mm767cap

NICE photos. I'm curious: you listed your lens as 90mm 2.8. Is that the same lens you used to shoot the water droplets? That's some pretty seriously narrow depth of field! Did you use a macro setting for that shot?

Love your HDR work. I've never done that before and seeing your shots has inspired me to take a look at it in the future. Do you have to shoot in RAW mode to make that work? What photo editing software do you use?

Keep the pics coming. I always look forward to seeing what you've done.

ngl1145

Thanks... But yes it was a Tamron 90 mm 2.8 lens. I would have shot with a smaller aperture to make the others more clear, but did not have my tripod with me at the time. In order to create a non-blurred shot, I increased the aperture as opposed to my ISO. The lens does a 1:1 setting. The lens can be set to full or limit. At the time I set it to full. If you set the lens to limit it will not do macro shots.

Yes I shoot in RAW mode and I import them using Apple's Aperture 2.1. Once they are in Aperture, I can correct any white balances, exposures, etc. For HDR processing I use Photomatix Pro. I'll be taking more pictures soon. My car is very dirty as you can see in picture 1 by the area behind the wheel.

CaThaFeR

iTrader: (1)

yeaaaa great pics Nick

mm767cap

Thanks for the info. Is HDR processing a fairly intuitive thing? I've been thinking about investing in Aperture 2.1. Are you happy with it?

Really great effects you produce.

Oh.... and sinfully hot car too!

ngl1145

HDR is not hard to do, but there are people out there that don't know how to create the right balance and the picture just looks cartoonish. You may not have noticed but the first photo has slight HDR work done to it. I think the best HDR work looks hardly noticeable. Occasionally I go overboard myself but I will post more hopefully soon. We're having a Lexus meetup/cruise coming up this Sunday and I hope I can take more photos.

ngl1145

Thanks Cathy, I still can't believe I haven't taken more pics of your car yet. PM me if you're in the RI area. -Nick

mm767cap

Awesome. Thanks for letting me pick your brain. I actually really like some of the heavy HDR you have done.... makes your car look liquid. These are my last 2 questions for you (promise!!) When you say you did "slight" HDR work, does that mean that the exposures weren't that different (+- 1 EV vs. 2), or is it something that you select when you put it through Photomatix?

Is there an advantage to shooting in RAW vs. JPEG format when using HDR?

Thanks again. You have rekindled my interest in photography. I'm a commercial pilot so I'm thinking the results might be pretty interesting in the cockpit.

ngl1145

Since you're a commercial pilot, these were some HDR's I did early on that look a little too dramatic, but remember doing them. I travel a lot myself!

As for shooting for making HDR's... I don't think it's necessary to shoot in RAW, but I like to so it allows me control of various aspects of my image. When I say slight HDR, I mean I don't make it look dramatic, but aim to capture a relative even balance of light throughout the image. I take 3 separate shots by putting my Nikon D80 in bracketing mode. I shoot at -2, 0, and 2. If necessary in Aperture I can also change the exposure level as well.





Non HDR

mm767cap

Great! Thanks for all the info. Love your shots, except all the UAX RJ's that are stealing all our flying! I hate those little things. Anyway, off to Hawaii. Pretty soon they'll probably be replacing us on those routes too!

Thanks again

ngl1145

Well I happened to pick the wrong plane. What airline do you fly with and what plane do you typically fly. If you ever want a photoshoot for the plane you fly just let me know

mm767cap

I'm a B757/B767 Captain for United. Would love to have you do a shoot sometime!! I'll let you know the next time I get a Boston trip!

ngl1145

My Sigma 10-20 mm lens can get your whole plane That would be different to shoot a plane. Have a safe trip to Hawaii. By the way... do you have an IS-F?

Namir

Glad to hear it. You have some awesome HDR shots. I like the new stuff too, keep up the good work.

HDR work on 1. was great, subtle but effective. As usual, we needz moar pix!

mm767cap

That's a great lens... would produce some cool plane photos. I got some cool 20mm shots on top of Mt. St. Helens last year. I actually rented the lens before I went up - didn't feel I could justify the purchase at the time. I think my next lens is going to be an 85mm f1.8 as I don't have anything that shoots really narrow depth of field.

I tried my first HDR image yesterday before I left. It actually came out alright! Thanks for getting me excited about photography again. I had basically stopped carrying my camera, which is unfortunate.

No IS-F (yet). I'm presently in a 2003 M3 which I pay off next month. Haven't decided on a new M3, IS-F, C63, XK, Used RS4, S5, or 135i. Obviously, I'm all over the map but I must say the IS-F is leading the charge at this point. My local dealer won't let me drive one so I don't really know, but I haven't pushed the issue because I'm not ready to buy yet. Seems like a great car.

P.S. I tried the iPhone Dyno you suggested. What a cool app!

ngl1145

The e46 is a great car! It's one of my favorites. HDR isn't difficult, but occasionally I have to play with the different settings to give me the right effect. Ever since I bought my Nikon D80 I've been carrying it with me wherever I go. Sometimes photography doesn't wait for you. If you don't have your camera, sometimes you miss the moment and can never get it back.

So you downloaded the application? I briefly tried it last night but will try again tonight. It would be interesting to use it when you take off in your 757 (of course in airplane mode). But you'd have to take off from a complete stop and not a rolling take off. It would be interesting to see your Skidpad G meter.

As for car, I like the RS4 as well. I owned a V8 S4 once and it was great other than the electrical issues it had. I still look on the Audi board once in a while to see if they have problems and they do. The Audi was one of my favorite cars but one of the worst service wise. C63 is a monster and would love to have one of those too!