HD Pictures

Hi All,

Not being a photographer I can`t offer any professional opinion-just that I am quite admiring of all the skill on display.

 

This looks interesting.
Guess thats me busy for the rest of the day.
Many thanks
Robert

 

I'm still working away at trying to develop HDR processing and Joe's tips in the past have been very helpful.
Just home from a rather damp few days in the west highlands - hardly any sun so it was just about a washout photographically

Forgot my tripod so attempts at hand held bracketing didn't work! Had to produce these from a single jpeg.

Blown highlights in sky needs more work. Not sure about cropping - any suggestions Joe?



Had to clone out an overhead power line (top right) and corner of wall (lower right)

 

The cropping and cloning looks fine to me.
The overall image quality looks a bit too artificial for my own personal taste,but different people like different extremes of hdr.
All in all,two good images.

 

Dave.
Like them a lot.
Seems like the best idea for me would be take a library of pictures over the summer months and work on them during the short cold winter months.

 

Gotta join in on this...although I am old school...just so thanows yea.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I have this argument with a friend about photography.

Even under the enlarger and processing I did employ techniques to subtly alter images...but they had to be worth doing in the first place.

My advice, for what it's worth is...get a camera with a decent lens yea, be it Digital or Film. Get the original shot as correct as you can using your experience and knowledge.

Then if you need to tweak it a bit (sorry about the phrase) at least you have something good to work with.

Manipulated photographs these days, are so manipulated you can spot them a mile off...don't mean they are bad of course...just not quite right in my humble.

I wish I had, had the benefit of this technology when I was a pro....but having said that, I would have used it to a minimum.

A badly processed/tarted up photo is as bad if not worse than a bad original.:thumb:

 

"Even under the enlarger and processing I did employ techniques to subtly alter images...but they had to be worth doing in the first place."

That comment brings back memories. dodging and shading during exposure. mucking about with chemicals, i remember working on one IR picture for hours that ended up with getting a prize in a contest.
Things are certainly different for us now with digital.
I appreciate the comments and now realise that HDR should be treated as an extreme form and lets just stick to ever popular photoshop for those minor tweaks.
Robert

 

Thanks for the nice comments chaps:thumb:

Woo - when I first saw the scene of the clouds/sun and the small cottage in the hills it put me in mind of one of those moody, romanticised, victorian scottish landscapes and that's what I was trying to bring out in the HDR version.

With regard to the abandoned cottage, although I took three bracketed exposures, no single exposure really showed the tonal range that I saw when looking at the scene. The HDR version comes a little closer. On that occasion I was kicking myself (a) because I didn't have a tripod and (b) because I only had my 70-300mm lens when my 18-55mm would have been much better.

Tweaky - I agree 101% with your comments regarding 'silk sporran and sow's lug':thumb:
I also agree with your comments regarding decent lens - though the 'L' versions of Canon lenses are way beyond what I could either afford or justify.

Robert & Tweaky - I'm 'old school' too. I've spent hours in the darkroom with smelly, caustic chemicals - got the holes in a lab coat too! My first SLR was an Exacta VX 1000 - built like a tank and one of the first 'system' SLRs.
Would I go back to film? - Nae chance!:D

 

Nice little discussion this...thanks for starting it Robert.

Film....must get some. I totally agree Woo.....the photographer is probably 95% of the shot regardless of equipment. On top of that, one who developed and printed their own had an end result which was particular to them and their style.

You know, when an artist paints a picture....they can't alter it when it is finished....just a thought.:thumb:

 

You know, when an artist paints a picture....they can't alter it when it is finished....just a thought."

If the old masters where not happy with their work some would start again using the same canvas.
A bit like digital when you think about it.
I have just spent awhile in the garden. Taken about 30 digitals and have about 10 I can use.
Thats about one roll of 35mm. I know in the past I would never ever use that much stock in a few minutes.
Long live digital

 

"In my humble opinion a lot of people with digital spend less time with Composition I think its more point and shoot these days"

I agree. you only have to view the multitude of pictures on the flickrs and picassas to see we are now a point and shoot community.
When we do see a picture with a bit of composition and a feel for the lighting etc: that picture will be from such as you guys and us keen lifetime amateurs.
Fact is, now that I have retired I am finding time to take some pictures.
Amateurs days would see me humping the camera kit bag with all the lenses bodies, flashes, film etc: you guys know what I mean!
I swear I shall never go back to those days but I have to admit I have three digitals, all non SLR, so they can be pocketed and used anywhere.
My humble favorite at the moment is the Panasonic Lumix DMZ-TZ3 with the Leica DC vario elmer 28mmx10 optical zoom.
I just love this piece of kit and I am still investigating its full potential.
I must admit I do miss the manual settings but I am slowly finding my way around them.
I am going on and on again. I tend to that....
Robert