Thread: ***DSLR Thread***

Originally Posted by FlyBoeingJets

Alright. Since Sam has uploaded his crappy image, I guess I'll upload mine.

Oh SNAP! I think I the tail shot is interesting because although it isn't immediately obvious it is HDR, you can see the highlights are under control, the one thing I feel is that I would like a little more weight to the blacks, perhaps letting the numbers and the blue portion of the flag clip a bit, but I like that shot, it has an interesting feel to it. The shot under the engine is cool because you can still see a lot of detail in the sky (and it is an interesting sky), but I wonder if you have anymore range to see what is going on in the shadows at the back of the engine, or does it just start feeling flat if you expand the range that much? With the under the belly shot, I also wonder how much room you still have in the shadows to bring them up and try and bring the sky down a little, but it seems that if you do that it might be hard to get interesting contrast in the rest of the image. This is why HDRs are hard

Sam, are you using CS3 to create your HDRs?

Yeah, I use their little tool. But I am starting to think doing it manually (lay up my three exposures, 0, +2 over, -2 under, as layers and use layer masks, perhaps with blending options, so paint in areas I want) might be a little more user friendly, although much more time consuming.

The more work I do with these things, the better I think Photoshop will handle it. QTPFSGUI is too bare-bones and isn't very user-friendly. Photomatix is more user-friendly, but doesn't seem like it can grab the contrast as well.

Argh. $199 for a Photoshop upgrade.

I really need to take a class in PS, too.

Originally Posted by FlyBoeingJets

I really need to take a class in PS, too.

Don't we all! I bought the Total Training DVDs for CS and got through 3 discs and they came out with CS2. Now I have CS3 Extended sitting on the shelf but it makes me tired to just think of installing it and having to learning all the new features.

The HDR stuff you guys are doing is interesting. I've never looked into it before. I did however take some photos with the "Active D-Lighting" feature on the D300. I liked the results. Unfortunately the picures are of my 12-year-old daughter so I don't really want to post them on the internet. But I will find something else to post soon.

If you are the kind of person that can stand his hyper animated style of talking, awesome PS tuts: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

Nice. Just added it to my Photoshop "favorites" in my browser. Thanks for the link. I'm gonna try some of those.

Should I get a flash for my D30?

Hey I have to try some of this HDR stuff.

Originally Posted by rinkrat

Should I get a flash for my D30?

Hey I have to try some of this HDR stuff.

Yes. Get a flash. Especially one with a tilt/bounce-head and a diffuser.

Originally Posted by rinkrat

Should I get a flash for my D30?

Hey I have to try some of this HDR stuff.

I highly recommend a flash. The hard part is choosing which one. The 580EX II is the caddy of the Canon speedlights, both in terms of power and features (namely the ability to act as the master flash that can control up to two groups of slaves). The 420EX is a close runner up, not as powerful, and slightly less features, but still an outstanding flash. The nice thing about the 580EX is that it has a PC port on it, so if you want to trigger it remotely using Pocket Wizards, or more cheaply, EBay triggers. Both can rotate for bounce.

There are other "off brand" flashes which are cheaper, and offer a lot of the same features, such as the Sigma EF-530.

If you don't care about E-TTL and just want full manual, it gets really cheap, such as the Vivitar 285HV

Don't call me a **** but I took these pictures at the Reagan Library the other day, too. The wife wanted to see what was there in the "First Lady's Style" exhibit.

http://gcalvin.com/gallery/v/RRLibrary/

Sort of a "nothing beats existing light and a tripod" sort of post. That being said, though...my tripod sucks major arse. It is the next thing gettin' upgraded.