Photo of the Week

This photo is an interesting abstraction of a light in my kitchen that sort of looks like a firework. The image is actually is a combination of two photographs that are merged to show detail in both the bulb and the shade. The image of the bulb was photographed at f/22, 1/250" and the shade part of the image was photographed at f/22, 1/30". In Photoshop, I overlaid the bright photo over the dark photo and used a layer mask to paint out the overexposed bulb, showing the properly exposed bulb beneath.

Creating HDR Images in Photoshop

High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) is a process to display detail in both the highlights and shadows of an image with high contrast. The process usually starts with several exposures of the same picture - Normal exposure, under exposure (to get details in highlights), and over exposure (to get details in the shadows). Photoshop has great tools for merging photos into 32-bit HDR images, but you must purchase additional plug-ins or software (Such as the Photomatix Tone Mapping Plug-in) to get the image to display properly on you monitor or in print. The software performs a process called Tone Mapping, which basically selectively displays dark parts of the highlights, normal parts of the midtones, and bright parts of the shadows.

This tutorial will give you similar results without the need for expensive Tone Mapping software.

Start by taking three exposures of the same shot - Normal Exposure, Overexposed, and Underexposed. A lot of camera have an auto-bracketing feature that will do this for you automatically. Start by getting all three photos into one Photoshop file by going to File-> Scripts-> Load Files into Stack. Choose the files of the three exposures and check the box to attempt to automatically align the images if your shots were done without a tripod. This will put all three photos onto their own layers. Reorder the layers so that the overexposed image is on top, the under exposed image is in the middle, and the normal exposure is on the bottom.

Add a layer mask to the overexposed layer. Then select Image-> Apply Image... In the dialog box, select Multiply blending mode and check the box that says "Invert".

Add a layer mask to the underexposed layer and apply the image again to this layer mask, only uncheck the "Invert" option. That's it!

The resulting image, of course may need some tweaking of the color saturation and levels. I performed this process with a test image that I shot, and the resulting image appeared to have fairly good detail in the highlights and shadows. The midtones appeared a little over-saturated, especially the reds. Using the Photomatix Tone Mapping Plug-in, the resulting image appeared very grainy and unrealistic, with much less detail in the highlights and over-exaggerated highlights.

Is it worth the extra money for a lens with image stabilization?

I recently purchased a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens for my Canon to complement the kit zoom lens. I initially figured the wide aperture would make it great for shooting in low light without flash. I did not consider the fact that the 50mm lens does not have image stabilization. After a couple of hours using the "fast" 50mm lens, I quickly realized that I still need about the same amount of light to get sharp handheld shots as I did with my f/3.5-5.6 kit zoom lens. The difference is the image stabilization. With the IS lens and a motionless subject, I can shoot at much slower shutter speeds without any noticeable camera shake in the final image. Therefore, for me, the image stabilization is a feature that I must have, especially with a telephoto lens. Combine IS with a fast lens, and you have the best of both worlds.

Photo of the Week

This week's photo has two parts. Left side shows the original image of some flowers that came out extremely overexposed. I should have trashed this photo, but for some reason I was playing around with it in Photoshop. When I inverted the photo, I was surprised at how beautiful the image now looked. The shadows areas of the flowers now seem to glow as if the flowers themselves are generating their own light.

The next 5D?

While researching what digital SLR camera to buy, I really fell in love with the image quality of the Canon 5D. The full frame (35mm) image sensor spreads the photo receptors over a larger area, resulting in much lower noise and excellent tonal gradation. The problem is this camera came out in 2005, which is like ancient history in gadget terms. Canon is due to update the 5D and rumor has it the new version will be called the "5D Mark II". This is a camera that I truly am excited about.

Here are some features I hope will make it into the 5D Mark II:
1. Slight boost in resolution to 14 Megapixels. This will put it slightly above the 12 megapixels offered on the existing 5D and the "entry level" Rebel XSi (450D). I feel that 14MP is the magic number to get it equal to the resolution of 35mm film, and to keep the pixels spread out far enough on the sensor to maintain great performance.
2. Increase the buffer size and continuous shooting rate for getting the perfect live action shot.
3. Update the menus and user interface to make it look and feel similar to the latest Canon models. A colleague of mine who is a 5D owner was drooling over the user interface of my XSi.
4. Live View. A lot of photographers say the live view is useless, but I have live view on my XSi, and I love it for still life and product shots while using a tripod. It allows you to see the full image right on your LCD screen, letting you zoom in for perfect manual focus. It even gives you a preview of the exposure level when you adjust the aperture and shutter speed.
5. Built-in flash? I know that using the built-in flash is not Kosher for serious photographers, but it would be great to have the ability to add a little fill light without having to lug around a bulky external flash.