SeaStudios came to me for some images to use in a video they were producing. I had no idea who they were, until now. Sea Studios Foundation is dedicated to raising environmental literacy and motivating action in the US and internationally to address urgent threats to our planet’s health.

I don’t think many people would disagree with the fact that what we are doing to our earth is unsustainable - Tim Pawlenty, Govenor of Minnesota.

This high quality video production certainly raises awareness of our need to control climate change. Please watch this 14 minute video, your earth needs you to care. http://www.seastudios.org/ahead2_video_flash.php

The video is full of wonderful photography and video clips. Many images are HDR (see if you can pick them out) and I suspect many flickr users donated them.

I typically allow non-profit organizations to use my images at no charge, and for causes you believe in, I urge you to do the same. Your donated photography can be used to increase awareness and make a difference.

Here are my two images used in the video:

A special thanks to all the readers of my book, you made me number 1. May you capture the full range life has to offer!

I knew that photographers would begin to see HDR as a tool that offers a wide range of looks. Many of us, including me, labeled HDR as too surreal and felt it would be a fad. Well now, photographers are learning that HDR can offer a more conventional look; HDR images can look like a single shot AND offer lower noise in the shadows with captured highlights.

Here is an email I received last week from the publisher of my book:

Ferrell,
Just thought you might like to know that your book is #1 on BookScan, which is the data base that keeps track of all books sold in the US. Your book is outselling every other photography book in the country right now!!!

WooHoo!

Haley Pritchard
Photography Books, Editor
Lark Books 

If you are interested in a personalized autographed copy of my book drop us a note or call:
sales@fmphotography.us
301-497-9099 

Jordan Page is a musician from Annapolis, Maryland with a title song called Pendulum. His music has been inspired by his passion for social change throughout the world. His lyrics are powerful (from Pendulum):

This image is a composite image made from one HDR and 10 single images. Here’s the breakdown:

1. The Jetty and water is a single image.
2. The grandfather clock is an HDR image.
3. Jordan’s pic was taken in the studio with a 3 light setup.
4. The sky was intended to be an HDR image but the -1EV image did the trick, tone mapped.
5. The birds were photographed from the jetty on a different day - a high shutter speed was the main objective.
6. The airplanes are models that were photographed at a local hobby store.

The jetty and water didn’t need much treatment, only curves and a color gradient was added for effect.

The grandfather clock is from a local store with a $3750 price tag. I asked the clerk if I could set up a tripod and take some shots, “no problem.” I merged 3 images (-2EV, 0EV, +2EV) in Photomatix. The clock was in perfect condition so in Photoshop I decided to mess it up. I added some cracks, broke off a corner, rotated some of the wood in the cabinet (top), broke the counter weight loose and laid it sideways in the cabinet. Then I added texture from a pic of clay I had.

The clock got some final treatment to depict the passage of time. I moved the clock hands around the face and created a swinging pendulum.

When Jordan arrived it was certain right away he had to be wearing the “Trust Me” shirt. Then he pointed out that the bottom of his shoe said “world.” So now we have a message, “Trust Me, World.”

The lighting for Jordan started out as a 6 light setup and after some testing I decided it was too much light for that shiny head of his. The final setup was a reflector back left and back right for rim lighting and a ringflash at the camera. I used a bronze background for better blending with the clock.

The sky started out as HDR from 5 images then I found I was happiest with just using the -1EV image and doing some curve adjustments on it.

The warplanes were taken with flash held near the camera at the hobby store. I took a bunch of shots and left just before I wore out my welcome. Selecting the warplanes from the background turned out to be tedious work but I finally got it.

Thank you Christina Buffington and Jordan Page for making this a successful project.

Books are constraining by nature, they go through a stage called editing and editors do what they love - “Edit.” It’s vitally important that a “How to” book not be too long and drawn out that the reader can’t get through it. As a new addition to my blog, I’ll put additional information on topics that were cut. If you have the book this will be an opportunity to learn more and if you don’t have the book it’s a taste of what the book is about.

The chapter on Software Comparison Page 74, shows the 0EV image and 5 images processed by the various programs: Photomatix Pro, FDRTools, Adobe Photoshop CS3, Dynamic PhotoHDR, Artizen HDR. Here is the 100% crop of each image and a short comment that didn’t make it to print.

Single 0EV Image – When comparing the single shot 0EV image with the HDR images as a whole, there are two salient points. First, the single 0EV image has greater global contrast and second, it has greater noise. Having greater global contrast is not a bad feature but the noise is bad as it destroys the finer details of the image. Those details are never recoverable. Notice the noise in the darker areas of the image.

EASY HDR - the “Mask” Operator (default) has done a good job of rendering the scene and it’s hard to find any area to criticize. The wood design and dove on the flag are well rendered with low noise and good details. With the default settings, the image appears slightly flat but this is only a matter of fine tuning the black and white points in Levels.

Artizen – Lock06 (default) suffers from a loss of detail due to noise, most likely being taken from the –2EV exposure. The flag is not well reproduced; the white dove has a loss of detail and is near over saturation ie. blown pixels. Additionally, it appears the 0EV image has more details and less noise.

FDRTools - Compressor (default) has done an exceptional job rendering the details of the scene. The image has low noise with excellent local detail enhancements. Local tonal variations (contrast) bring out the texture and 3-D feel of the wood. The white dove is accurately rendered with good detail in the wings. The FDRTools image is better than the single 0EV image in color, noise-free detail and dynamic range.

Photomatix – the 100% crop shows that Photomatix handles noise well with no apparent increase over FDRtools or PS. The dove is well rendered with details inside although it has a slight magenta/red cast. The Photomatix image is slightly softer than the 0EV image but it has noise-free detail and displays a higher dynamic range.

Photoshop CS3 - Local Adaptation has also done an excellent job capturing the detail in the wood in CS3. Take a moment and examine the wood figures - notice the waistline, arms etc. in each image. In my opinion, Photoshop CS3 is the best. The overall color is accurately captured giving the image a realistic look. [The book goes into more detail on the weaknesses of CS3 when the dynamic range of the scene is high. This example is a medium contrast scene and is not a problem for CS3.]

Dynamic Photo HDR - I used the “Eye Catching” tone mapping operator and as you can see the 100% crop shows good detail and local contrast. There is color shift similar to Photomatix.

Yea! it’s very exciting to see it has finally arrived. I visited a Barnes and Noble book store and my book was on the shelf. I whipped out my camera phone and took a shot:

In my book “Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography” there are 5 contributing artists. Have a look at their amazing images on flickr and you will realize why they are internationally recognized in HDR photography. Not only is their work phenomenal but they are all wonderful people. A big THANK YOU to the contributing HDR artists, Trey Ratcliff (Texas), Asmundur Thorkelsson (Iceland), Valerio Pandolfi (Italy), John Adams (Florida) and Domingo Leiva (Spain).

The book not only displays their work but it also includes a statement from them about HDR, what it means to them and how it inspires them. This is a “How to” book with coffee table qualities.

If you already have the book it would be great to get some feedback. Please feel free to write a review at any one of the bookstores: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders

For any questions feel free to drop me a note: ferrellmc at comcast net

After you process your HDR image you might notice a color cast when you compare it with the 0EV image. When I use Photomatix to process my HDR image set I can usually detect a warm/reddish color shift. No problem, you can use cooling filters or fiddle with the “hue” in the hue saturation adjustments or you can try Tim Grey’s method www.timgrey.com.  He applies it to single shot images but there is no reason why it can’t be applied to HDR images.

Open Image
Dup the layer (Ctrl-J) (Cmd-J)
Go Filter>Blur>Average  (this is the average of all the pixels and is displayed as a solid color).
Go Image>Adjustments>Invert  (this inverts or is the complimentary color)
Change blending mode to Color  (reduce opacity, usually to about 25 and add color saturation back)

Below is an HDR image that has undergone the process and to see the before would not be very dramatic as the color shift is slight. The above steps reduced the blue cast to the image.  To see how this technique can correct an extreme color cast I’ve shown a before and after of my daughter, Brooke (single shot). I left some of the warm tone by reducing the opacity to 20 because she likes the golden tan.

Here is a Flash Merging example taken with an SB-800 Nikon flash triggered off camera. Four images were taken with the flash held in a different position for each image. I loaded 16-bit tiff’s into Photomatix with the “Exposure Blending” option and blended using the “Highlights and Shadows - Intensive” choice. Its good to play around with all the Photomatix choices and see what you like the best. I even decided to go back and eliminate an image and try a combination of just 3. After I saved the final blended image, I followed with some cloning of the grayed reflections in Photoshop then added curves and color saturation.

You can see some more examples of flash merging in the Strobist group on flickr: HERE

It’s an exciting time for me as the culmination of 2 years of HDR field testing and processing is released in my new book: “Complete Guide to HDR Digital Photography.” The book is written for photographers who want to learn HDR and then progress to advanced techniques in the field and computer processing. Categories of scenes are explained to help the photographer recognize when a single image will suffice verses the need for an expanded image set to capture an extremely high dynamic range.

Many HDR topics are explained in detail including camera setup, HDR software comparison, advanced image analysis, post-processing HDR and single-image tone mapping. Sections of the book also include HDR for architecture and panorama photography. The HDR book also includes a newly introduced technique of using flash with HDR, called Flash Merging.

“Complete Guide to HDR Digital Photography” also includes 5 contributing HDR artists’. The artists are internationally recognized for their work in HDR and can be seen on the Flickr photo site. They include the international traveler Trey Ratcliff, Asmundur Thorkelsson from Iceland, Valerio Pandolfi from Italy, John Adams from Florida, and Domingo Leiva from Spain.

For those that are interested, Flash Merging is done with a single camera strobe used off camera. I use the Nikon SB800 and move around the scene taking exposures with the strobe held in a different position. The image set is then blended using “Exposure Blending” in Photomatix. Of course the book goes into all the details on Flash Merging but you can at least start experimenting with Photomatix. You are welcome to use my coupon code for a 15% discount on the Photomatix site, “beforethecoffee”

This is Carlin’s first shoot and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. She knows how to bring it! Her poses are spot on, her expressions are perfect and intensity is amazing. I will be helping Carlin as much as I can but if you know anyone or have contacts that will help Carlin launch her modeling career then drop me a note.

I am hosting a flickr meetup group at the studio the end of March. Carlin will be there and if you are coming you won’t be disappointed.