Landscape Photography: Beautiful Experiences and HDR Images
July 21, 2009 by Alec
Filed under HDR, Landscapes
click image
Today’s post title is inspired by another amazing photographer, Guy Tal. In a recent post on his blog, Guy discusses the purpose behind his landscape photography, “…you are there to make images of beautiful experiences. Make it a beautiful experience first, and you will have something to photograph.” Guy’s writing articulates very well a message I’ve been delivering to camera clubs all winter and spring, and is the energy behind the name of my blog, EXPERIENCE, and its a major theme in my workshops. A huge THANK YOU to Guy for articulating this so well.
This image was made last Friday night, on the Beaver River as it enters Lake Superior, under the overpass. I left Saint Paul and arrived there with just one hour to shoot. It was cloudy, late, cool transitioning towards cold and beautiful. I photographed, I sat and watched a man catch a trout, and I listened to the water. I experimented and played with images, I got my feet wet because I forgot my waders. 3 1/2 hours to shoot for an hour, go to sleep and turn right around in the morning and drive back, and for what?
To EXPERIENCE. A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE. I’ve added some audio captured at the same time and location as the image, to add to the experience.
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Technical: ISO100, f/10, 24-70mm @70mm, 3 images/1 stop bracket HDR processed with Photomatix Pro software
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Inspiring image, Alec. I played the audio as I looked at the image, and imagined what it must have been like to be there. As you say, a beautiful experience.
How long was your shutter speed? Does HDR work when the subject matter is moving, as it is here? It seems like you'd be merging images that aren't identical. I guess, in this case, the blended images simply adds to the flow of the water. But if a tree had been blowing in the wind, it might have looked strange(?)
Hey K-Hawk,
Shutter speeds were: 6.0/3.2/13 seconds. The moving trees question is great. I'll try to answer it as best as possible, all relevant to the use of Photomatix.
The software has an option of trying to control for moving objects, like trees and people. In my experimentation I've developed a bias AGAINST using that option. Especially in circumstances like the ones during the creation of this image. For the trees etc. I prefer longer shutter speeds so there is some blurring of trees in each bracket. Then Photomatix results give a nice, natural blurred feeling. If I was using significantly shorter speeds, in essence freezing movement in some or all of the brackers, I'd get unacceptable results, with ghosting effects that don't look natural. So, where it suits my purpose I go with natural blurring and the software handles that very well. I've been doing some commercial work lately with cars moving in the images at various points and shutter speeds. Very different circumstance from trees, and yet I'm getting good/cool/acceptable results. In other landscape shots with much quicker speeds I've had results I didn't like at all.
Hope this helps, and thanks again for the comments and questions.
Cheers,
Alec
Stunning, Alec. Even more so with the sound.
Thanks
Wes
Hi Wes,
Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. Are you watching the TDF? Are you riding? Hope all is well, mon.
alec