2008 was a tricky year for me photographically, and to be perfectly honest, the start of 2009 didn’t yield much inspiration either. That is, until a glimmer of light appeared in the form of a Christmas card from my wife, Mel. Thoughtfully tucked inside were a few pounds and the promise of a weekend away to visit a good friend of mine—someone whose work has continually inspired my own use of a camera for several years now.
I was gifted the opportunity to visit Dave from Chromasia. While I was thrilled, I hadn’t quite realized the extent of the “cloak and dagger” planning that went into it! Mel and Dave’s wife, Libby, had concocted the entire scheme behind the scenes. Their plotting allowed me to spend the whole weekend shooting a new project alongside Dave, giving me the perfect excuse to finally experiment with HDR.
What an absolutely brilliant present. It was exactly the photographic kick up the backside I needed to get my “seeing eye” working again.
We had a fantastic time. Dave and Libby warmly welcomed me into their home, sharing fine wine and wonderful food—for which I owe a massive thank you to Libby and her many little helpers!
The photography was incredibly fun, too. We visited a few of Dave’s old haunts alongside some entirely new locations, and I’m fairly certain we both captured enough material to fuel our blogs for at least the next few weeks.
This appropriately titled shot is one of my favourites from the bunch, taken strictly on day two of the trip. I’m purposefully avoiding posting our shots in chronological order so that our images don’t overlap too much in subject matter.
Technically speaking, this is a 9-image HDR exposure, processed in Photomatix Pro. I know those who dislike HDR will undoubtedly voice their opinions, but while I remain slightly on the fence regarding its overall merit, I can say firsthand that the technique requires a solid grasp of the subject matter to work well. You have to choose the right lighting to produce a compelling image—much like taking any good photograph, I suppose. I view it simply as another process alongside other effects. Personally, I don’t find the results offensive; I just realize that executing them well isn’t quite as easy as its detractors might assume.
Ultimately, it’s all about the joy of photography. Getting out there, braving -4°C winds early in the morning after a hike, and pointing a camera at something—that’s a solid effort in my book!
I know publishing the EXIF data for a multi-image HDR can be slightly misleading, so providing the metered exposure used as my 0 EV starting point feels fair. From there, I used a combination of spot-metering the highlights and shadows to calculate the required bracket range (with a few nudges in Dave’s ribs for good measure!). I opted for a 9-shot bracket in half-stop increments. The histogram indicated everything was well within bounds, so I figured I’d give it a go.
We were shooting on an old, disused railway line east of Fleetwood, somewhat off the beaten track. We stumbled upon the remains of an old train station, and amidst the undergrowth, I spotted these old station steps. I simply couldn’t resist… 😉
- capture date|10/01/2009
- camera|Canon EOS 5D
- lens|17mm – 40mm L
- focal length|17mm
- aperture|f/16
- shutter speed|1/8 sec
- shooting mode|Aperture
- exposure bias|0 EV
- metering mode|pattern
- ISO|100
- flash|No
- image quality|RAW
- RAW converter|Photoshop CS3 + Photomatix Pro
- cropped?|none, just minor skew
As soon as the image opened I thought, “Very ‘Lord of the Rings'” (specifically Parth Galen) :|. The light on the moss is magical…almost luminescent.
Glad to hear you had a good weekend 🙂 I like the feel this image gives off, something like full of old memories and something slightly ominous and I can feel my brain going to mush at my sad attempt to try and put this into words ^^; Anyhow. I really like that yellow also ^^;
If I had of done, that might explain they’re absense.;-) Being somewhat bigger than your average bear!, if you know what I mean!….. csj
The light and colors a really potent in this image.. Did you climb the stairs?? 😉
I ended up walking further down the line – almost to Hillylaid crossing – but the station is pretty much the last interesting part so you made the right choice not carrying on. I’m going to keep a close eye on yours and Dave’s photographs over the next week to give me some fresh ideas i.e. something for me to slightly plaguarise next time I go trespassing 🙂
Pete, thanks mate, especially for giving us the map… it helped us both with the new location, I know that Dave got inspired, and I was searching out what I could as we went. The station was quite a way down the tracks. Did you go beyond the bridge?, we turned back at that point, Dave was starting to freeze!!! 😉
Love this – I was also exploring these tracks a month ago but by this stage I was too tired to clamber onto the platform!
I doubt I could’ve produced anything as great as this though – a wonderfully subtle HDR. Love those shades of green on the wood too. Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with from this trip.
Yes it did!
As I mentioned earlier today this is the most subtle HDR I’ve laid my (untrained) eyes on. I would have been hard pressed to tell if it was one had you not told us so.
Whilst I do like some of the over the top HDR’s out there I belive that this sort of result is the way forward for this method, ie it shows us the scene as the eye saw it and not just what the camera is able to capture in a single evaluated frame.
This image represents something else too and that is most pleasing of all. I look forward to seeing more from your weekend ;O)
It was a pleasure to see you, and I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was also a good kick in the backside for me too – I don’t think I’d have bothered to drag myself out in the cold if it wasn’t for the good company 🙂
And yes, I do think this works (and wish I’d shot the steps from the same low angle – my attempt was rubbish).