New plug-in ... Color Efex

On a night where you're bored, there's really nothing to do but shoot.



The steps I used included:
- HDR merge 5 exposures using Photomatix Pro 3

- B&W conversion using Color Efex Pro 3 plug-in for Photoshop CS3

- Minor sharpening to finish it off

This is the first time I've used the Color Efex Pro plug-in, and its conversion of colour to B&W is way better than everything else I've used. Some people will simply desaturate a photo to make a greyscale image, more experienced users will use the built in channel mixer in Photoshop CS3 ... and they both work fine.

But why settle for the ordinary? In one step, I can now produce the same result as I used to when I needed to use 3 or 4 steps in photoshop.

So definitely check it out guys, Color Efex Pro

Oh by the way, this photo was done pretty late at night at ANZ stadium (in case you couldn't notice the big sign) ... and the rangers don't exactly like it. So if you want to get in there and do some shots, get what you need asap ... and if they show up, atleast you already have what you want. They'll just rave on about how the car is parked illegally and you're not supposed to be taking photos etc, ignore them and move along :)

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Cokin neutral density filters ... not so neutral?

There is a saying that every photographer lives by. No matter what they major in, whether it be sports, landscape, wildlife or even paparazzi ... they all say "if I can get one good photo out of this shoot, I'm happy". After all, it only takes one great photo to make people say wow.

Today's shoot was pretty much based on one subject, and I worked mainly on one angle. Not something I normally do, I normally like to explore my options when I arrive on site ... but today I went there with one photo in mind and I wasn't going to go home without it.

This photo is actually not as photoshopped as it may seem. It is a 5 photo HDR (all photos approx 30secs in shutter speed). After merging the 5 photos, it was simply minor colour and levels adjustments to different parts of the photo.

One thing I should say though, that blue/purplish tinge in the sky and water are straight out of the camera. When I do landscape photos, I almost always use a Cokin graduated ND8 filter. Whenever I use this filter along with a long exposure, this colour cast always crops up. Some photographers hate this cast, but I quite like it, especially during the twilight hours.

p.s. This shipwreck is at Homebush Bay, Sydney. Yep, bet you didn't know that did you?

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Photomatix Pro 3 (finally got rid of 2.5)

I finally decided to update my HDR software. The one I've been using since I discovered HDR was Photomatix Pro 2.5, I now use Photomatix Pro 3.13 (or something like that). The differences are subtle, a slightly modified UI (User Interface), and the menus are in language that the layman can understand (more or less).

To understand why computer generated HDR images are necessary, we have to get a little more technical. To start with, a camera with a higher dynamic range allows you to capture more detail in the highlights and shadows of scenes. When you look back at your images, you may notice blown out highlights (that stay white no matter what you do), and dark shadows (that stay black no matter what you do). A camera with a higher dynamic range will actually give you some detail in those parts.

This is getting more and more important as a lot more people (from a wider market base) are buying DSLRs. Traditional film has a dynamic range of approx 15 stops, the dynamic range for my EOS 50D is approx 8.5 stops. To get around this massive shortage of dynamic range, us digital users can do 2 things:

1) Live with it (and you actually can ... most of the time)

2) Take a few photos. Underexposed, correct exposure, overexposed (doesn't need to be in that order)

Once you have taken those photos, a program like photomatix can be used to blend all of them. After minor adjustments, we end up with a photo like the one above. There is detail in every single part of the photo (where there is supposed to be). At 100% view on the original edited photo, the detail is astonishing.

Apart from getting an incredible amount of detail, you can get quite a nice effect on the photos as well. Give it a try.

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Who killed Black & White?

From the days of the Daguerreotype, calotype and even the tintype, a majority of the history of photography was captured in monochrome. The images were a black and white rendering of real life scenes and situations. Even when colour photography first came around, it made more sense to capture in black & white. Colour processing was very expensive, and the images were poor.

The quick expansion and improvements in colour photography made black and white processing a chore to find and develop. Less and less stores carry B&W film, less labs process in B&W, and colour was a breath of fresh air to a tired and worn out hobby.

Good news is ... black and white is back!

In a world where everything is saturated in colour and dominated by pixels, B&W gives off the illusion of "real", and to many ... it seems fresh (we love the retro stuff). The driving force behind this movement is that shooting in B&W allows the photographer to learn more about how highlights, shadows, lines, patterns, exposure all affect the final product. A lot of times, colour assists in hiding the imperfections of the final product e.g. a saturated photo can make a low contrast photo look acceptable. As a result, many photography students learn the basics of photography with B&W Ilford film and darkroom processing.

The image above was taken with my EOS 50D, but I decided I needed a different outlook to a tired and overblogged landscape. Initially it was a 5 photo HDR, but the post crop and monochrome afterwards made the difference.

NB: Need some new locations to shoot, let me know if you have any suggestions

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Undiscovered

It's true when people say that you can make a good photo out of nothing. With the right timing, right inspiration and the right processing you can do a lot with some very ordinary photos. The pano above is a little different to what I normally do, I tend to be conservative and keep my photos looking as real as possible. In this case, I went crazy with the levels adjustments, masks, and colours ... and ... I like it. If not for the moment of madness, this pano would NOT catch your eye the way it did (don't pretend it didn't) and you wouldn't even take a second look at it.

This HDR is another example, the subject is more interesting, but there isn't a whole lot to it. After processing in Photomatix Pro, I played around with the sliders in CS3 until I created an effect that I was happy with. It's all about trial & error, and when you finally get the right blend of elements you'll be very surprised with what you've created.

Both photos were taken in Vietnam when I was on holidays earlier. I tend to dig back at my old photos in the hard drive and find undiscovered potential like these two photos. To the photographers out there that snap as much as I do (more than 1000/month), then keep them safe in an external hard drive ... keep looking back as much as you can, every now and then you'll be rewarded.

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Conquering power of nature (Part 2)

Part 2 of the hike is when things start to get real rough. But first, the photo from weeping rocks that I promised in the last post.

This is a 5 shot HDR photo taken with my Canon EOS 50D and EF 24-105 f4L. There is also another photo of a cascade found in the Charles Darwin trail

Again, this is also a 5 shot HDR, with the same camera and lens. The HDR technique had to be used since the afternoon sun was causing havoc with exposure.

Now that we got all that out of the way, we'll get to the rough patches. From the top of the waterfall, the track turns into a narrow, rocky cliffside trail. This lack of space is further compounded with steep and even narrower staircases which lead you around these cliffs and eventually to the wentworth pass track.

The path leads to a fork, one leading to the experienced hiker trail, and the second leading to the amateur/beginners trail. Knowing us, we decided to take the quicker and more direct way down (turned out to be the experienced track). Some stair cases were as steep as ladders, and descending down those steps with a camera backpack, SLR hanging from the neck and a tripod in the left hand was a bit of a task.

Long story short, we didn't manage to ge tt othe very bottom like we initially wanted to. Mostly because the sun was abut to set, and thinking about the return trip in only the moonlight was a tad daunting. Nonetheless, I made a promise to myself that I'll go back there during summer (longer days) and earlier with one goal in mind ... get to the bottom.

After a determined and even more painful trek back up to the top and our car, we drove to Echo Point, where you can see the Three Sisters. Temperature would have been about 2 degrees, with gusts of wind battering against our jackets and tripods. Here is the best photo I could get with close to zero light, zero focusing ability, and zero body heat.

With that said, it was an awesome day, and there is great satisfaction to completing 2 out of 3 trails. Next time will be even better, photos too.

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Close to the end

less than 24hrs until freedom. Free from uni, lab reports, assignments, exams, pracs for a month. Doesn't sound like much, but I've been looking forward to this for a LONG time. Hopefully I'll find the time to do more shooting, work some extra shifts, scan some of my old photos as digital media etc. There's plenty to do, and very little time, but I'll make the most of it.

While I was thinking about the things I'll be doing in these upcoming holidays, I rummaged through the external HD where I keep all my photos and found an old favourite.

This is a photo taken from UTS Tower level 27 (most people will know UTS tower as one of the ugliest yet iconic buildings in Sydney) facing towards Central station. It was also back when I was still using my EOS 400D. I had to reprocess the colours/tones/crop/HDR as I've developed a new style of editing since. Overall, it's not the greatest photo, its not the sharpest, and doesn't show a whole lot of detail either ... but I just really like this photo, and I don't know why.

As I write this I should really be studying for my CSI exam tomorrow morning, so I'll keep it short.

Handy photo hint: Right when you think you can't get a new perspective of the city (or anything landscape), get up high (really high), and you'll get some unexpected results.

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From the past

I've decided to continue on my HDR craze, this was done using auto-exposure-bracketing (AEB) handheld. On occasions where there's a fair bit of shade and a strong sun blaring down, HDR is often the way to go in terms of getting detail in every part of the photo.

This is a picture of an old Vietnamese war tank, similar to the Type 59 main battle tanks used by the People's Republic of China. And ofcourse, it's nowhere near as gangster as Master P's "No Limit" gold tank seen in the music video "make em say uhh".

With everything going on in the world, so many people are saying "you only hear about what they want you to hear" (about the war). Which is true ... what's more true, is that we are also only seeing what the media giants want us to see, in terms of photos from the war. Sure there have been some graphic and confronting photos in the press, but I'm sure that what we're seeing is tame compared to what's hidden from us.

Of course, people are saying that they WANT to see these photos, and they WANT to hear the untold stories. In my opinion, they only think they want to know, and they're only saying they want the truth because they know they won't get it. People are going to come to me on facebook, on msn, on twitter, text msg (whatever) and say I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't blame you, because this is a pretty polarising issue ... and I'll be the first to admit that I'm curious to know what's being hidden from the public.

I'll even admit that at times I'm outraged with the exaggerated emphasis that the media places on certain issues, Matt John's "scandal" for example, Matty Johns took the fall for EVERYONE in the Shark's organisation, and EVERYONE let him fall.

We all know that the media doesn't always have truth on its agenda, they love rage and controversy ... and why wouldn't you if it was making you $$$. They place an overemphasis on some things, while completely burying other issues under the carpet. Sure it's easy to blame people like James Packer and other media giants, but we should all have a good look in the mirror. Because it's US that fuels their drive, they publish things for US, and whether you like it or not we actually DO want to read that crap. Without us, there is no them ... what's in music if there is no one to appreciate it?

But as always, feel free to read MY crap, and wonder what photo I'm going to publish next, along with what photo's I'm hiding from all of you :)

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A distant reminder

The first sign of a true winter ... max temps of 14 degrees for the day.

Todays photo will serve as a reminder of what I will be missing out on until winter is over.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 17-50 f2.8

Settings: Various - 7 photo HDR

And yes, I have continued my recent craze of HDR photos. This photo was taken during a sunrise photoshoot at Long Reef. That day we went beach hopping from one to the other catching different aspects of the sunrise from different angles. The actual sunrise wasn't the greatest, but scenic shots of the beach and the coast turned out quite well. Unfortunately, it is definitely something that I won't be doing this winter.

On a side note, the long awaited Panasonic Lumix LX-3 has arrived. Haven't had a chance to take many photos with it yet, but hopefully I'll have something up tomorrow. I must say, on first handling, it's an impressive camera.

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Disparity

There is a vast disparity betweeen the rich and the poor in today's world. A lot has been made about this gap in the United States ... but it's everywhere and you can see it even down the street from where you live. At the end of the day, the rich are definitely getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer ... if that's possible. Simple example, the best basketball player in the world Kobe Bryant made approx $40mill USD this year from his contract with the Lakers and endorsements. Yet there are still plenty of people suffering from "the recession" and everything is going downhill. NB: Most people in the giant salary range are often deserving of it, so that may not have been the best example.

This photo is a modern day example of this range, taken in Vietnam during my trip in the holidays

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Settings: Various - 3 photo HDR, made using Photomatix Pro 2.5

There is such a polarising difference in the elements within this photo. There are relatively large homes (most of which are 3-4 storeys high) in stark contrast with undeveloped grassland which resembles a waste dump.

Now that I've mentioned it, see if you can find examples of this in your world. Believe me, it's not that difficult.

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