HDR with kids

HDR photos involve getting multiple exposures and combining them into one photograph and then tone mapping them to get details in bright and dark areas.

At least that is my one line understanding of the concept.

The best results seem to be for images shot in early morning or early evening where shadows play a big part of the shot and there are possibilities for increased hues and color saturation. Works best with monuments in the foreground, brick houses, waves etc.. you get the idea?! No, go see these photos..

You usually do not see photos of people in HDR because it is difficult for the subject to stay still while taking three shots (especially ones with long exposures).

The kids are extremely co-operative and have posed for >10000 photographs put together . .

So, here is a first attempt. Downloaded a trial version of PHotomatix to do this. Very very impressed with the software (better than the free version of FDR tools), but doubt the Mrs. will allow the real version to be purchased with the 99$ price tag. Nevertheless, a great tool to understand HDR better..

Suggestions and ideas for the kid-HDR learning part 2 are welcome!

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Two plus two plus two equals...

Pumpkins + some time available on a gloomy Saturday afternoon + new lens = HDR photos!!

High Dynamic Range photos, created by superimposing multiple shots of same object with a constant exposure time but with different f stop settings to get fine details on over exposed and underexposed areas of picture.

If that was all information overload, the idea is to create a photo that closely captures what the human eye can see. (It also adds a depth perception)

A glass globe on our dining table (composite image from 4 images 1/8 s exposure f2.5, f3.2, f4.5, f6.3)

and the pumpkin, a composite of 5 images with 1 second exposure and f11.0, f8.0, f5.6, f4.0, f2.8

Okay, time pass is over..

Off to do more serious things!

Wishing all those who celebrate a "Happy Hallllllloooooweeeeen!"

ps. Updated globe..

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Bloom

We have a new cluster flower blooming in our front yard. There was no breeze and the stalk held steady enough to be used for multiple shots in sequence.

This is the best superimposed HDR image that is blog worthy, given the sway and the sun setting behind the flower.

Now that the camera has graduated from still objects to slightly moving objects, more exploring will be done.

Tomorrow brings us new subjects..

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More photos from around the house

Playing with the software, realized that there is an alignment feature to align each picture to a reference to capture the light variation without increasing the blur.

In spite of using a tripod and taking the individual images in self timer mode, the few seconds it takes to change the exposure setting and clicking the shutter somehow moves the center of the image by a few pixels and that is enough to change the quality of the picture.

Found this trying to image a cabbage rose in our front yard.

Went back and zoomed in on a single rose in the flower vase and it came out crystal clear with fantastic detail even inside the shadows within the petals.

Original plan to go to take a picture of the golden gate didn't come through. Will have to try that another day..

For now, I am like a kid in a candy store.. so many possibilities with the same camera...

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A bouquet of roses - HDR Photography

Yesterday, our friends got us a bouquet of roses for the pooja. They are really beautiful roses and have a rich variety of colors.

The photo crazy idiot that I am, started taking pictures of the flowers. The colds were captured but somehow the depth of the roses were not coming out on the JPG's.

Then thought of using the HDR software and shot a series of pictures with the tripod and set it to a 2.4 second exposure with a range of aperture settings from

4.0,4.5, 6.0, 6.3, 7.1, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 13.0, 18.0, 20.0

and then using the software superimposed select pictures to get a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image from this subset.

Sure enough, the image takes on more depth and gets the bright and dark ares of the roses to have the same amount of detail..

Here are two such composites.

One with almost all of the aligned images..

and one with a smaller subset..

Two realizations at the end of the photo editing process.

1. HDR is the closest I have seen a photograph capture what we see with our eyes.

2. Our eyes are way ahead! Way way way way ahead than any camera or software. God is the most brilliant camera maker! He provides us fantastic subjects like roses and fantastic images to our brain, courtesy of some amazing cameras, our eyes.

The fun continues tonight. Planning to go to my all time favorite, most photographed architectural subject in the bay area tonight..

No marks for guessing what that is!

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