Friday, July 18, 2008

Sky Watch Friday: Prospect Hill Observatory

This is my first HDR photograph which I created on my Canon XSi using exposure bracketing. I shot a burst of three photos at normal exposure, underexposed and overexposed (see the photos below). Then I imported the jpg files into Photomatix, which combined all three exposures. I fiddled with the tone mapping, cropped out the Crazed Beagles, and got what you see above. I wish the sky were bluer but it was dark as night here this morning with thunderstorms while I was processing the photos. I thought I had the sky blue enough but obviously I didn't.

Normal exposure

This wooden observatory is at the top of Prospect Hill in Brownington. From it you can see mountains in a 360° view. Grandson Wingnut, daughter Amy and I took this short walk the other day for the Brownington Quest. The other photos will be posted here and at my other blog, meeyauw.

Underexposed
Some people despise HDR photos and other people love them. I enjoy playing with photos and software, so this is fun and a diversion for me from life's troubles. The HDR photo has more dimensions for my eyes than the regular photo. What is your opinion?

Overexposed

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19 comments:

  1. Andree,
    I think it's cool you like to play with your photos. It's a type of art, just as taking photos and never altering them is. Both have there place. ;-)

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  2. Hi. I like this photo very much. I don't understand much of what you described, but however you did it, I like it!

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  3. Perfect catch for SWF! Mine's up too hope you can drop by... Happy weekend!

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  4. I am betwixt and between. What you have ended up with is quite sensational. The tower wants to jump out at me - the silver is just magnificent. However, I keep coming back to the fact that it is not real. It is art. But then maybe all photography is art! As I go around the SWF sites, there are an amazing mixture of artistic and reality images. Some work better than others. What I really like in our image is the sky. The cloud formation you have ended up with is better than any of the individual formations that you snapped. The result is visually entrancing.

    As you can tell, I am betwixt and between. However, what I did appreciate was your explanation of the process. Not because you were out in the open about it, but just because I like to know how things are achieved and I do not have any background in Photoshop or similar. That would be obvious from my comments.

    I think you live in a very beautiful part of the world. I appreciate your work.

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  5. I love HDR pictures. They are so deep and rich. Regular pictures are beautiful, but they show what we really "see" with our eyes, they lack depth.

    This is something I was going to try over the weekend (I saw it on another site), but FIRST I have to figure out how to take over and under exposed pictures on purpose.

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  6. I would prefer to go to each one of you and leave a personal comment, but unfortunately or perhaps not, each week there are more of us participating. People of every corner of the world joined in a unique will – to see and share sky watch.
    So, this week in order to leave a comment in the most blogs, I had to write a single message to all of you.
    One thing I must say: I did really see your skies and enjoyed them all.
    See you next week! :-)

    I'm trying to do the same with my Photoshop CS2 but it doesn't appear to be good. Your is great!

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  7. the information is ..well informative .. I've seen HDR bandied about and never really understood it - I like the natural photos and I admire the tones and details in the HDR -- I can't decide whether it is just sharper or truly clearer.

    Am I right in thinking you have to have to choose (and have available) the HDR setting on the camera before taking the picture?

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  8. I personally like them, and I think if I could or knew how to I would find it compelling. I have seen many done by this method and been amazed.
    Great post

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  9. These are wonderful Andree. I admire your work, as always. Thanks.

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  10. It's very easy to make HDR pictures that look out of this world and edited.

    This one is very well taken and id doesn't look like HDR at first, wich is very good and hard to make. Nice picture!

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  11. Great photo. I'd like to up in it to see the view.

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  12. I have no idea what you are talking about but it is a great pic. MB

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  13. I love HDR pictures and your first attempt turned out great - well done! Hope to see more coming :)

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  14. I came back to read the comments again and ctch up on them.. I would thinka few folk out there would be interested in how these are done..if you ever fancy joining in on Paintbox pictures drop by... I'm sure other would love seeing more and lso picking up tips on how this works.
    Tom

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  15. I still don't know how you did it, but good job!

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  16. Interesting work and Great photo also I back Toms words it would be nice to see you post in Paintbox Pictures.
    The Team thanks you for posting at SW and helping to make this new venture a success.

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  17. Cool photo(s). I think it's fine to tinker with photos to enhance the colors and make them closer to how you remember the scene. I think HDR is a useful tool - one of these days I'll have to figure it out.

    My entry is here. Just some sunset photos after a very difficult day of travel.

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  18. I've never "played" with photos like you did, and truthfully, I don't understand it. But your results are wonderful. Love it!

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Thank you for leaving a comment on meeyauw's pad. I enjoy reading constructive comments, tips and ideas that help me improve my photographs.

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