The Shot: This is an HDR shot of a new building in Ulsan. The main focus if this shot is not the main building itself but one of the more interesting feature of the building. The time is during the last part of the blue hour. I chose this composure to not only show off the building’s features but also to add the colour of the sky as well.
The Time: This was taken during the last moments of the blue hour, so of course you have to work fast. I prefer shooting during this time because a lot of the crowds have left so that means there are less people wandering around. However, the museum was closed, thus there was not a lot of color from the windows and doors in the other shots that I took.
The Set-up: First, use a tripod. There is no possible way to achieve sharpness without it. If you don’t have one, save and get a sturdy one and one that is made of quality materials… not the cheap ones that you can buy at home plus. Second, frame the shot. Look for something that is visually appealing and use the HDR technique to pull out the reflections and colour. Next, bracket the shots about 2 stops apart. I used 3 shots, but you probably will get better results if your camera can do 5. That being said, most mid-range DSLR’s don’t have the capability of shooting 5 bracketed photos… yet.
The Post Processing: Once you get your shots into your computer, you are going to have to run them through a program like photomatix to combine and tone-map them. Unlike some HDR photos out there I try not to over do the photo as you may see in some. That being said, this shot may be a little over the top for some. At any rate, once the tone mapping is finished, I bring it into photoshop for some light sharpening and curves adjustment. Typically, I use “smart sharpen” set to remove Gaussian blur.
The Final Product: Once done, the photo should have sharp lines, colour with punch and an interesting architectural subject. It should catch the eye and please the view with an interesting mix of angle and colour.
Chris in South Korea
Nice shot!
I’ve cheated with my D80 and gotten a six shot HDR. Start with a underexposure (say, -2 stops) and set that as your normal for the first trio. Next, change to overexposure (say, +2 stops) and use that for the second trio.
Assuming you have 3 exposures 2 stops apart, you get the following:
-4, -2, 0, 0, +2, +4
Go with a stop apart, and you get the following:
-3, -2, -1, +1, +2, +3.
Actually, I think I’ll experiment a little tonight myself 🙂