR+Macro

Raindrops on Gingko Leaves

Trying out HDR techniques with Macro (close up) Photography

For PhotoFriday‘s topic Macro

Viva La Difference

   .

A lot of folk ask me why I shot with two different cameras. The simple reason is I mainly use the Canon if I am likely to also take a movie, or it is to document my consulting work but the Pentax remains my “goto” camera. So I’ve started to take a few comparisons with each in different situations. What I can see (and have known for a while) is the Canon colour is always warmer, which actually does a good job with making portraits more complimentary, but it might not be a as true to the subject as the Pentax capture. The other observation is the canon tends to show more contrast. So the JPEG straight out of the camera can have more immediate appeal.

Enough to change my mind of which is my “goto” camera NOT YET!

PhotoProject :: Shadows

Often the power of light is more strongly captured in the shadows

The big day out

A big day out for a couple of green ants (they bite!)

Christmas beetle in HDR

It must be getting close to Christmas, last night there were swarms of Christmas beetles [Anoplognathus] around every light.

HDRi treatment of a set of bracketed macro photos, something I have not tried before. (HINT a tripod is essential, to overcome ghosting and alignment issues). Here I am using Picturenaut's Adaptive Logarithmic (aka Drago) tone mapping which uses a smooth logarithmic roll-off for dynamic range compression of the highlights and the shadows. So as to preserve the colurs in both highlights and shadows.



For PhotoFriday‘s topic Close

Getting in very close

Whilst this fish has featured prominently in my rock art, this is the first time I had seen a real version (aka a fossil in a mueseun collection). The lighting was very low and the specimen small but I thought HDR Camera on my android phone might be ok,


And it was. You would think he was over 70 million years old?

Meet the Frogmouths

Mr. & Mrs (order unknown) and the two kids. The Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides, these owls are very equal opportunity parents sharing egg incubation and brooding duties. These two chicks are delightful little bundles of fluffy feathers