The purchase of my new tripod a couple of months ago has rekindled my interest in HDR. I’ve been trying to get some decent night shots of the Manhattan skyline [with pretty mixed results] for quite a while. Anyway, here is the best of the HDR results:

This is comprised of three images bracketed around a starting point of F5.6 and 8 second exposure. going +/- 1.33 stops. I’ve created the HDR image in Photomatix, and then used the resulting image as a layer mask against the middle of the three bracketed images. Finally I’ve restored most of the skyline, which was very grainy, and also the water, as it lost the smoothing from the long exposure. It’s ok, I think.

I’ve also had a hack with the new HDR offering from Nik Software, HDR Efex Pro. Here is a shot from a trip to Bath a couple of weeks back, with the HDR dial turn up to 11:

The starting point for the bracketing here was a F13 3.2 second exposure, with +/- 2 stops. This is using a preset called Grandma’s attic [I think; it takes a while to spin up on this machine]. I’ve finished it off with a bit of dodging and burning on the sky.

I like the results of this shot, despite the pretty classic over-sharpening halo around the building, and I quite like the package. Maybe it’s just me doing something wrong, but I often find that the alignment [using the default import / alignment setting] in Photmatix is a bit hazy. By comparison the Nik Software offering is tack sharp. There are some strange artefacts in this preset, which I think are visible in this small version of the image: there are a load of parallel horizontal lines across the sky. And it’s not just a feature of this preset: I’ve used it on other HDR shots from this weekend and it’s not there. It’s also pretty expensive for an [admittedly very good] one trick pony. I don’t know if I’ll take the plunge once the trial runs out…

I had a work trip to Jersey last week. I was last there in January and had to go to the office for a 7am call. When I looked back from Jersey to the sunrise over Manhattan, I kicked myself for not taking my camera – it was spectacular.

I got a couple of reasonable shots this trip, but came to the conclusion that my hacked tripod wasn’t a runner. I was never able to find an imperial measure bolt that fitted my Manfrotto head, and so have been using a pretty low tech piece of cardboard to take the bolt I was using up a fraction in diameter to make for a reasonable fit. Unfortunately, setting the position of the head, and then using the live view at full magnification [something I routinely do for night shots], I could see the image drifting ever so slowly.

I’ve heard it said more than once on podcasts by professional photographers that if you are contemplating getting a tripod, you might as well go ahead and get a good one. It’s a false economy to buy a series of increasingly better ones – which I did. So a quick trip to the trusty J&R’s, and I had furnished myself with a Manfrotto 732CY carbon fibre number. I didn’t get the chance to use it this trip, but it’s a good balance between packability and load bearing capacity [3.5kg].

1.3seconds at F14, ISO100 at 105mm

The shot above has been through the mill, as the original was a bit hazy, with much lower contrast in the clouds. I’ve used Silver EFEX Pro, with a preset called High Structure. I’m not sure if this is one of the installed presets or something that I downloaded. I’ve then gone back into Aperture and tweaked the exposure up a few clicks. Actually, it’s worth having a look at the original shot straight out of the camera:

1.3seconds at F14, ISO100 at 105mm

I might try going further north in Jersey if I try to take another shot of the Empire State. The picture above is looking diagonally across the water, and going closer to parallel might reduce the haze.

30 seconds at F6.3, ISO100 at 24mm

The shot above might be a bit better as a narrower crop. The water is dead space and, despite a bit of dodging and burning, the sky isn’t up to much either.