HDR Success!

So I've always loved HDR pictures.

HDR = high dynamic range. ((and not high def as I once thought ;))

The iPhone 4 has a HDR setting where it attempts to replicate a HDR 'feel' to a photo but it doesn't fully do justice to a true HDR photo. I always thought that I would need a good DLR camera to take HDR pictures because they come with AEB ((I think that's the right acronym...)).

AEB = Auto Exposure Bracketing

Which basically means you push one button and it takes like four pictures at different exposures very quickly, which helps eliminate any shifts or differences between the different exposures. Because I have a point and shoot, I have to manually set my exposure between shots. What this means is that my shots are never perfectly aligned, they contain minute differences from the camera shifting.

So, I just resigned myself to not being able to take fully amazing HDR photos. Recently, however, I've been doing pana-type pictures and I was like 'hey, photoshop is amazing. Why can't it simply align my pictures? It can do all this other stuff!' So, I decided to try once again. Outside, I came upon this really good HDR opportunity. The ginkgo tree had these branches that had an amazing blue sky/cloud backdrop. A normal picture could either expose for the bright sky or the dark branches-- but not both. HDR is where you take two or three pictures, exposing for different elements and then merge those pictures. So, I took three pictures at different exposures.

Then, I went into photoshop and clicked 'automate HDR Pro' and selected my photos. Then, it worked its normal magic and gave me one picture. However, there were 'ghost' leaves. Leaves that didn't align because my hand moved the camera between shots. I hadn't found a way to fix this, but I looked closer at all the options this time-- after all, photoshop can work some amazing magic, it should be able to fix this. That's when I found this little check box that said 'fix ghost images' or something to that effect. I checked it and BAM the ghosts were gone! The images were perfectly aligned.

Long story short, I can't believe I didn't know about this before.

So, after a little editing, the final product was....*drum roll*

:D I can't wait to try this out on sunsets and other scenarios.

This morning, I braved the heat ((it's actually the coolest day in a while, just in the 90s)) to take some pictures. I haven't been out in my yard to take pictures in a couple of weeks, a combination of heat and travel.

Anyway, it was weird, how much the yard has changed in what seems to me like such as short time. All the cone flowers were dead, probably victims of the heat. There was this huge flower which had risen out of nothing, I didn't even remember seeing a sprout there.

Oddly enough, this new plant was where I got my best pictures this morning.

It's a sunflower, I believe. Whatever it is, it is /tall/. Like six feet tall. I had to reach up and pull it over to see the top.

Anyway, the heat was worth it. ;)

Too Hot.

It's been forever since I last posted! I was up in Iowa with family last weekend, and thus out of wifi zone. Not Iowa, but my grandma's house I guess I should say. ;) Anywayyy another reason that I haven't been posting is that I haven't been outside taking pictures because it is quite simply too hot. When the heat index is 110 and above, I just kind of stay inside. ;)

Yeah. It's been hot. I'm really hoping for some rain to hopefully cool us down a little.

Oh! I know what I want to talk about. Okay, so recently I was on stumbleupon, which is the most amazing website. Anyway, it took me to this online photo editor which was actually really amazing. I think that it is supposed to simulate different emulsion effects you can do to a developing. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, the site is http://pixlr.com/o-matic/ and it is reallyyy good for a photo editing website. Basically there are three steps. Step one you can apply all these actions, like on Photoshop, for different effects. Then, you overly things like bokeh on the photo. Lastly, you can add all different types of frames.

My result:

I'm quite happy with the end result :) I don't like most photo editing websites, but this one is really cool.

Just another pretty face...

So this weekend I stumbled upon a goat/sheep pen...

((Seriously, I thought it would be easy to distinguish between the sheep and the goats...it's not))

Regardless, they are adorable. ;) I didn't have my camera with me, so I whipped out my iPhone and started snapping away. Major disadvantage-- auto focusing. It was like a gamble, whether or not the pictures would be in focus. Luckily, I won the gamble a couple of times to get some cute pictures.

Awwwwww...

Both sheep and goats can have horns, and none were noticeably 'fluffier' than the others.

Suffice to say I am a city girl, lacking any experience with farm animals. Except for that one time in 4-H where I judged cattle. That was fun. But! Besides that-- and well horse camp, that'sssss another story-- I am just not around farm animals. ((Except for that time in France! Haha, and then on the way back home they have that sheet 'have you ever...' well not like the game, because you don't just lose you could be like quarantined so the rule of thumb is to check 'no' on every single one of them. At least, at 15, that seemed like the way to go. And it was. The truth is just so inconvenient. Honesty is never the best policy-- I have another story for that one! But! I was talking about sheep, right?....))

Haha, okay story time is over. For now. ;)

I thought I would show a little before/after shot. I was still using my iPhone for this photo and the exposure did not turn out as I would have liked-- the highlights were far too bright. A little tweaking, and a fun action later, I'm happy with the photo.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Caverns of the Deep

Happy July 4th!

I just got back home from our little trip. For the most part, the only pictures that I have, are of the caverns that we toured. :) And I think I've caught the wide-angle/panoramic bug.

I just think everything looks better with multiple pictures spliced together.

Anyway, shooting in a cave was, understandably, difficult. A lot of the pictures, I really upped the ISO to like 800 just so I could either zoom ((which, for reasons currently unknown to me limits my aperture, I can't make it as small as I want it to be)) or make my shutter speed faster. We walked a lot, so it was hard to just snap and shoot, seeing how the majority of my photos were taken at 1/4 of a sec. You're not supposed to hand hold these shots because of the risk of them turning out blurry, but hey it's not like I had a tripod in my back pocket :P I've fine tuned the art of holding really still...for the most part anyway.

Here, I sat the camera down on the bench ((we sat down like twice)) and upped the shutter speed to the speed it actually needed to be at-- something like a second and half, or something. It's an awkward angle, but perhaps more properly lit. :P

The cave really was amazing. Spectacular heights, beautiful formations-- the works.

It was also nice and cool, 21 stories underground. Whicchhh was a nice break from the crazy heat and humidity above.

Look familiar? ;)

Hmmm...July 4th. Last July 4th I was watching fireworks with a friend who I'm not really close friends with anymore. It's not like we had a falling out...we just drifted apart. It's sad. However, I know that it's just the first of many. When I go off to college, my high school friends who are still my friends will start to fade. Some will stay my friends. Others will just...drift away.

And then, when I go to graduate school ((MIT!! with any hope)) some of my college friends will just drift away. C'est la vie, I guess.

Have you ever wanted to skip ahead to a certain part of your life? You know, just kind of hit the fast forward button. Just until the awkwardness of beginning a new school is over, and new friends have already been made.

Of course, as soon as I write that the old fable pops into my head. Of the man who was granted just that-- the ability to speed ahead through certain parts of his life. Of course, what started out as a dream turned into a nightmare. For how can you truly enjoy the good parts of your life if you have no bad? Your life is compressed down to only a few fleeting glances. He grows old too quick and wishes that he would have never been granted that ability.

So, I guess that I should just enjoy my life. Pretty soon I'll be looking back on college like I'm looking back on high school and shaking my head on how much time has flown by.

The Wonders of the Night

It's 4th of July weekend and soon mes parents et moi are taking off. :) Before we did that, I thought I would write a little post, and put up some pictures. I don't believe that I've shown my night photography here yet. I took the pictures a while ago, and just never put them up.

Anyway, there's this little meadow on the outskirts of town that my friends and I like to go to sometimes to stargaze. A month or so ago we went there and I decided that it was the perfect place to take long exposure photos. There was a full moon that had just risen, and it provided the perfect background.

Each picture was probably around 15 second exposure. I held the camera, and my friends used their phones to create the streaks of light you see.

That was the closest I got to spelling my name :P

That last one was a mistake :P I was trying to take a photo of something and while it was taking the picture, I pulled my phone out to check something. Even though it was a mistake, I still love it ;)

Well, that's it, I gotta run!

Happy 4th of July (weekend) everyone :)

It's July!

The summer seems to be flying by. And while sometimes I can be bored out of my mind, I don't want for it to pass by quickly. Because once summer is over, fall begins.

And fall means college. It means a new school, with new classmates, new city, new room. It means community bathrooms. It means finding that tricky balance between being social and getting school work done.

And while I'm incredibly lucky to be going to college with a friend, it still is nerve-racking. Buttttt I shouldn't worry about it, it's in God's hands. It will be fun! I'll learn Physics. I'll take Photography. I'll get the opportunity to travel, to do volunteer work. Meet new people. Be in a new band.

Anyway! I wasn't planning on musing on the future, but oh well. What I wanted to show you was the wide-angle lens photos I had made.

After all, who needs a SLR camera with a wide-angle lens?? Not me!

((Who wants a SLR camera with a wide-angle lens?? ME!))

All my previous attempts at faking a wide-angle lens photo were about landscapes. Today, while I was out taking pictures, I was like hey, what if I did wide angle photo but with close up pictures that I'm used to taking? (hey, it totally made sense in my head) So, I took a series of photos:

And combined them using the magic of Photoshop.

The result is a wider pictures which encompasses more detail than a simple one shot. I like the depth of it, even if it is a product of Photoshop.

When I first graduated, I wasn't sure what to do with my graduation money. I really wanted Photoshop, but I also wanted a SLR camera. With a student discount Photoshop was 200. A SLR camera would be more like 600. So, I went with Photoshop, and have loved it tremendously. My little point and shoot is actually not that bad of a camera, compared with most point and shoots. I have full manual control-- something not all point and shoots have.

Anyway, back to faking wide angle photos. ;) I took another series, this time on one of my favorite flowers.

The final result:

For this one, I combined more pictures, though I think that I could have combined two and gotten the same end result. Regardless I like the effect that was achieved. Once again, the picture gains more depth.

I'm sure that the end results aren't as good as an actual wide-angle photo. However, seeing how I don't have the necessary equipment, this is as good as it's gonna get. ;)