About
Better Come When I Beckon
The Joy Of Living
Haiku
Diverse and hopefully unique images taken primarily in the Western U.S. This spans wildlife, landscapes, architecture, and vehicle images.
Photo techniqes include high dynamic range processing, focus stacking, creative abstract, and aerial photography & video.
Investigations:
Aerial Photography & Video
Significant advances in drone technologies has greatly increased the safety and enjoyment of this hobby. Advanced power systems, on-board electronic gyros, GPS, Visual Positioning Systems, computerized transmitters and First Person Video (FPV) improve stability, predictability, perspective, and obstacle avoidance when flying these vehicles. Drones with GPS technology can be pre-programmed for hands-off flight patterns. FPV gives the pilot a windshield view while flying these vehicles. The sophistication and availability of these technologies have become much more affordable, especially in the past two years. The latest DJI Mavic takes high resolution videos and stills and can be purchased for less than some higher end camera bodies.
High Dynamic Range Photography (HDR)
HDR photography involves taking multiple exposures of still subjects then combining them to enhance the light and dark details of the resulting photograph. Since three exposures are involved, it's best that the subject is static. Typically, the photographer takes three exposures that range from -2 to +2 stops in exposure compensation. For Canon cameras, the AEB feature (Automatic Exposure Bracketing) will take the three exposures automatically. Most DSLR's have a similar feature; some of the newer cameras can process the HDR photos in the camera. Using one of the available HDR programs, the downloaded exposures are combined to form a single, properly exposed image. This technique is especially useful when taking photos with bright skies and dark foregrounds. On average, the human eye can resolve about 11 f-stops of light dynamic range; by comparison, a typical DSLR can handle about 7 f-stops of dynamic range. In essence, HDR allows images that more closely match what the eye can see. The example below shows three combined photos using Photomatix. The resulting photo shows much greater detail in the barn without over-exposing the sky or under-exposing the foreground.
