Photo Tip
Different apps, different results
21/Dez/08 21:35
In November I did a one-week road trip starting in Atlanta, going to Gatlinburg, Charlotte, Charleston and Savannah. As you probably can imagine, I took a ton of photos on the trip. The hardest thing for photographing was the weather: pure sunshine with no clouds. This meant that the dynamic range was too much for my sensor, so I decided to use HDRs a lot of times. In the past I have used Hydra for this but sometimes Hydra does not give me the results I would like to have. Since I had a ton of photos on my Mac with three different exposures, I decided to try out Photomatix again. This was mainly because one photo didn’t come out in Hydra like I wanted it to look.
This were the three starting photos:
As you can see the middle exposure is not as popping as it could be (remember to click on an image to see a larger version). So I decided to try Hydra on it. This are the two results I liked best:
The first one is a simple overlay of the images and the second one it tone-mapped - although it is a bit too saturated for my taste. But somehow neither picture really resonated with me (especially since I was looking for the best look for the mountains in the background. So I decided to try Photomatix. If you have ever tried it, Photomatix has a lot more options for customizing the results of your HDR, which is a good thing but also makes it more complicated to use. Because of the many options, among others I got these results:
Neither one is really perfect... I decided to also try Photoshop CS3 but I haven’t saved that one because it didn’t look at all like what I wanted to have for my photo So I decided to try Photomatix again after I had decided to buy Photomatix to have more options for my HDR projects. The final result I came up with:
This were the three starting photos:
As you can see the middle exposure is not as popping as it could be (remember to click on an image to see a larger version). So I decided to try Hydra on it. This are the two results I liked best:
The first one is a simple overlay of the images and the second one it tone-mapped - although it is a bit too saturated for my taste. But somehow neither picture really resonated with me (especially since I was looking for the best look for the mountains in the background. So I decided to try Photomatix. If you have ever tried it, Photomatix has a lot more options for customizing the results of your HDR, which is a good thing but also makes it more complicated to use. Because of the many options, among others I got these results:
Neither one is really perfect... I decided to also try Photoshop CS3 but I haven’t saved that one because it didn’t look at all like what I wanted to have for my photo So I decided to try Photomatix again after I had decided to buy Photomatix to have more options for my HDR projects. The final result I came up with:
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Quick way to make your picture a Polaroid
09/Nov/08 19:18
Two weeks ago or so I read a post about a pretty cool software on TUAW.com that I immediately downloaded to try it. What software that was? An app called Poladroid (currently there is only a beta for Mac OS X but they are also working on a Windows version) that allows you to simple drag your photo onto the icon of the app and it will start processing your photo as a Polaroid. It will start out as a blank Polaroid, just as it would when you use an actual Polaroid camera and it will start processing from there, slowly revealing your photo, which you can speed up by shaking the Polaroid.
It really is a very fast and convenient way to transform your photo into a Polaroid. I also like how it affects the colors of your photos, making it feel so much more realistic. The most pressing thing that is missing right now is the ability to choose the area it should crop to for the square size of the Polaroid. Here are some more examples of my photos transformed by Poladroid:
and the originals:
If you want to see more, feel free to check out my flickr set.
Beware of the effects of flash
17/Okt/08 02:43
This week I was able to go out and photograph for the first time in over a month. It was an incredible feeling to be „out there“ again and being totally „in the zone“. I went to the Botanical Garden here in Atlanta. As always, i took lots of photos and I’ll publish a slideshow one of the next days but today I want to focus on something I realized once again when I was shooting inside the giant houses of the botanical garden: Flash changes a lot about your picture!
I was shooting handheld (I didn’t take my tripod to Atlanta with me), so I had to use the flash for some shots to get a sharp image. There is always a difference in picture between the two but I had one instance where the difference was truly astounding to me.
Here you have two photos that show exactly the same subject and perspective. The first one without flash, only natural light, and the second one with the flash of my 40D. Notice the difference in details but also in shading. A subtle difference is also the unfocussed part in the background. Notice the ground in the upper left area, it is much more pronounced in the picture with the flash.
I guess, what I am trying to say is that you should always try to be aware of the effects your flash will have on the look of your photo. It can make or break your shot if you aren’t aware of the effects. (Instant review on the display is a great way to ensure that it does not break your shot).
I was shooting handheld (I didn’t take my tripod to Atlanta with me), so I had to use the flash for some shots to get a sharp image. There is always a difference in picture between the two but I had one instance where the difference was truly astounding to me.
Here you have two photos that show exactly the same subject and perspective. The first one without flash, only natural light, and the second one with the flash of my 40D. Notice the difference in details but also in shading. A subtle difference is also the unfocussed part in the background. Notice the ground in the upper left area, it is much more pronounced in the picture with the flash.
I guess, what I am trying to say is that you should always try to be aware of the effects your flash will have on the look of your photo. It can make or break your shot if you aren’t aware of the effects. (Instant review on the display is a great way to ensure that it does not break your shot).
Playing with potential
20/Aug/08 19:33
Summary: A post on how I took this picture and made it look a lot better using selective coloring and cropping. Additionally, the picutre exampes will give you a good example of how the composition of a photo will have an impact on the overall impression you get from the picture. Lesen Sie mehr...
Presenting a photo to its best advantage
18/Jul/08 16:01
Summary: Last week in my entry „make it POP“ I spoke about selective coloring as a way to make your subject stand out more. While browing my photos from the trip to the Berlin Zoo I saw another picture that I thought would benefit from selective coloring. As you can see (if you look closely), there is a reptile in that tree looking directly into the camera. The problem? Nobody will be able to see him hiding in that tree because he has the same coloring as the leaves around him! Click on „Read more“ to find out what I was able to do to improve this shot. Lesen Sie mehr...
Make it POP
13/Jul/08 21:21
Summary: A short exploration into the reasons why sometimes selective coloring will give you better results and also an explanation on how you can use this simple technique. Be sure to check it out to see the full before and after shots. Lesen Sie mehr...
Taking out unwanted objects
08/Jul/08 19:57
Berlin Cathedral
Flickr link
Summary: Do you know those awesome architectural pictures you have - which would be really awesome if it weren’t for some object taking away from their beauty? Sounds familiar, right? But what to do about them? You can’t just go to the people using the crane and ask them to remove the crane for a minute... (if you DO go out and try it, please tell me about your results
).I don’t know how you got rid of them during the film days but I do know how you can get rid of them in the digital age. Lesen Sie mehr...