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Nikon D200 - HDR processing removes camera data.

Here is an attempt using two separate methods to obtain a nicely exposed (hopefully composed) image. First I set out to take a few HDR shots. I will explain HDR in a minute. Secondly, I invoked the Zone System created by Ansel Adams back in the 30's.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is used quite extensively by many photographers both experienced and entry level. One of the big problems with cameras (especially digital cameras) is lack of range from black to white. Us humans see far greater levels of black to white than a camera can. Therefore our cameras usually have to loose the bright sky or the dark shadows in a contrasty image. HDR allows us to cover most of the range from black to white in post processing (on the computer).

The Zone System is simply a method to help us photographers compensate for what a camera "thinks" should be a proper setting. We know brightly lit grass should be brighter than what the camera determines, so we adjust accordingly. This is a simple explanation of course.

Finally posting an entry! I know it has been quite a while. I haven't been shooting anywhere as much as I should.

The image I have here was shot back on the 24th of July. I was in a desert city named Hesperia in California. Along with my wife and kids, I was visiting my in-laws for a weekend. This particular image was quite fun. I was with my brother-in-law who was visiting us from Virginia. He also has a Nikon DSLR camera and we were taking some time to shoot some pics. Our light was leaving us so took advantage of this sillouhetted Joshua Tree. Actually, I'm not sure how his image ended up. I will have to ask him. So, here it is...


Nikon D200 70-200mm at 70mm f/14 for 1/800 sec

On July 27th, I was visiting family in the High Desert of California. I know, the High Desert isn't exactly the place you would think of for flowers such as these. However, my wife's parents have managed to grow a garden where previously there was nothing but sand and rocks.

I took this image with the Hollyhock facing the setting sun around 7:30 in the evening. At 200mm, my lens did a good job of completely blurring out the background isolating the flower. I especially like the overlapping of the petals. You can see how several more flowers are on their way. Probably bloomed by the time of this writing. Here is the image.


Click on the image for a slightly larger version
Nikon D200 70-200mm at 200mm f/4.0 for 1/250 sec

Here is a link to the event
http://whittierphotography.com/getty

On Saturday the 19th of July I visited the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. The drive is around forty-five minutes from Whittier, Ca without traffic. I know, when is Southern California without traffic. Actually, it was very nice on the trek up. Around forty-five minutes, so there. Unfortunately around one hour ten minutes on the way back! This was Saturday, it could have been much worse!

Anyways, I traveled to the rough & tumble of Pacific Palisades to meet up with a group organized at http://photo.meetup.com/662 (The Redondo Beach Photography Group). I haven't actually attended one of the monthly meetings and I finally met around seven to eight people from the group. Buncha nice people!

I brought my son Justin along with me with his D70 SLR. He is quite the attention getter with that camera around his neck and I do not believe he has a clue to that fact! Of course, Justin hooked up with Karine from the group. While he is only six, he likes the pretty girls! Justin and I ended up having lunch with Ken the organizer of the event and Karine at a cool sea food restaurant by the name of The Reel Inn in Malibu.

I do have something sad to report. The D70 decided to zap Justin's pictures and seems to have corrupted the FAT32 table. I attempted recovery with several utilities and no dice. He had around 260 images. All gone. He was like, "oh, ok". He finds joy in the taking of the pictures, not really the review of them.

Here is the link to some of the images taken.
http://www.whittierphotography.com/viewer.php?gal=1012

On Wednesday the 16th I decided that normal was just too, well normal. I packed up my camera gear and drove thirty miles to Hollywood.

First, I'd like to thank Garmin for his excellent talents with giving directions. I swear that you would still see a silver GTO roaming the streets of Hollywood to this minute if it was purely up to me. Confusing!

Anyways, back to my escape from the normal world. While I have lived in California my entire life, I do believe I have been to Hollywood Blvd a whopping two to three times in my life. Lets just say in the words of Paul Simon, "Still crazy after all these years". Fun, but crazy. I parked across from the El Capitan Theater under the Kodak building.

As I arrived top side, I immediately saw the following: Batman, Robin, Wolverine, that Lion from Oz, "Captain" Jack Sparrow, Gene Simons and that other guy from Kiss and finally Darth Vader. All camera shy unless I threw them some money. Walked quite a ways and did manage to take some decent images. Even one of a lady with a see through dress on a little scooter. That was interesting.

My definite favorite was the guy with at least thirty pounds of musical instruments strapped to his body. He was amazing! Oh, and I did throw him some money.