Stormy weather

[woodsie]

1.
http://woodsie.smugmug.com/photos/422060489_JviPB-X3-1.jpg

2.
http://woodsie.smugmug.com/photos/422060510_FDHCP-X3-1.jpg

3.
http://woodsie.smugmug.com/photos/422060470_TpMaR-X3-1.jpg

[-Douglas-]

I like the scenery in 1 and 2 but 3 just didn't do it for me. at first I thought, man these
should be brighter, but I recken that would take away from the stormy feeling.

[canonloader]

I just had a little shiver go up my back. Man, that looks freezing cold. I like the clouds in #1.

[woodsie]

Thanks guys.
Cold is not the word for it. It was blowing a decent wind (the tree in the background of #3 shows the limitations of Photomatix in handling excessive movement) and when I took #3 it had started sleeting again so concentration on getting the perfect composition was a little comprimised.

Also had to spend a bit of time in PP with the healing brush removing all the sleet/water specks off the lens.

They probably have a darker look about them because there wasn't much brightness happening today.

HDR has certainly given me a new appreciation of clouds. HDR seems so much better at pulling out the cloud detail without losing detail in the landscape than anything I used to do with curves or gradients.

[robloeffel]

What a great contrast of colors in 1 and 2. It is stormy, yet colorful :)

[woodsie]

What a great contrast of colors in 1 and 2. It is stormy, yet colorful :)

Thanks.
Yes, I made a point to get the grass and the red chair into the foreground as even in real life these colours where standing out against the gray of everything else. Or maybe I am just getting back into the habit of looking at everything as an image again. :mrgreen:

[woodsie]

Went back today with a tripod to try for with the fallen tree again.

1. With 7 exposures
http://woodsie.smugmug.com/photos/422814987_S6mtB-X3.jpg

2. with 8 exposures 1 stop apart, one extra overexposed
http://woodsie.smugmug.com/photos/422814945_S3U8z-X3.jpg

Amazing how much difference there is in the effect between the two images with the light different with the sun coming out from behind the clouds and the extra exposure on the second image to bring out more shadow detail.

I also seem to have got more of that overprocessed look on these. But I guess that is a matter of tast.

[-Douglas-]

nice one Woodsie, I like #2 from this set the most, good job!

[canonloader]

It's hard to tell what it is actually from, but I have said many times, the more shots to merge, the better the outcome. I still stand by that. The second image has some obvious smoothness to the sky, the first one doesn't. Whether that's from processing differences, I don't know, but I see it all the time.

[woodsie]

Was happy with the outcome of these, though could probably tone down the saturation, sharpness and contrast a touch to reduce the overprocessed look. But had a tripod and more time for these shots, and the weather was a bit nicer so wasn't as desperate to get back into my nice warm car. :)

the more shots to merge, the better the outcome. I still stand by that.

Further reason for me to look forward to picking up my 1DMkIIn which I believe can do 7 exposure bracketing. Does it help to have the different shots closer together, further apart, or is there a sweet spot (which probably varies with every shot)?

[-Douglas-]

Further reason for me to look forward to picking up my 1DMkIIn
Oh man, you guys are killing me :lol::lol:

[canonloader]

Does it help to have the different shots closer together, further apart, or is there a sweet spot
It's a question that has crossed my mind, but I haven't really had the time to do any serious testing. I did read that instead of using -2, 0, +2, Try a - 1 2/3, 0, + 1 2/3 stops. The reasoning was that the math used to compute the merges works better. I did test that, and it actually did seem to work slightly better. I have no idea why. Those are the settings I use when doing 3 shots, but when doing 5 or more, I use one stop spreads and usually manually and setting shutter speeds, not by going on the exposure meter marks.