The colors and artwork is amazing.  I should have stopped down a bit though – the depth of field at this angle is a little lacking, I think, but the focus on its face might make me reconsider.  I tried to work this shot into a masthead for the blog for a while, but the aspect ratio is all wrong so it never happened.  What do you think?

On an unrelated and nerdy note (stop reading here if those words made your eyes glaze over), I’ve had some issues with the color management on my monitor for a while.  What I was seeing in Photoshop wasn’t what was visible on the web, but I couldn’t sort it out so I just let it be.  Not anymore.  Finally figured it out and from here on out things should look better.  If I have enough time I might go back and fix some of the older ones – if things suddenly look better, that’s why.

Digging In The Vault #2 – Mosaic Monsters is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Just upriver from central Bangkok (an incredibly busy, smoggy, urban city) is a small island in the bend of the Chao Phraya River called Koh Kret (a small, rural non-city). Still populated largely by the ethnic Mon people, the main activities seem to be shilling their traditional pottery (and dessert, so I hear) to tourists. Once you get off the main drag on the elevated concrete walkway that rings the island, things get distinctly more agricultural and rural. Although the pathway is well built, everything strapped to it is… otherwise constructed. This is the path up to a typical house. I don’t know about you, but personally it looks a little rickety. Maybe that’s just me. In any case, it’s a nice little break from Bangkok, and at forced march speeds, you can walk the whole 5+ kilometers in just over an hour. Hopefully before your hired Long-Tail boat gets pissed at you and leaves.

If this was your walkway, you'd be home already is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Making bowls for Monk’s Alms is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Wat Phra Kaew Reflection is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

HDR photography was popularized by a program called Photomatix from a company called HDRSoft.  It’s a good program and all, but it specializes in creating images that are a little over the top.  Photoshop, starting with CS2, has a pretty good HDR capability built in, and that is what I use.  First, however, you need your source images.  Generally speaking you want at least three, but you can use 5 or more as well.  In order to do this with relative ease, you’ll want a camera that has an AEB mode (Auto Exposure Bracketing), as most DSLRs do.  On my Canon I turn on AEB and then set it to the maximum range, which is -2, 0, and +2 stops.  This means that when I take three pictures in a row, the first will be regularly exposed, the second will be 2 stops underexposed and the third will be two stops overexposed.  Make sure you take the pictures in Av mode, as you want the aperture to stay the same throughout – remember: you’re going for three pictures that are identical except for the exposure level.

Another thing to think about is that you’ll want these pictures to be as similar as possible.  Moving subjects are going to be a problem.  Subtle movements (ripples on water, for example) might be ok, but this might not be the best techniqe for capturing speeding cars, toddlers, etc.  You’ll want to keep the camera as still as possible – tripods are the best, railings to brace on are ok, or a good camera strap pulled tight will work if you’ve got everything else in order.  The HDR above was shot with just my handy R-Strap.  Lastly, you’ll want to active burst mode, so that you can take the pictures faster and easier.  That means all I’ve got to do is get my settings right and hold down the shutter button until it fires three times.  I know it sounds like a lot of settings and configuration but once you’ve done it once or twice, it’s pretty darn simple.  I can go from shooting regular shots to shooting the three source pictures I need for an HDR in about 5 seconds.

Alright – now you’ve got your pictures!  You should have something like this:

Open all three files in Photoshop, and then select File -> Automate -> Merge To HDR… Click the Add Open Files button, and ensure the Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images box is checked.  Watch your computer churn for a little while and then what you’ll have is your rough image!  Just a little fiddling to go.  Move the White Point slider until you’re happy and press Ok. Now we have an image, but we’ve got one problem – it’s got so much depth (32 bits) that we can’t do much with it – a JPG can only handle 8 bits of depth, for example, and that’s probably where we’re going, right?  Right?  Select Image -> Mode -> 8 Bits / Channel… Slide the Gamma slider around until you’re happy and then the Exposure slider until things look right(ish).  Click Ok and you’re real close!  Now all you have to do is whatever you usually do – for me that probably involves some curves, sharpening, whatever.  Are you proud of yourself?  You should have an image with more detail in both the highlights and the shadow areas than in any of your source images.  This of course works best when you start with a scene that plays to the strengths of HDR.  A room with both bright lighting in parts and shadows in others.  A sunset.  Bright sun sillouetting an ancient Thai temple – something like that.  Oh yeah – one more caveat: there are a million ways you can get to the final product, even within Photoshop.  I’ve just listed what I do.  Play around – if I can figure it out, the bar can’t be that high.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Bangkok is a lot of things. Most of those things are hot, humid, moist, and smoggy, but there is a lot of good mixed in there. Phad Thai from street vendors ranks highly, and so do the huge number of Wats or Buddhist temples. The centerpiece of the city must be Wat Phra Kaew, next to the Grand Palace. This is a shot of the amazing golden Chedi. The jade Buddah housed in another building may hold more religious significance, but this is what I loved. More pictures to come, of course.

Golden Tower Of Wat Phra Kaew is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures