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How I took it: Oslob Sunset

This is a new segment to this blog.  A "How I took it" section where I'll blog about how I took a featured photo from start to finish.

Today's photo is a photo which I took during Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk 2012.  This is a sunset image taken at Oslob Municipal Heritage Site, Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. 

Ok, let's talk technicals.

Gears and Accessories

Camera:          Nikon D5000
Lens:                 Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6
Accessories:    Tripod
                           ND8 square filter
                           GND8 square filter
                           Corded remote trigger
No. of shots:    1 frame

Camera Settings:

ISO:                     200
Aperture:           f/11
Shutter Speed:   8secs

Metering:           Matrix

File type:             Raw

Color Space:     AdobeRGB

AF:                       Manual

Lens focus:         Infinity

Setup

I mounted the camera on the tripod.  Composed the shot to the entire length of the structure and of the sky.  I set the ISO to 200 and f/11.

Typically when using square filters you'll need a holder.  But since the scene was so perfect, I didn't have time to attach the holder so, I handheld both the ND8 and GND8 filters.  I carefully placed it in front of the lens. 

I then, set the focus on the lens to infinity.  I set the shutter speed to 8 secs, with the ND8 in front.  I intended to partially under exposed the image hoping to capture the colors of the sky.

And the resulting image below.

This is the SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) image, converted to jpeg, of course.

I know, its far from the final image.  So, let us go to post processing.

Applications used for final image

Lightroom 4.1
Photoshop CS6
Nik's Viveza

The Post Processing

First step is importing the image to Lightroom.  In LR (Lightroom), I did some global adjustments.  Here are the details under Basic Panel.

Temp	7050
Tint	-54
Exposure	0
Contrast	+31
Hightlights	-100
Shadows	+38
Whites / Blacks	0
Clarity	+36
Vibrance / Saturation	0

These are the only settings I’ve adjusted and nothing else.  See the result (below).



This is still no closer to the final image.  The sky is still a bit of blown out.  To get the details on the sky, we needed to under expose the image.  So in LR, I created a virtual copy of the image and these are the settings.

Temp	7050
Tint	-54
Exposure	-2
Contrast	+33
Highlight	-62
Shadow	-31
Whites	+55
Clarity	+45

And the result...

This is the virtual copy.

Now the sky has details.  Here’s a neat trick using Photoshop Layers.  Exported the two images to Photoshop by selecting the two images, right click –> Edit In –> Open As Layers in Photoshop...

In Photoshop, be sure to put the under exposed image under the correctly exposed image.

Now add a layer mask on the top layer.  Select the Brush Tool (B), and be sure that the black is active on the color palette by pressing (D). 

Adjust brush size by ( [ - open bracket) to decrease or ( ] - close bracket ) to increase.  Brush off the sky to bring out the sky on the layer below.  See image below.

Brush until you get the entire sky.  Be sure not to brush the building.  In case the building is brushed, press (X) to switch the palette to white and brush on the parts of the building that were brushed by black.

Now flatten layers by going to menu Layer –> Flatten  Image.

I applied Nik’s Software Viveza.  Adjusted Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Structure.  Increased the Shadow Adjustment to brighten the building.

Last step, I added my watermark.

Hope you’ve learned something.

A Must Read about HDR Photographers

I read about this article about The 10 Steps Every HDR Photographer Goes Through.  It is a really fascinating article.  I know I've been to some of these steps (if not all, at one point).

How bout you?  What step are you now? Which steps have you gone through?

Quick Tips: Turn Off In-camera Noise Reduction

In-camera noise reduction is now a default feature in existing and new digital slr's.  It is quite a useful little tool to make your photos better.  To me it is quite a nuisance because it slows the camera down.  The camera would take a bit of time processing to reduce the noise and in photography, every moment counts.  That is why I turn noise reduction off.

2 types of noise reduction

Most dslr's have two types of noise reduction: a High ISO noise reduction and a Long exposure noise reduction.

High ISO Noise Reduction

In most dslr's, High ISO NR will be applied on ISO800 and above and only on JPEG files will NR be applied.  High ISO NR will not be applied on RAW.

The thing I noticed when this option is turned on is that, in continuous-shot mode, the camera's image buffer will be lessened.  Instead, for example, a 20 image buffer at ISO400; when ISO is adjusted to 800 above, the image buffer goes down to about 10 images.  Then, the camera's frame rate slows down or, at times, disables the shutter because the camera is currently busy processing.

But when High ISO Noise Reduction is turned off, the camera can capture roughly 20 images before the buffer fills up.  This is why I turn this option off.

Long Exposure Noise Reduction

This option commonly uses a dark frame subtraction.  Basically, the camera takes an image with the shutter closed, a dark frame.  A dark frame is essentially an image of noise in a sensor and can then be subtracted on subsequent image to correct the noise.  

Now the kicker, if you take a 30 second exposure with this noise reduction option turned on, the camera would take another 30 seconds to capture the dark frame; giving you roughly 60 seconds (or more counting the NR process time) before you can take another shot.  

In landscape photography, every second counts especially if your shooting sunrise or sunset.  If every shot you make takes two times longer the shutter speed then you'd miss a lot of scenery.

This is why I turn this option off too.

If I turn off noise reduction feature, my images would be noisy.

Yes they would...

You can always reduce the noise on post.  Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw have effective noise reduction features.  These are found in the Details section, under Noise Reduction.

There are also lots of third party noise reduction plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom.  So your images will be noise free.

I also find the images captured with NR off a bit sharper compared to images where in-camera NR is applied.

HDR - Part 3: Importing and Processing

The Final Image

HDR post processing isn't that much difficult.  It really boils down to the creativity of the photographer on how to express the image.  I sometimes like it grungy but most of the time I like it realistic and not too saturated.  I often convert it to black and white.

I am using Photomatix to show this example.  These will be the images I'll be merging to HDR.

Import/Export the Images

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I use Lightroom and import the images there.  From Lightroom, I export it into Photomatix.

Select the three images, then export to Photomatix Pro, as seen on the image above.

Then you'd see this dialog box (above) with different settings.  Since the three images were taken handheld, Align images should be checked.

Ghosting refers to motion blur, I always check this to minimize motion blur on some objects.

And of course, reduce noise is checked for basically reducing noise.

Then export.

This is the Photomatix Pro window.  As you can see, the result is pretty much ok.

Photomatix Settings

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This is the adjustments panel in Photomatix Pro.  I won't describe each setting but you can point to a setting and a description will appear on the bottom (in this image, the Lighting Adjustment is described).  I'll just be focusing on the settings that I find essential.

Strength

Controls the amount of overall effect of the succeeding settings.  If you like the grungy effect, set this to 100%.

Color Saturation

Controls the overall saturation of the image.   If you wish to go black and white, set this to 0.

Luminosity

Controls the compression of tonal range.  If you move the slider to the right, it boosts shadow detail and brightens the image.  Opposite effects if slider is moved to the left.  

Detail Contrast

Controls the overall contrast of the image.  Moving the slider to the right increase contrasts, gives a sharper look to the image and darkens the image a bit.

Lighting Adjustments

Controls the overall "look" of the image.  For a natural look, move the slider to the right.  For a more painterly, surreal look, move it to the left.

White and Black Point

These two controls the highlights and shadows of the image.  I also controls contrast.

Gamma

Controls the mid tones.  Darkens or brightens the image globally.

Micro-smoothing

Controls small detail enhancements.  This tends to minimize noise, especially in the sky.  For a grungy look, set this to zero.

Quick Tips

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Here are a few tips on processing hdr.  I like a natural, detail, and a little bit grungy look in HDR images.  Here's my adjustment flow

1. Start with the default present on the photomatix pro.  The default present gives out a decent result for a natural look.  Don't forget after merging you can enhance the image in Lightroom and Photoshop.  The default present is always my starting point.
2. Try to get a natural detailed look.  Adjust Strength to 100, boost Detail Contrast (to a max of 80) and add a little Luminosity.
3. To lessen dark shadows, increase White Point and move Gamma to the right.
4. Add a little Black Point to increase contrast.
5. Add a little Micro-Smoothing to minimize that grungy effect.  And increase Smooth Highlights to preserve the sky.
6. Add a little Lighting Adjustment (to the right).
7. Now to get that natural look, decrease Strength to about 80.

Blending these settings takes time and practice.  Move the sliders to it's max and minimum to see how it affects the image then slowly adjust to your liking.  There is no right or wrong in HDR processing. you have the creativity freedom to do what you want your final image is.

Re-import to Lightroom

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After adjusting the image in Photomatix, hit Save and Re-import.  The final image will be re-imported to Lightroom for further enhancement.

Once in Lightroom, you can adjust the global Exposure, Contrast and Color of the image.  If you go grungy, increase Clarity.

I usually apply Nik's Viveza plugin and adjust Structure, Shadows and Brightness. 

You may further enhance the image by exporting it to Photoshop.

Photoshop Post Process

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In Photoshop you may enhance the image further.  Usually in Photoshop, I just apply my watermark.

Final Note

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This is only a basic tip on HDR processing.  Try to experiment on the different settings in Photomatix and see if you like the effect.  I sometimes just apply the Default Present in Photomatix and enhance the image in Lightroom and save the image.  Like I said, it takes time and practice.  Remember, every image is different; so try to adjust the settings in Photomatix.

Lightroom and Photoshop post processing isn't necessary but it does enhance the image further.

HDR - Part 1: Capturing Images
HDR - Part 2: HDR Software

HDR - Part 2: HDR Software

There are a number of HDR software.  HDRsoft Photomatix Pro 4, Nik HDR Efex pro 2 and Adobe Photoshop HDR Pro are some of the more popular software for HDR.

HDRSoft Photomatix Pro 4

Photomatix is probably the most popular HDR software.  This is what I use when rendering HDR images.  It has lots of options to adjust the image.  Creativity's the limit when it comes to the options provided by Photomatix.  

It has a plugin for Lightroom which is great for Lightroom users.  You can directly export the images from Lightroom to Photomatix then re-import after tone mapping.

Nik HDR Efex Pro 2

I enjoy plugins from Nik Software and HDR Efex Pro 2 in one of them.  HDR Efex Pro also has a lot of options to choose from.  What makes HDR Efex Pro interesting is it's U Point Technology wherein you may control the amount of effect on a specific area of an image.  It also has a plugin for Lightroom and it also integrates with Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop HDR Pro

Photoshop is the most popular photo editing software and it has built-in HDR rendering application.  It has lesser options but does a pretty good job creating HDR.  

What ever software you choose, remember when creating HDR images, the sky's the limit when it comes to creativity.

HDR - Part 1: Capturing the images
HDR - Part 3: Importing and Processing

HDR - Part 1: Capturing the images

What is HDR? How do you take these kinds of images? What is required to shoot such image? Read on and learn a few tricks on shooting HDR.

What is HDR?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. 

" HDR is a range of methods to provide higher dynamic range from the imaging process. Non-HDR cameras take pictures at one exposure level with a limited contrast range. This results in the loss of detail in bright or dark areas of a picture, depending on whether the camera had a low or high exposure setting. HDR compensates for this loss of detail by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels and intelligently stitching them together to produce a picture that is representative in both dark and bright areas. "  ~Wikipedia~

Simply put, HDR shows the bright, mid, and dark areas of an image.  It is a way to mimic how our eyes sees the world.  In HDR, the image can be processed exaggeratedly thus making the image more like a painting.  Nevertheless, HDR is like an art.

How to shoot HDR?

To make an HDR image, you'll need to have 3 images of the scene at different exposures.  This is where the auto bracketing feature of dslrs are used.  Typically you'll need a correctly exposed image, an overexposed image and an underexposed image.  

Here are some tips

Set your camera to shoot continuously or burst shot.  This needs to be set so as to avoid or minimize any motion blur, especially if your shooting with objects that may sway with the wind, like trees or plants. 

If your camera has a mirror lock or delay exposure, activate it.  This reduces blur from shutter movement.

If possible, mount your camera on tripod to minimize blur, especially indoors.

Use a shutter cord trigger to further minimize blur from pressing the shutter button.

Now for the different image exposure:

Auto way

Set your auto bracketing to bracket exposure (AEB) and  set it at 2EV interval.  Some cameras offer features like the number of images you'd like to bracket, but the default is 3 images.  You may go for more than 3, if your camera allows it, but just start with 3.

Manual way

If your camera doesn't offer an auto bracketing feature or you just want to manually adjust the exposure, then you may set the exposure manually.  You may: 1.) set exposure by adjusting the EV (exposure value) to +2EV and -2EV and using aperture priority mode; or 2.) manually adjust the shutter speed to 2 stops up and 2 stops down.  Of course, you can't use the continuous mode when doing manual adjustment.

Now take the 3 differently exposed images.   Check to see if you got: 1 correctly exposed image, 1 underexposed image and 1 overexposed image.

These 3 images will be used to process the HDR image by using an HDR rendering software like Photomatix, HDR Efex or in Photoshop.  Now you are ready for processing.



HDR - Part 2: HDR Software
HDR - Part 3: Importing and Processing