HDR Photography; Shooting and Processing in San Francisco!

Instructor: Hal Schmitt of Light Photographic Workshops
March 27th and 28th, 2010

Interested in learning how to capture the entire dynamic range of a scene, from brightest highlights to darkest shadows?  It often cannot be done with a single exposure.  By utilizing high dynamic range photography, you can capture all of the detail in a scene.  No more blown out skies!  Hal will teach you how to set up custom camera settings in you digital SLR to conveniently take the multiple exposures you need to capture the complete range of light in any setting.  We will have classroom time to learn how HDR works, and when and how to use it.  We will have some shooting sessions in the field to practice setting up our shots, and to obtain source files to work on back in the classroom.  Hal will show us how to use the Photomatix program, and also how to seamlessly integrate our workflow from Adobe Lightroom or Adobe bridge in Photoshop.  He will discuss the various ways you can process an image, from “natural” to  a more graphic or illustrated look.  You will pick up a lot of information about Lightroom and Photoshop during the weekend.
You should purchase or download a trial of Photomatix before the workshop. (We have a big discount code for Photomatix that Kathleen will email you upon registration)  I recommend downloading a trial of Lightroom, if you do not already have it, but it is not required.  Bring your tripod, camera, favorite lenses and laptop to work on your images.

The course will start at 9:00 AM Saturday morning at the Doubletree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina.  Registration begins at 8:30.  There is ample parking and great opportunities for shooting nearby.  The cost is $225.00 for the weekend with a deposit of $100.00 upon registration. For additional information, call Kathleen at 925-376-7192.  Happy shooting!!

Expanded Depth of Field (Video Tutorial link below)

Early morning wildflowers
Canon 7D, EF 180mm f/3.5L, Induro C213, RRS BH-55

Depth of field (DOF), or the area of your image acceptably in focus, is a great tool for photographers.  Through our selection of aperture, focal length, and focal distance (this is a very complicated subject so we will limit to these three variables) we can control the DOF for all of our images.  knowing the viewer's eye is drawn to "in focus" areas of the image we can direct the viewer around the image as we prefer.  In general, landscape photographers prefer a deeper DOF in order to show the viewer the entire scene so they may "explore" in detail.  In contrast, the portrait photographer generally decreases DOF to highlight the subject.

Certain shooting scenarios, such as macro photography, deliver very limited DOF regardless of our aperture selection.  You have probably experienced this effect either when shooting or if you have seen a macro shot of a flower with only one portion of the entire subject in focus.  For most of photography's history, we have accepted limited DOF as a given.  A few years ago with the introduction of digital photography, powerful software tools allowed the photographer to overcome this limitation.

Software such as Adobe Photoshop CS4, gives us the power to combine multiple images (same subject but each with a different focal point/focal plane/DOF) into a single expanded DOF creation.  The video tutorial shows the process using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

To capture the source images I recommend the following guidelines.

1) Shoot from a tripod! At Light we use Induro tripods and Really Right Stuff ballheads and L-brackets

2) Focus on the leading edge of the subject (the nearest part of the subject you want in focus.)

---Bull's Guaranteed Sharper Images ---
If your camera is equipped with Live View, use it!  Bring up the live view screen and then zoom in on the spot you want as the focal point (use the zoom button on the back of your camera with live view enabled and then scroll location with the multi function controller.)  Once you are zoomed in, fine tune your focus manually.  Using Live View and the 5X or 10X optical zoom and manual focus will give noticeably sharper images.  After focus is fine tuned, shoot from Live View.  This, of course, removes the problems associated with camera shake because of mirror movement/vibrations.  For those new to Live View, the mirror is already locked up.

3) Shoot the first image (use a cable release or the 2" timer option.)

4) Without moving the camera or changing composition, refocus deeper into the image.  In effect, you are stepping backwards.

5) Shoot again

6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you reach the trailing edge of the subject (the farthest part of the subject you want in focus.)

Now you have the required source files to use the Auto Align and Auto Blend functions of Photoshop CS4.  Follow the video tutorial from here (Blogger's difficult today so I just included the link.)


As always, any questions, comments, or concerns shoot me an email at Hal@LightWorkshops.com.

Fiat Lux!

Allow Yourself Some Time to Play

Sitting up here in extreme northern Alaska the other night in the middle of a blizzard, I had some time to play around with my images and Photoshop.  I find allowing yourself to play and experiment with different tools and techniques a great boost to my creativity (not to mention becoming much more familiar with my image optimization software.)

I try not to start a "play" session with any specific goal in mind.  I'll pick an image and try things out.  When something looks interesting I continue.  If it doesn't, I'll switch gears.


For this last exercise, I grabbed a shot of a model from a recent studio course here at Light shown below.


I tried a few things and settled on the image you see below.


After that I thought why not mirror the image?  That took a little time and I ultimately built four actions to mirror anything I wanted.  Shoot me an email and I'll send you the mirror actions (hal@lightworkshops.com)


After some mirroring I tried some interesting lighting and filter techniques.



Ultimately, I probably won't use my results for anything but the exercise was great and now I have some killer Mirror Actions.



So here it is, "I give you full permission to play around.  No specific goal in mind.  Just play around, have some fun, boost your creativity, create, and learn."


Fiat Lux!

Bull

Updates at Light

First of all, if you've been to our website you will see that we have a first annual California Photo Festival planned for this September. We now have 12  top of the industry instructors confirmed for group portfolio reviews,  workshops, seminars and lectures to fill the 5 and a half days of learning on the beautiful Central Coast.


Interested in learning photography in Japan? Hal is going to be a guest instructor at the first annual Japan photo Fest in late June! He is one of three instructors including the DPExperience gurus Rick Sammon and Juan Pons. (Both instructors at our Photo Fest as well)

Well, with the little time I had to get Hal out of the classroom when he was here last week, we were able to get a good idea about the wildflower explosion that we are anticipating. Old creek road is starting to get colorful already and there are reports of Poppies and Lupin already making their way across the valleys. We are even expecting more rain to come which just makes things better for these classes coming up!
To make this year an incredible capture year, this March we have Jennifer Wu and Rob Sheppard coming in time to photograph the wildflowers and teach some interesting topics to go along with them! We have a few seats left and we have been speaking with some Canon reps about getting some pretty cool equipment sent over for the macro sessions.

Look for our newsletter this week that will feature a great deal by signing up for 2 classes this March. It will be a retrospective deal so you can sign up for one now and get the same deal later on if you choose to take us up on it.

Hal is currently on a flight to Alaska again so expect to see some more blog posts on camera equipment in sub zero temperatures and interesting photos of the north slope. But never fear! I am not alone here keeping up the fort with a very large and pregnant belly. Hal and I have officially hired two incredible women to join our team to help out with keeping the school going forward and going strong. Many of you have met Becky, as she has been our lab assistant for many months. She graduated from Cal Poly last year and I'm honored to have her on our team. Tracy will soon be your main point of contact here. She is incredibly competent, energetic and more to the point organized! Everything an artist needs by their side! 
Let us know if there is anything we can do for you. We look forward to seeing each of you here soon!

As Hal likes to say...Fiat Lux!

No MNL Tonight

For those of you who have been patiently waiting for our free MNL sessions to start up again, I must apologize for the wait! Hal has been traveling quite a bit between Alaska and Hawaii and teaching successful classes as well.  Though we do plan to restart the free sessions again we do not have a planned date for its startup at this time.
Until then there will be another blog post later tonight to get you up to speed with a few things that we have going on here.

Oh the Horror! HDR withoutTripod and a Moving Subject


On the way to the beach for sunset the other day we saw this scene in Maui. Although on a timeline we decided to stop for a quick five minute shoot.  The dynamic range of this composition was about 13 stops.  Handheld with a pro-sumer camera to cover a 13 stop range can be a little challenging.  To increase the difficulty the location is directly under the approach corridor for Kahului Airport so airliners are always overhead.

I grabbed my Canon 5D Mk II and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L to try the shot.  I shot on my User Setting C3 which is optimized for HDR.  You can learn more about user settings by looking at the following link from this blog (Custom User Settings)  With such a range I needed to shoot my first series exposure compensated to -2 E.V.  After the three shots, I held very still and then ran up to +2 E.V. for the second three shots.  This gave me shots at -4, -2, 0, 0, +2, and +4 (obviously I rejected and deleted one of the 0 shots.)

I used Lightroom to prep the files then exported to Photomatix Pro for processing.  Back in Lightroom, after tone mapping, I stacked the tone mapped TIFF and the best single shot of the airliner in Photoshop.  After some quick masking, the airliner was there.  It's good to always remember that you have access to each of your exposures even after you tone map.


I did a quick black and white version and will play with these a little more when I get back to Light and Cali.

Fiat Lux!

Full Moon Set Pano



A full moonset from the other morning here in Maui.  We set out for a great sunrise but were surprised with a beautiful moonset first.  I'll get some of the sunrise shots up as well.

Shot at Secret Beach, Maui with a Canon 5D Mk II, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, Induro C313, Really Right Stuff BH-55, and RRS pano kit.  Two shot pano optimized with Lightroom and Photoshop.

Still here in Maui shooting and printing, coating, and stretching canvas gallery wraps.

Monday Night Light will broadcast again next Monday evening!

Fiat Lux!

Couple Maui Shots


Two versions of a stitched panorama we shot here in Maui as part of our photo tour.  The shot is looking east over the Haleakala crater about 30 minutes before sunrise.  I used a Canon 5D Mk II, EF 24mm f/1.4L, Induro C313 tripod, a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead, and a RRS pano kit.

I stitched the first image with Photoshop CS4 and the second with Microsoft ICE.  Each image was processed slightly differently.


For those into the sky the Milky Way is clearly visible as is Scorpio (in the center) and the Southern Cross (at the lower right.

Leaving to shoot another sunset in a few minutes.

Fiat Lux!

Did We Mention Tim Grey is Back?

Tim Grey, former Manager of the Institute just posted a new description for his March 22-26, 2010 course.  I'll let Tim tell you about it at  http://lightworkshops.com/tim%20_grey_photoshop_why_how_workshop.html


We also just added Tim to the roster of incredible instructors who will be here for the California Photo Festival this September.  Check out more at  http://californiaphotofest.com/timgrey.html


Give us a call if you would like any more information regarding Tim's sessions or anything else around the school.

Time to pack for Maui!

Fiat Lux!

A Few More AK Shots (Including a 24 shot HDR/Pano)



The shot above is from Deadhorse, AK.  A couple of rigs not in use this winter are quickly covered by ice and snow in the arctic conditions.  Very odd looking at what is in effect a "ghost" rig.  Couldn't help thinking of John Carpenter's The Thing, especially when it was a little darker.  This was just before the seasons first sunrise/sunset as the sun made it about 1/2 of the way above the horizon for 30 minutes.  Shots of the actual sunrise/set below.

The imaget is an HDR Pano built from 24 individual shots.  I used a Canon 7D and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L hand held in -43 degree temps with a -65 windchill.  Lightroom, Photomatix Pro, and Photoshop were all used in the process.

The two shots below are the sunrise/set from Deadhorse.  Unfortunately, there are very few interesting foreground elements on the tundra.  The shots are actually taken across the runway at the airport in "town."
Will put up a pano of a 737 and the sunrise soon.






Fiat Lux!

Rain, Rain, Rain = Wildflower, Wildflowers, Wildflowers



Back in California for a quick visit before I head to Maui for our Photo Adventure with Randy Hufford of IVA (www.ivamaui.com).  There is what I can only describe as a constant downpour outside.  Normally I might be bothered by such tremendous rainfall but I know what happens later in the spring because of it!

Donning my prognostication hat, the wildflower season is going to be amazing.  We'll update as the season progresses but expect big things.  Come out and join us with Jennifer Wu, Rob Sheppard, or Tim Grey during the season.

Fiat Lux!

Meanwhile..Back in Sunny California...



California Photo Festival is now official!
You can find out about our instructors and the festival at the website here:
http://www.californiaphotofest.com/

Rick Sammon is our Keynote Speaker and we currently have 11 instructors from the top of the industry to come be a part of our first annual festival!
Planning is still going on for particular schedules and venues so check the site after February for any updates and often after that as we include Tim Grey and a few others up my sleeve!
This should be a great event!

We will be accepting volunteers application soon.
Information on that is going to be posted on our site later in February as well as the volunteer application.

I'm getting excited as I work on this hourly!
I have a lot in store for you as this has been a dream of mine
since I started going to Photoshop World years ago!

Stay tuned for more!

Victoria

Couple Self Portraits



A self portrait last shot last night around 0230 local.  Northern lights were out (I'll put up some other shots without my unpleasant mug soon.)  Shot with a Canon 7D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, Benro C269, and RRS BH-40.  We are ghosted as I set the flash for first curtain and the second it fired we jumped out of the composition.  The shutter stayed open for another 15".  Why did we get out?  Because it was -40 with a -55 wind chill.  Too darn cold!




HDR self portrait from 3 shots 2 EV apart.  Have a pano version of this one as well.

Fiat Lux!

Looking East


15 shot HDR panorama
Canon 5D Mk II, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, Induro C213, RRS BH-55 and pano kit

Noticed that most of the shots we post are looking west.  Decided to put up a quick HDR pano looking to the east over Los Osos and Chorro valleys.  Took the fifteen component shots during Jennifer Wu's course here at Light a few months ago.

The components were prepped in Lightroom, merged in Photomatix Pro, optimized in LR, and finally stitched in Photoshop CS4.

Happy New Year and Fiat Lux!

Few Panos in Work


6 shots - @40 min after sunset 24mm, f/2.8, 20", ISO 200

Attached a few panos I am currently working.  All panos were shot with a Canon 5D Mk II, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, Induro C213, Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-55, and a RRS pano kit. Components were processed in Lightroom, stitched in Photoshop, and optimized with both programs.


9 shots - 24mm, f/16, 1/5", ISO 100


Speaking of panos, a new post on panorama tactics, techniques, and procedures may be found at the following link.  

Digital Photo Experience

If you haven't checked out the above site, there is some great information there.  I'll be contributing some pretty good stuff in the new year.


5 shots - 43mm, f/16, 1/3", ISO 100
Fiat Lux!