Sunset Pics

WayneB · Nov 16, 2010

Nice pictures Eddie...............you are getting much better with the camera LOL

IslandTractor · Nov 16, 2010

EddieWalker said:
I've been taking pictures of sunsets for awhile now. I've found my favorite spot, and sit there a couple nights a week. It's next to Lake Marabou, where I can sometimes catch the reflection off of the water. Other times, I like to play with the trees in how I frame the picture.

Eddie

Eddie, you might find it fun to use some of the "High Dynamic Range" software. It lets you expose two shots, one with good sky exposure like your photos currently have, and a second with the foreground exposed properly (rather than black). The software then combines the two images and you get something that is closer to what the human eye can see. Human eyes have much higher dynamic range than film or digital cameras. Google high dynamic range software and I think you will be able to find some shareware to experiment with.

dmanes778 · Nov 18, 2010

Awesome pictures, you rocking guys

EddieWalker · Feb 6, 2011

Few more pics from this evening.

Eddie

jimmyj · Mar 2, 2011

Makes me feel restful just looking at those pics Eddie! Nice.

jcliburn · Mar 22, 2011

Nice work Eddie and all.

My contribution -- a recent sunrise here in Mississippi.

Equipment: Nikon D90 with Nikkor 18-105mm AFS-G VR f/3.5-5.6 kit lens @ 105mm, f/11, 1/30 sec, ISO 200.

Jay

IslandTractor · Mar 22, 2011

Nice photo Jay. Have you ever tried bracketing and HDR software?

twinjayhawks · Mar 22, 2011

Here is a Sunset I took while in Bermuda a couple of years ago. The Ocean is a great sunset generator...

jcliburn · Mar 22, 2011

IslandTractor said:
Nice photo Jay. Have you ever tried bracketing and HDR software?

Thanks Ed.

I've used bracketing before, but only as a hedge against iffy lighting conditions. I've never done HDR processing. (HDR == high dynamic range, for those interested)

I'm most interested in shooting birds, and I've only recently branched out into more static subjects. As you might expect, shooting a bracketed burst at a bird doesn't guarantee he's gonna sit still through the entire burst -- and he usually doesn't -- so stitching the brackets together wouldn't result in a suitable image in that case.

I shoot in RAW format, and I use Gimp (in Linux) for post-processing, so I have *some* latitude in varying the exposure value of a given shot. I could overlay, say, -.5, 0, +.5 EV to achieve an HDR photo, but I've not yet learned how to do the stitching.

Since you asked the question, I'm assuming you've done HDR. How do you do it?

Jay

jcliburn · Mar 22, 2011

twinjayhawks said:
Here is a Sunset I took while in Bermuda a couple of years ago. The Ocean is a great sunset generator...

*Very* nice, jayhawk! (Nice camera, too. I wish the D90 would shoot at ISO 100 like your A350.)

EddieWalker · Mar 22, 2011

Few more pics.

Eddie

IslandTractor · Mar 22, 2011

jcliburn said:
Since you asked the question, I'm assuming you've done HDR. How do you do it?

Jay

Actually I have only done it with 1) my iPhone and 2) a new Canon S95. I haven't yet done it with my DSLR. There are a number of software products out there now with varying degrees of sophistication but I haven't jumped on one yet.

I have used it with my iPhone camera and it is pretty amazing. As you well know film and digital sensors are not as sensitive as the human eye so have much less dynamic range. It is interesting to see photos with and without the HDR activated. With HDR looks almost surreal if you are used to standard photography but on the other hand the HDR photos look much more like what we actually see. You definitely see more in the shadows and the highlights are not burned out.

I just got the Canon S95 and have only played with the HDR once. It is best done with a tripod but it works. The HDR is built in to the camera and simply takes a few shots then processes them into one. I'm sure all the digital SLRs will have it built in soon too.

The reason I brought it up is that sunsets and sunrises are exactly the type of photo scene that would benefit from creative use of HDR. I always miss seeing the lovely foreground colors and features when the sky is exposed to maximize drama and color so HDR helps a lot in that setting.