This photo is made up of 3 images that were merged with Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro. To put the finishing touches on the HDR tone mapped image, the file was saved as a tiff file in Photoshop and then opened with Adobe Camera Raw 6.3.  If you’re like me and like making the bulk of your photo adjustments using Adobe Camera Raw, did you know that you can make use of all those familiar adjustments on your TIFF or JPG files as well.  This is a great way to make final color/contrast adjustments to your HDR images.

Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) Tip:  You can set ACR to open JPG and TIFF images and be able to make use of the same adjustments that you use against your raw files.

From Adobe Bridge, to specify Camera Raw preferences, choose Edit > Camera Raw Preferences (PC) or Adobe Bridge CS5 > Camera Raw Preferences (Mac).  At the bottom of the dialog there are two menus under the JPEG and  TIFF Handling headings.  These two menus have the same impact on their respective files formats.

This is how the TIFF selections impact the TIFF files when doing a double-click on these files in Bridge.

Disable TIFF support: You will not be able to open TIFF files using Adobe Camera Raw. This is the default setting.

Automatiacally Open TIFF with settings: TIFF files which have previously been modified using ACR will be automatically open with ACR, and TIFF files which have not been modified with ACR will be open by Photoshop

Automatically Open all supported  TIFFs: All TIFF files will be  automatically open using ACR unless they contain layers in which case they will open in Photoshop.

cattails in winter at Mer Bleue, Ottawa

icicles against blue sky

A World In HDR

Unfortunately the book does not provide much in terms of tips and technique.

The bulk of the book (first 171 pages out of 208) is made up of a collection of HDR photos by the author with general commentary about the locations of where the photos were taken, his views on HDR photography, art, and life in general.

The remainder of the book covers what is basically the same tutorial that is available online at the author’s website: StuckInCustoms.com : HDR Tutorial – Everything you need to know about HDR Photography.

The print quality of the book does not do justice to the photos when compared to what is available online at StuckInCustoms.com either.

I can’t hide the fact that I was quite disappointed with this book. I would not recommend it for anyone wanting to learn anything more than the basics of HDR photography!

HDR horizontal fall landscape Mer Bleue Conservation Area Ottawa

What is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. As the name indicates, an HDR photo is a photo that has increased dynamic range compared to a regular photo. In a conventional digital photo, the sensor’s capture abilities cannot match what your eyes sees in terms of contrast ratio. Your eyes/brain can easily adjust and see the full range of information within a scene. For example, in a scene where you have part of the scene in full sunlight and part in full shade, your eyes/brain will adjust and allow you to see the part of the scene lit by the sun and also the part of the scene that is in the shade. Unfortunately you camera cannot capture that full range of information. You will have to compromise and decide between one of:

1) Exposing your image for the sunlit portion of the scene and loose information detail in the shaded portion of your scene.

2) Exposing your image for the shaded portion of the scene and loose detail in the sunlit portion of the scene.

That is where HDR processing comes to the rescue. It allows merging multiple images that were captured at different exposure settings into a single photo covering a larger dynamic range that can look more like the scene you wanted to capture.

Note that many camera models are now being released with the ability to capture in-camera HDR images. Meaning that multiple exposures are taken when you take the picture and they are processed in-camera. However the technique that is explained here can be used with any camera that allows exposure adjustments because the image processing is done on a computer.

There are two main steps in making HDR photos: Capture and Post-processing.

Capture for HDR:

- You need to take three or more exposures of the same scene.

- Use a tripod or some other camera support to ensure that all the exposures that you take are perfectly aligned.

- Frame your composition and set your camera focus.

- The next steps can vary based on the features of your camera. In any case however, the goal is to take multiple exposures while maintaining your aperture setting constant.

1) If your camera has an AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) feature, set AEB to take 3 exposures with at least 1 stop over/under exposure. Set your camera to Aperture mode and take your 3 exposures.

2) Set your camera to Manual exposure mode and select your aperture. Take your 3 exposures such that you end up with a properly exposed frame, a frame that is over-exposed by 1 stop and another frame that is under-exposed by 1 stop.

At this point you will have 3 exposures of the same scene with 3 different EVs (0,+1,-1).

Notes:

- The scene that you want to capture will dictate if you should take more that 3 exposures in order to be able to fully represent the scene. The more extreme the more bracketed exposures you should take. It’s obviously better to capture more exposures and ensure that you will be able to generate the desired output.

- If you don’t have a tripod, set your camera to continuous shooting mode and set it to AEB. If your frame rate is fast enough and you stabilize yourself, press and hold the shutter down for the 3 exposures.

3 photos for HDR input

Post processing for HDR

You will now need specialized software to process your photos to generate and HDR image. The most powerful tool out there is Photomatix by HDR soft. Photoshop CS5 also does a good job at processing HDR images. You can also find many free HDR conversion software programs that you may want to try before you commit to buying dedicated HDR processing software.

HDR fall landscape at Mer Bleue Conservation Area in Ottawa

Part of the HDR post-processing is called tone mapping. This is when your selected settings will convert your HDR image to an image that is in 8 or 16 bit that your computer can process. It is during that process that you can make adjustments that can make you image surreal. In the above examples I have taken the processing to those extremes because I wanted to achieve the effect that you can see in the clouds.

If you want to learn more on HDR, you can visit:

- Click here to visit Stuck In Customs., a site by photographer Trey Radcliff which is dedicated to HDR photography. Trey also has a book on the subject called ‘A World in HDR’.

Cowgirl on the run

Although the shooting conditions looked less than ideal because it was a bit rainy.  The overcast sky actually provided good even lighting as opposed to the harsh/contrasty lighting conditions of a sunny day. Less light however means shooting at higher ISOs than on a sunny day. All photos were shot with a Canon 40D with a 100-300 5.6L lens. Most photos were shot at ISOs ranging between 400-800 in order to be able to shoot at acceptable shutter speeds for this slow lens. In order to help with stability, I used a monopod.  The monopod helps to get better panned shots as some of the included shots

In order to protect the camera and lens I made myself a protective cover using a large Ziploc bag and an elastic band. This worked well because the rain was quite light. As with any rain cover however, it works better when your lens is an internally focusing lens. In this case, the lens was not an internally focusing lens, so focusing caused the plastic bag to twist with focus which can prevent achieving the right focus…

One of the problems with shooting this type of event is getting a good backgroud. Using a fast shutter speed and freezing the action would mostly yield photos with a subject having very little definition with respect with the background.  The subject would blend in with the background.   In order to prevent having clear views of spectators as a background, I like to use a panning technique to get a relatively clear image with a blurred background.

Here are some examples.  The first three photos were shot using parallel panning where you follow the subject’s motion while using a slower shutter speed.  Because of the relatively fast speed of the running horses, a slow shutter speed in this case means 1/125 sec.

Cowboy on the run

For more information on panning techniques refer to my article on ‘Slow shutter panning bike race photos‘

In this photograph, the blurred background was actually introduced in Photoshop using a ‘Motion Blur’ filter and a layer mask.  Painting with a soft black brush on the white layer mask, over the cow, the horse and the cowboy gives a similar effect as the above images.

Cowboy misses calf

In this photo, a dark vignette was added on the photo to focus attention to the center of the photo showing the cowboy holding on to the cow after jumping off his horse.

Cowboy jumps on cow

Used Adobe Camera Raw to lower the saturation of the blue background and bring attention to the main subjects.

Cowboy toppling calf

Keep an eye open for photo opportunities outside the rodeo arena. These photos were captured by looking around between events.  It adds to the storyline of what is happening during the rodeo.

Cowboys on the fence

Cropped this photo and added some sepia toning effect in Photoshop CS5.  Also made use of the Spot Healing Brush with ‘Content Aware’ feature to remove some of the distractions in the field.  This feature of Photoshop CS5 is simply an amazing time saver to this type of image editing.  The telephone poles and white bails of hay were removed in no time compared to what would have been required with previous version of Photoshop.  This is one of the key features that makes the upgrade to CS5 worthwile…

Original Cowboy out for a ride

Cowboy out for a ride

Photo of cowgirl hopping over fence at St-Albert Ontario Rodeo.   Photoshop adjustments made to add a sepia tone to the photo using a B&W layer with a mask on the main subject. Shading on the subject’s face and increase in saturation in the hair and sweater of the cowgirl.

Cowgirl hopping fence

Here is a short list of new features of the S95 compared to the S90:

- 720p HD video (1280 x 720 pixels @ 24 frames per second) .
- Mini HDMI connector to connect directly to High Definition TV Monitor.
- Hybrid IS (Improved Image Stabilization technology).
- Multiple new shooting modes including a High Dynamic Range mode.

Visit the Canon website for full details: click here

Canon PowerShot S90

A few words on the PowerShot S90; I really like this little camera. While many photographers rave about the Canon Gxx series of cameras, I find that they are compact but not truly pocket cameras as the S90 is.

Here are some of the nice features of the Canon PowerShot S90:

Being a small compact camera it is expectedly not fast enough to shoot action, flash is not powerful, etc.

The only feature that I am disappointed with is the macro focusing abilities which keeps hunting for focus.

Overall I would highly recommend this camera for someone wanting a true pocket camera with advanced features. It won’t give you the photo quality of a DSLR, but because you can carry it in your pocket at all times, it will allow you to get some shots you would otherwise miss! This is the ideal bring everywhere pocket camera for times you are not bringing along your camera bag with DSLR and lenses with you.

Here are a few sample pictures taken with the PowerShot S90 and some Photoshop/ACR processing descriptions. Unless indicated otherwise all photos captured at ISO 80:

Here are before and after photos to show color fringing in S90. The before photo shows some purple fringing which is a common problem with compact cameras because of their relatively small sensor size. Both images are crops that were blown up at 300% to clearly show the fringing and how it can be removed by using ACR. The after photo was processed using Adobe Camera Raw 5.7 Beta. A simple adjustment was made in the ‘Lens Settings’ ‘Chromatic Aberrations’ tab with Defringe ‘All Edges’ selected and with a ‘Fix Blue/Yellow Fringe’ set at +54.

Blue fringing can be seen on the un-processed photo along edges on the left side of the object and a little bit of yellow fringing on the other side of this 300% image crop

Photo after processing through ACR Chromatic Aberrations defringe all edges selection. Fringing virtually eliminated in the 300% image crop.

Canon PowerShot S90 samples photos processed through Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS4:

Cavendish PEI Lighthouse with ominous cloudy sky

Lobster traps, Cavendish PEI, processed with Photoshop CS4 HSL adjustment layer to punch up and warm up colors

Lobster Traps PEI ACR default image settings

Lobtser Traps PEI processed through ACR and Photoshop with Topaz Adjust 4 filter

I wanted to create a grungy, almost graphic, looking image so I used Topaz Adjust 4 Spicify settings applied as a Smart Object filter /100% Opacity/ Normal Blending. An Unsharp mask with 155%/2.8 pixels/3 levels was applied as a Smart Filter with 100% Opacity/ Luminosity Blending. The above adjustments gave the desired results for the ropes on the ground but gave an overly greenish tint to the Lobster traps. So a B/W adjustment layer was added with a #e1d3b3 color tint. The layer was applied in Overlay mode with an Opacity of 100%. The layer mask of the B&W layer was used to block it’s effect on the cables and only impact the lobster traps and give them back a more natural looking color.

Photoshop adjustment layers used to produce final image. Unsharp Mask, Topaz Adjust 4 filters layers and B&W tint layer to pull natural colors back in lobster traps with layer mask.

Additional information on the Canon PowerShot S90:

Canon PowerShot S90 Review at dpreview.com

PowerShot S90 at Canon USA Website
Luminous Landscape PowerShot S90 review

Join the National Association of Photoshop Professionals

NAPP is the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Become a member and you get access to Video Tutorials, Tips & Tricks to expand your Photoshop knowledge. You also get a yearly subscription to Photoshop User Magazine, published 8 times a year, which is packed with essential information related to Photoshop. Your membership also allows you to get discounts on a wide selection of Books, DVDs, Hardware, Software, Training and more.
These are just a few of the advantages of joining NAPP, to join or learn more visit www.photoshopuser.com Register now and get a 15% discount on Adobe products!  Just in time to save on a Photoshop CS5 upgrade.

Photoshop CS5

Photoshop CS5 has officially been released today – April 12, 2010. It wasn’t a big secret, bits and pieces of the new features were available all over the web since the pre-announcement during the Orlando PhotoshopWorld in March.

According to many, this is one of the most significant Photoshop releases in terms of new and enhanced features in years.

Here is a list of new/enhanced features of interest to photographers compared Photoshop CS4.   All listed features are based on Photoshop CS5 (does not include Photoshop CS5 Extended features)

New in Photoshop CS5

• Additive grain in Adobe Camera Raw (Who knew we needed to add grain to our photos!  Give your photos the film look)
• Automatic lens correction (Will automatically make corrections based on some pre-defined Camera/Lens combinations that is extracted from your photo’s MetaData.)
• Straighten Image tool
• Truer Edge selection technology (You won’t have to pull your hair anymore when making selection that includes hair, fur or other fine details)
• Color decontamination for selections (Part of new selection tool, will de-fringe colors that can show up at the edges of objects once removed from their background)
• Selection and mask refinement tools
• Content-Aware Fill/Healing (Deleted foreground elements in a photo automatically filled based on background.  With the right type of photo can be a huge time saver.  Healing brush also has content-aware options which looks like a great improvement for healing around well defined edges)
• Puppet Warp (Allows movement of parts of a photo without having to worry about the background. Kind of allows a precise warp without distortions.)
• New Adobe Camera Raw processing engine.  (Get better results when converting your old Raw files.  Icon indicates when image can be re-processed with new 2010 engine)

Enhanced in Photoshop CS5

• Noise removal in Adobe Camera Raw (Looks like a major improvement in noise reduction.  Scott Kelby calls this enhancement, one of the biggest stars in CS5! )
• HDR imaging (No need for Photomatix Pro anymore!  Can I get my money back?  Also included is a single image HDR Toning feature.  No need for Topaz Adjust either!)
• B&W conversion
• Post-crop vignetting (Added options to protect Highlights or Color, and better overall control)

References:
As always, to get great information on Photoshop, head over to the NAPP website. They have 17 videos at their free CS5 Learning Center
www.photoshopuser.com/cs5

Get a list of What’s new in Photoshop CS5 for photographers at Adobe.com

Feature comparison chart between Photoshop CS3, CS4 and CS5 at Adobe.com

Videos from AdobeTV on Photoshop CS5

Terry White’s Top 5 Photoshop CS5 Features (9:13 min)

Photoshop CS5 Content Aware Fill (1:36 min)

Protect Detail in Photoshop CS5 (0:37 sec)

Automated Lens Correction in Photoshop CS5 (1:39 min)

Next Generation 32-bit HDR Imaging in Photoshop CS5 (3:24 min)

Complex Selections Made Easy in Photoshop CS5 (2:17 min)

Note: funny that all demos originating from Adobe no mater who does them, they all use the same photos to demonstrate the features.  I hope the feature work as well on other photos!!

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