Gas Station - Beverly Hills

Took some photos the other night at a gas station nearby. Just playing around with processing and exposure blending - really crunching it up. Looks nothing like it actually did at capture - the sky nearly dark when I took these. That's the power, good or bad, of digital. Let me know what you think.

Headed to Big Sky

Here's an image from somewhere in Indiana.  It's actually three images merged for exposure using Photomatix (exposure blend, not HDR). Another cool thing that I believe is new in Photoshop CS4, is auto blend with images at different depth-of-fields. Translation = super in focus images at all distances to lens.

Leaving MN today, headed to Denver for the weekend.

HDR - High Dynamic Range

HDR is a technique to merge multiple exposures of the same photograph. It's an attempt to show what our eyes are capable of seeing, in terms of brightness differences. Eyes see about 10 "stops," where each stop is twice as bright - that's how you can look out the window on a bright day, as well as see where the trash bin is under your desk to throw out your eighteenth "to-do" list of the day. Cameras can only capture about 4-5 stops of light.

This is a studio shot of my friend Andy (thanks for getting soaked). The high contrast and "plasticy" look is typical of HDR. Let me know what you think.

For more HDR by a Hallmark student, check out Trevor Lee Photography - he's got cool stuff.