Basic HDR Photography

Hi guys, Welcome back to my blog. This time it's HDR photography. It's my latest addiction. First of all HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Thats all now say it three times....High Dynamic Range High Dynamic Range High Dynamic Range..!! ;). A warning issued from my side that you are about to read a dangerous article that could change your style of photography entirely(really??).

Why this HDR is so popular these days..? The answer is simple, because HDR gives the photo the feel of a live image that we see with our eyes. The greatest lens ever build is our eyes. Our eyes can see a lot more range of contrast than any other camera. So in HDR make our digital camera capture the different portions of the complete spectrum of contrast and then combine them using photomatrix. Note that photomatrix is one of the software available on net for this purpose. You may choose a different one.

Now lets start with the basics of HDR photography, the equipments required are:

1.) A camera that could take photos at different exposures. absolutely any camera can do the job. It need not to be a fancy DLSR or a costly point and shoot.

2.) A tripod. A tripod would be handy because you would take multiple photos. A slight shake in the frame could spoil the final photo.

3.) Photomartix or Photoshop software to merge your photos.

That's all. but if you have funds the list may go on to
4.) Circular polariser filters
5.)  Neural Density filters 
6.) Shutter release cable
7.) Wide aperture lens..etc etc etc...;)

Now lets start with the steps:

Step one:
Analyze the frame you want to capture. Once a great photographer told me that you can't good photos by buying an expensive camera, but you could great one if you use only three tricks: compose compose and compose. Compose your frame nicely. The rule of thirds can be handy here. Now choose a Frame


 

Step Two: 
Now its time for exposure bracketing..already scared? Don't be, it's as easy as it doesn't seem(I hope the grammar in it correct..!!). Your camera may a have a mode called Aperture Priority. Switch to that mode and there we have a option called exposure compensation. Use it to take two more photos with -2.00 and +2.00 exposure compensation.

 This image is of the same frame. The exposure setting in this photo is +2.00

This photo is taken with exposure setting -2.00. Note that the frame is stable. So a tripod is necessary.
 










Step three:
Now Photomatrix is at work. Follow the steps shown below:

1.) Open photomatrix pro

2.) Load Bracketed photos:

3.) Select these options for better results

 4.) The view will look like this:

 5.) Use the tone mapping function function to edit the image:

  
6.) The image after some editing will look like this

7.) Use the finishing touch function to finalize the image:
 

8.) Save the result HDR image in whatever format you like.

The last step, and the final output image after some retouching in picasa or photoshop whatever you prefer is:

Thats all. Some of my HDR Photos:

With HDR imagination is the only limit.

P.S: Comments are welcomed 
Keep Shooting..!!!

Overcoming your Fears

Hi friends, I’m back. Not with some tips regarding a type of photography like moon, landscape or birds, but with rather a very basic thing required for photography which courage to go out in the world and capture your clicks while thousands of eyes are starring at you as if you have an alien gadget(like Omnitricks) around your neck.

                We have to admit that in a country like India, we got to collect a lot of courage to go out and shoot. I am an engineering student living in hostel. Engineers are considered to be progressive thinkers, but still when I go out in the college campus to capture some amazing natural things we got here, I get or rather used to get stares of many seniors as well as juniors. I don’t know why would I get those. After thinking a lot on this I got the reason, people here are not acquainted with photographers. So one of the best ways to overcome it is that make them acquainted with them. How? By going out more often with your camera around your neck. Once they recognize you as a regular thing, your stare rate would reduce definitely.

       Again to further reduce it post your photos in your college group on Facebook or Google+ or whatever social network you have on the campus. Now some one may ask that is that really helpful? My answer, trust me dude it would definitely help. From my experience people start recognizing you as a distinguished person and not only the attitude of the people will change, but they would also start you giving suggestions while you are shooting. Now that’s what I call as transformation. Deep down we have a resistance of doing new things, once that’s gone, an entirely new world awaits before you. One other remedy can be that start blogging about your photographs on either wordpress or blogger, so that you get a aim to set for you.
    Remember no one hates anyone here, but the resistance to change is the only factor that can keep you behind. As I am a novice and still a student i do not know about street photography, where level of awkwardness is much more, very much, but i guess the same principle i stated above should apply. So take take out your lens and see the world differently through your lens...:)
Like all my other post here are some snaps of my college that i got while getting the stares..( ;)..!! ) 

P.S: Keep posting..!!!
Happy Shooting