Sahsima in White

Taking what I learned about using HDR to get the creamy water effect I have applied the method to some old jpeg brackets from last year. These shots were taken on the last day of 2011, not long after dawn, of Sahsima the transformer stone on Harling Point. I took quite a few exposures, trying for nice water. And I did not do too badly but did not get the effect I was after. I only posted one image from many taken that morning, but none from these brackets, I don’t think.

These are two versions from the same set of 8 exposures (though in fact there are only 6 with unique exposure values and thus I am not sure if the two ‘extras’ were discarded – see my more detailed note about this in yesterday’s post).  I was not actually bracketing my shots, but just trying different exposures.  The morning was already quite well advanced by the time I took these and the longest exposure possible with my gear at that time was 9 seconds. Even so, the HDR has produced an effect in the water reminiscent of a much longer exposure. I did not have an ND filter when these were taken, but did use a polarizing filter to cut one or two stops out. So, this is a useful exercise as well – to see that without a neutral density filter, or an off camera timer nor even a very early start, one can still get these nice effects with bracketing and HDR processing. I think that is good to know.

.

 

Canon 5Dii, Canon 50/1.4 lens, ISO100, f-22, brackets at 2.5, 3.2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 seconds, polarizing filter

.

.

Tags: , , , , , ,

13 thoughts on “Sahsima in White”

    • OK, another try, logged in to my own blog this time. Sharing a computer with another WP blogger can get interesting at times:

      Hi Doug! I like those patches of colour too, for me it makes the colour version more interesting than the black and white.
      This is mostly in the intertidal zone. There are orange lichens on Sahsima above high tide, and algae of various colours a bit lower.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  2. FABULOUS!!! The ability to manage “ghosting” issues in HDR is a key to producing imagery that satisfies the vision you were after. Great examples of doing just that here, my friend!!

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Thank you. In this instance I think it is all about having the ghosts, lots of them, interfering with each other and making it all soft and creamy. “Managing” them in this case was simply letting them run loose on the water. Glad you like it – this is one of my favourites, though maybe the colours of the seaweeds and so on could do with a touch of desaturation.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  4. Pingback: Sahsima in Green « burnt embers

  5. I love this effect. It works much better in color.

    I would love to try this. It’s comforting to know that you don’t need an Auto Exposure Bracketing function (which my camera lacks) to create such amazing HDR images.

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Hi James. If you can control your camera enough to leave the aperture fixed and change the shutter speed only, regardless of how you get the ‘brackets’, you can use them in HDR software. In fact yesterday I was experimenting with very windy ocean shots all taken at the same exposure and the software would process those too – you don’t get the extra tonal range, but there are some interesting effects in the water. I will probably post about that, not a wonderful result, but an interesting trial.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  6. A great shot and an interesting exercise. I like the idea of going back to previous photos to try to breath new life in them using different techniques. These are very well done.

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks Ken. I found the exercise very gratifying. I was looking for another series of exposures to try it on, which I did not find, but will be trying this again. It is particularly useful to be able to go back when there has not been a chance to get out with the camera for a few days or more.

      Like

      Reply ↓

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.