HDR-Is It Real Or Not?

MICKEY'S DINER, above,  in downtown St. Paul, was manipulated on purpose to help define its unique positioning among the skyscrapers. The renowned diner has a storied history and the combination of color and b/w seemed to aid in visually describing its presence.  (Click on images to enlarge)

Pick up any newspaper, photo magazine, or dive into a feisty photography forum, and most likely you will see a discussion about HDR Photography.

The expanse of stories will range from its appropriateness in editorial publications to the incredible creative vision shooters bring to their imagery. What I've noticed over the last few years is how the definition of HDR has kinda morphed into something other than was it was originally introduced.

HDR, or High Dynamic Range, was a great tool allowing photog's the ability to extend the range of tonal values through a series of exposures combined into one. Bracketing several exposures to keep the highlights in check and bring out shadow areas, using HDR software gave the opportunity in difficult lighting situations the advantage of having all the desired tonal values in our photograph. Always a frustration to photog's to see it with our eyes, but full well knowing the limits of our medium were problematic. Wonderful software programs like Photomatix Pro provided a valuable tool. I have seen amazing HDR images particularly in architecture and landscape photography.

Holy smokes, a shooter can stroll into a fabulous hotel lobby in Morocco, see all those gorgeous mosaics and polished marble floors with windows running 20 feet high and be able to capture all the tonal values using HDR. In some ways, I guess it's the modern day equivalent to Ansel Adams Zone System using exposure & development to master complete tonality in a pre-visualized scene.

But, it seems when folks discuss HDR today, it less about the bracketing of exposures and more about the usage of colorful presets to manipulate and create super-duper dynamic images. It's so tempting to rev up the colors, contrasts, grain, vintage looks, whatever on some of your photographs. Chances are if you want it, a special effect is there waiting for you to click a button and see how your image reacts.

 The photograph of the Fulton Harbor Bait Stand in Fulton, Texas did not need any HDR ramping. It was a stormy scene in the twilight hours with bright neons and rain. Perfect for a natural shot. Yet, a slight boost in vibrancy using HDR Efex Pro gave it a bit more punch.

Superb programs like HDR Efex Pro, from Nik Software, make the process of creating fun. With all the presets available, you simply click on each effect, find the one to your liking, tweak it if you wish, and your altered image is banging at the door to be shared.

Therein lies the biggest controversy under the umbrella of HDR. Not that an image has been altered or gone too far in appearance, but ultimately where its being presented. Its my opinion that any image taken for documentary, news, or journalistic purposes cannot be altered. If an image is altered and used in an editorial publication, it needs to be captioned as such.

The biggest abuse of this seems to be in landscape photography. Why? Because an image can be made more dynamic and interesting than it was in real time. After the debacle last year over the News coverage of Iceland's volcanic eruptions, images were juiced up in saturation to accentuate the glow of the spewing lava, but in reality the scene was flat and tame in comparison. This is misleading to a audience seeking truth in coverage. Its a line that can't be crossed in this type of photographic coverage, no matter how cool it looks. Its place is to be real. And, its time to go old-school in the most traditional of approaches and just be there at the right time. Be a photographer, not a technician in post-processing.

Some publications today will even ask the photog for RAW files if an image appears to be over-manipulated for verification. Let's face it, the credibility of the publication. Its not a bad idea.
However, let's say an editorial magazine hires you to do a photo essay on State Parks. It allows you the freedom to create images any way you choose. You might choose to shoot the entire essay in over-the-top HDR imagery as a visual style. Its how you wanted to shoot the essay. Even though this is in an editorial publication, this approach is a personal vision and totally acceptable. Where the line might be crossed is if the photographer's work included within the collection of "straight" images of some of the State Park's natural gifts, images that are enhanced through software. When this happens, what can the viewer believe is real or not real.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I still cherish the hunt of making real photographs. Doing my homework, being at the right place at the right time, allowing instincts and purpose dictate what I'm trying to say visually. Its what I still do professionally and I never mix the real with the experimental in the magazine work I do.

That said, I'm also a visual artist. Experimentation has from the very start been part of my interest in this medium. From the days of darkroom work, creating multiple images in what master photographer Jerry Uelsmann did in his painstaking "Saving Silver" process, to sepia tones warming a photograph, to today with the multitude of iPhone app's allowing us to create images on the fly with numerous image flavors to choose from. Its exciting and creative.

We have more options for visual expression than ever before. While the economic model of being a photographer has changed forever, its also a very exciting time to be a photographer. Experiment away, make the boldest, most outrageously creative images your imagination allows. I know I will.


But, I think a line has been drawn in the sand on what's real and what's not real. Its up to us shooters to understand where that line exists.

 :)

And, my favorite way of shooting. The natural gifts of light, movement of the swirling currents along the shores of Lake Superior make a beautiful, natural photographic capture.

Minnesota Twins Fans at Home Opener in Time-Lapse

Thanks for all the emails about this quick TIME-LAPSE sequence created of baseball fans streaming into Target Field for the Home Opener of the Minnesota Twins in downtown Minneapolis.

I enjoy photographing crowds and this was a good opportunity in a festive environment (even if they did lose the game!) to observe the river of people flowing towards the ballpark.

I won't go into deep detail on this process since there's no substitute for experience, but here's a few tips to get you going. Once you create your first time-lapse sequence, your brain quickly fills with ideas that will take you out shooting feeding that creative energy.

For the one created here, I shot 500 frames at 3 second intervals. I'm using my Nikon D3 and in the Shooting Menu I scrolled down to Interval Timer Shooting. Check your owners manual for this camera and the camera you have for add'tl detailed info. To capture this many images it took 25 minutes. 60 seconds divided by 3 fps (frames per second) = 20 x 500 = 25 minutes.

Once the images are captured, I load them into Lightroom, and for the purposes of speed and efficiency, I converted them all to 72 dpi. Once converted, I placed them in a folder on my desktop and opened Quick Time Pro, a $30 software program that turns the images into a Quicktime Movie. To see how this is done, there are several wonderful videos on You Tube with good lessons on creating Time Lapse movies.

As an alternative to Quick Time Pro, you can also use Lightroom. While Lightroom does not have a 24 fps preset (which is the most desired fps) you can get one free from Sean McCormack at Lightroom-Blog.com and download the presets in a Zip file and load into LR. Thanks Sean for creating this. Follow his simple instructions and your on your way. http://lightroom-news.com/2009/10/28/direct-timelapse-video-export-from-lightroom/

I tried several different fps and as expected, the 24 fps were the best for this. When I dropped down to 10 fps the time-lapse appeared choppy and too slow. While I could see more of what people were doing, the flow was off and not pleasing. I jumped to 50 fps and I got tired just watching all the people run so fast. So, settling into 24 fps worked well. There is enough time to see the flow, watch what people were doing and not lose interest.

If you have time-lapse settings on your camera, take the camera out for a walk and give this a try. You could even train the lens on the birdhouse in your backyard and shoot 500 frames per second as they feed their babies this Spring. Of course, with time-lapse you will need a tripod, and turn off the auto-focus. I've done exposure both ways, on manual and auto. Both worked fine. I'd prefer manual, but in the case of clouds moving back-n-forth over the sun, exposures changed 3-4 stops. That's too much of an exposure swing. Keeping the camera on auto allowed for good exposures of my main subject through-out the 500 frames.

Go out and have fun. Think stars, storms and streets. You'll be amazed at the world seen in a time-lapse sequence.

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight

Creating photographs in winter brings its own set of challenges. Its a good thing photographers are capable problem solvers or this season could easily get the best of you.

The first obstacle, the most common one, can be overcome with desire and proper clothing. Let's face it, when its really biting cold it takes a compelling reason to get out and shoot. I see this more than anything else in winter months with shooters. They resist pulling the camera out of the bag and shooting. Its easy to stay bundled up and warm. Yet, the moment you activate your imagination and start creating, you overcome the chill and walk away with images only a handful of people are willing to capture.

The second winter hurdle?  Light.

All photographers understand that light is everything. A bright, sunny winter day can be a tough working situation with contrast and exposure. Yet, capturing good winter light can really make a photograph electric and lively. And, the quality of light in the high arctic, with its pink hues and soft texture is some of the most gorgeous light found anywhere on the planet. Seeing deep blues against a snowy scene is a marriage akin to peanut butter & jelly. It just works.

And technology has made some fancy advances to making our lives pleasant and more productive. Personally, I think the greatest innovation in the digtial age are those wonderful "blinkies" that instantly provide information about overexposed areas. I never use a histogram, but adore that flashing black light indicating I've lost data in the bright areas. What a great tool.

The flip side to sunny conditions is that limp light, dark and heavy that provides no contrast, miniscule inspiration, and its own nasty method of defiance. This really pushed the best shooters to a mode of creative options that while limited, can be very rewarding. The best way to think of this is bad light can be good light...........for some visual techniques.

I like implementing two techniques as soon as I see light go limp. That dark overcast light is actually quite good to use with panning for motion and also close-ups. The light is even, though dark, and along with a good exposure subjects come to life.

Panning is one of my favorite types of images to create. They are a nice break to the frozen still shot and offer the viewer a new way of seeing a moment in time. And, don't be afraid to break out that flash and use it with your long panning expsoures. This technique, which we used to define as "flash & slash" is a great way to add motion and sharp focus in a photograph.

Last week while dogsledding in Northern Minnesota, the weather pattern could be ID'd in the dictionary under the word GLOOMY. Holy darkness Batman, it was dark all day and did not fluctuate one f/stop the entire day until darkness set in. We missed shots like fresh wolf prints in the new snow because of the flat light to name one. But, when we broke out the Nikon SB 900's and kicked in Rear-Curtain Sync, we started having fun.

There is a secret to using the flash & slash technique that will dramatically improve your adventure
photography. This same skill set is popular in outdoor portraits as well so the technique has numerous valuable contributions to your personalized vision. Using dark conditions with digital is not something you should shy away from or put your camera away for the day. Use the darkness to experiment with new and exciting ways of shooting.

In the photo below, the light was already too dark capture action, even at very high ISO's. So, I put on the Nikon SB 900 Speedlight on my D3 and took a normal ambient exposure. My fastest reading was 1/6th of a second. Way too slow to stop action. But, I knew if I set my camera on Rear Curtain Sync (your camera by default is set to Front Curtain Sync) and flashed the dogs, I get get some movement and also some sharpness. The perfect combo in this conditions.

                                  CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

The key here is the ambient exposure.

Here's another photo taken just moments later using a faster shutter speed with the Rear Curtain Sync still set. You can see the difference. The ambient light has gone dark, like those terrible christmas party photos you've seen thousands of times. The subjects are brightly lite by the flash and the light fall off is extreme and your subject swims in a sea of blackness.

This is the reason for using the REAR CURTAIN SYNC. The flash fires at the end of the exposure as opposed to the beginning of the exposure. This technique "pops" the flash at the end freezing the action giving you a sharp split-second at the end of a long exposure. If you were set for front-curtain sync, the flash fires at the beginning and the remaining exposures washes over flash creating a blurring result.

In this photo, as dogs are returned to the dog yard after a day of running lakes and forests, the light has usually gone. But, its important to see the dog yard. A automatic photograph flashed with blackness wrapping the scene gives your audience little or no information about what's happening. They want to see what's going on. The dogs are so strong that its easier to lift their front feet off the ground to get them safely to their doghouse. Its part of the story and capturing it is integral to understanding the dynamics of the dog yard. This technique allows you to do that!

So, on the next nasty, dark day go out and give it a go. Practice with moving subjects, and your camera set at rear-curtain sync.

In this photo, a straight pan with no flash is another effective way to capture action with movement.
Just keep that thought in the back of your head when shooting in poor light;

Bad light is good light!

iArt with iPhone

Editor Sarah McKenzie called with an idea to do a short article on the creative use of the iPhone camera. The number of creative app's for the iPhone have simply exploded on the market. Some are wonderful visual tools and others not so great.

I thought I'd share Sarah's article here.

Man Versus Nature

Man Versus Nature

I'm stealing a few moments this morning editing images and jotting down notes for an upcoming presentation in Minneapolis, PHOTOGRAPHING THE WILD.

Staying focused on a project like this can be tough as the tendency to weave all over the place blossoms because the concept takes on many faces. It’s like going to a tile store picking out tile for kitchen remodeling effort....so many choices, where do you start?

Something happened during the edit that has found a voice in the program. I’m surprised at the number of images snapped on the edges of wilderness that are as strong as those created inside the wilderness.

I recall reading Roderick Nash’s famed book, WILDERNESS & THE AMERICAN MIND and one of his descriptions of wilderness.

“If paradise was early man’s greatest good, wilderness, as its antipode, was his greatest evil. In one condition the environment, garden-like, ministered to his every desire. In the other it was at best indifferent, frequently dangerous

and always beyond control.”

Author Edward Abbey offered this quip;

“Wilderness in not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.”

On a recent assignment covering moose on Isle Royale National Park, we didn’t see a moose in five days. In fact, we never saw one. We backpacked over 45 miles searching the shoreline of Lake Superior, the interior, back country ponds and lakes, nothing. Finally one night we heard one, bellowing for a mate. It was during a new moon phase so the blackness was heavy. The only light came from stars and a faint aurora trying to ignite over Canada. It was so still outside and every sound magnified over the lake as we sat at the edges of the water. When the bull moose entered the water to swim to his girlfriend, his each breath we could “see” in our minds. We he rose out, the water streaming off his back illuminated our brains. It was a wonderful wilderness moment, absent of light pollution, sounds of trucks, people and sirens. Certainly, this is one of the reasons why I gravitate towards the woods.

I fell asleep that evening with these images of sound dancing through my head. The next morning we awoke to wolves in our camp (more on this experience later) as we found ourselves in the middle of a pack separated in the early morning light. We were between pack members and they desperately wanted to regroup. During this 20 minute wilderness experience I was more alive than I’ve been in years. These are the rewards of wilderness.

But, photographing wilderness is getting to be more and more difficult. First, urban expansion, demands for energy, and accessibility creep in ever so slowly. Then, the record number of photographers out there wanting to capture that quintessential image. It used to be that getting up at 2:00 a.m., driving to the trailhead, hiking three hours to beat sunrise at a predetermined location was enough to secure the chance to see and document something special. Now, there’s lines at the trailhead, countless shooters lining the prime spots, and aggression (of which I detest) in not sharing the spot with kin folk who made the same trek to arrive there for the gold.

Personally, when I’m faced with these situations, I turn my lens on the crowds. That seems to be the story for me at. I've seen folks just go nuts over this, like something has been stolen from them. It is what it is and there's reasons for it and some will argue, we are our own contributors to the problem. Through our photographs, we popularize these locations.

It belongs to everyone. Its simply more challenging to have it all to yourself.

Keep your eyes open. Remember that often times the story of wilderness is on the edges of the wilderness. Wilderness means something different to everyone.

The visual scenes that document man’s encroachment, the crowds around an iconic landmark, nature fighting back, or simply something as whimsical as Carhenge, just outside of Alliance, Nebraska in the middle of the prairie can tell a story. How it’s interpreted is up to the viewer.

Visual Transparency

Visual Transparency

There’s a word we don’t hear much anymore when discussions of photography arise, Transparency. I still like the word and the beauty it represents in my mind. Immediate thoughts of rich Kodachromes dance through my head. And, let’s face it, Transparency is way more romantic than saying RAW FILE.

What seems like thousands of years ago, in my college days, I was home in Austin, Texas where my parents lived at that time. Home on summer break and feeling the need to create something photographic, I found myself loading slides in Dad’s kodak carousal projector. Looking for a clean surface to project the images, an idea suddenly triggered.

I loaded a variety of images into the tray, took the projector outside and projected images onto a concrete stairway in front of the house. It looked pretty cool. Some images worked well and others became visually confusing. For the most part, I liked what I saw. The images were broken up with deep shadows between each step. I ran and got my camera and photographed the stairs with a number of different images.

Moving into my junior year of college, I had submitted one of those photographs of the stairs to a National Photo Contest. It got published!

It was my first published photograph. I recall how exciting that was. I felt like my canoe had slid into the mainstream and I was on my way. Poor stupid college kid....My Professor summed it up perfectly stating, “You're only good as your last photograph.” It took a while for that to make sense, but eventually it did.

Last year while teaching one of my 72HOURS Photo Workshops at the MPC (Minneapolis Photo Center) I broke into the visual bank and pulled this projection concept out of the vault once again. I incorporated the projection images in a workshop titled Environmental Nudes. As before, through trial and error, we came up with several images that really moved us. We repeated it again last week during another workshop.

It was a unique and creative way to photograph nudes. I’ve always thought photographing nudes was one of the most difficult subjects to photograph. Along with the stigma of nakedness in the U.S., there is a fine line between art and non-art nude photography. Creating successful images, not going over the top, not using the body for erotica, but as a canvas of light and form, exceptionally rewarding photographs can be obtained.

I hope you agree!

Looking Ahead-Hitting Home Runs

I'm not much of a New Year's resolution kind a guy. I have enough projects to keep me busy for another 100 years. So, I don't dwell on such things. Some are bigger than others. My big job today, this last day of 2011 was making a huge batch of homemade chili.

Mission accomplished! And let me tell you, I pureed some jalepano peppers, spread them on cream cheese inside crescent rolls and baked them......oh my! So good with chili. My goodness, I get easily sidetracked.

Over the holiday season I had the pleasure of touching bases with several good friends. Many of which are peers in the field photography. Conversations rolled all over the place, with topics ranging from family, the stagnant economy, upcoming shoots, and my favorite, why we do what we do. That spiritual connection we have being photographers.

One of the things I cherish about my photo friends is we don't compete with each other. We do our own thing, exploring, creating, learning. Granted, our images are often in the same edit pool or assignment desk in which clients make choices, but in conversation we share ideas, bitch about stuff, and in the end marvel that we are doing what we do. In fact, when I'm unavailable for an assignment, I suggest these folks to the editor because it does both the client and these talented shooters good. And, they do the same for me.

I've always found it tough going around people I sense are hiding something from me. They give off the vibe they have something on you, then refuse to, share. Its such a waste. They fail to realize that blurting out ideas can allow those ideas to percolate and genuine thoughts from others can add depth. I see this both professionally and in some of the workshops I teach.

So, if I were to make any suggestions for rising & aspiring shooters looking ahead to 2012 it would be to put yourself on pace to hit a few home runs. Share ideas and images. Take on a visual project and push it to a conclusion. Talk to others about it. Share it. There are tons of good places on the internet to share these projects. Investigate a subject/theme and reap the benefits of all those lessons that will reward you on so many levels. It will make you a better photographer and a wiser person. And, invariably, you will find new themes within the one your are developing. I swear on every story I shoot, I find several mor

e within it worth pursuing. Its a win-win.

In a day where it feels like everything that can be photographed, has been photographed, its time to go hunting. I find new moments revealed at the click of my shutter all the time. Ya just gotta get out there with your lens.

A good example: I teach a series of workshops called 72HOURS at the Minneapolis Photo Center (MPC). I choose a different theme and for three days we go out and shoot that theme. In the end, produce a book of those efforts. Last Spring we did one called 72HOURS Stone-Steel-People. We went all over Minneapolis/St. Paul searching for subject matter that related to this topic. Many of the subjects we photographed we photograp

hed with fresh eyes because we were following a theme. Without that theme, the story line, we quite possibly on any other day, would've walked right past those moments.

Using the theme as a visual vehicle, we gave ourselves permission to create because they had relevance based on our theme. You can see where I'm going with this can't you? There's lots of photographic material out there! Attaching a theme steers you in a direction.

Consider following a theme. It is a great way to kick off your new photographic year. Don't be fooled that its a trivial way to create. Its not. You can pick a simple theme or one more involved.

Along with the several I have on tap already, I'm determined to spend more time photographing Gaea here in Minneapolis whose face intrigues me to no end. She is someone I really want to photograph. Its a theme. Its one of my plans. And, she's right here in the neighborhood. I have no economic reasons to photograph her. I feel a calling to do so.

Minor White once said when referring to making photographs, "Listen to the Messages." This is an obvious message to me and I will pursue it as I can.

Grab that camera and lens and hit some home runs with your efforts. Its like that party you didn't want to go to and once you got there, had buckets of fun.

Happy New Year!

layne & gang