Because I lead workshops, I am often asked if a point and shoot digital camera is okay. Well, the simple answer is absolutely yes. Here is a little story to illustrate my point. Let’s say that two photographers wake up early one morning for a full day of shooting. They both want to capture HDR images during the early morning and late afternoon golden hours. Photographer one, I’ll call him Sam, has an expensive, professional grade D-SLR camera with an expensive 28-105mm f/2.8 lens but has only a moderate understanding of the camera and its functions and has generally poor technique. Photographer two, I’ll call her Betty, is using a mid-level fixed zoom lens on a camera with some manual control options. Betty, unlike Sam, has excellent knowledge of the camera and its functions and has really good technique. If I were to choose in advance which of these photographers will return with better images I would bet on Betty. One becomes a better photographer, not by purchasing expensive equipment, but by learning how to use the equipment one has and by practicing good technique.
If one wants to learn how to shoot HDR then one must first learn technique. One need not have a ton of fancy equipment to create the drama inherent in the HDR image. Quite the contrary, one can get started with the bare essentials. All one really needs to get started is an inexpensive point and shoot digital camera so long as you have the ability to use some kind of manual exposure compensation. You also need a sturdy tripod. Holding the camera steady during exposure bracketing is an absolute must for merging files to create an HDR image. Most point and shoot cameras do not have the ability to capture RAW files but no worries. While not perfect, merging JPEGs works well in most merges to HDR.
Shooting handheld with a point and shoot camera, or even a D-SLR for that matter, is only possible if the camera offers an automatic exposure bracketing (AEB) feature. Even then, I tend to not recommend one attempt a handheld bracket exposure if one can at all avoid it. Without AEB the tripod is an absolute requirement. It is next to impossible to play with the exposure settings while trying to shoot holding the camera in your hand. Remember, creating an HDR image requires that one merge three to five digital exposures into a single file. While currently available software is really good at aligning images, hand-held exposures may have such a range of misalignment that the merging software cannot figure out just what to do.
When shooting HDR one is also advised to take white balance off auto mode choosing the most appropriate pre-programmed white balance setting. If your camera has an auto ISO feature, take it off auto and select the slowest (lowest) ISO setting possible for the luminance of the scene. Whatever you do, do not use your built-in flash.
Here are a few tips for using a digital point and shoot camera when capturing images for later conversion to HDR.
- Remember, a tripod is preferable to hand-held shooting
- Turn off as many automatic settings as possible thereby controlling as much as possible manually
- If your camera offers aperture priority mode then use it. Vary exposure by shutter speed keeping the aperture fixed. This lets you control depth of field.
- Decide how to bracket. On a bright sunny day +2,0,-2 or a 5-stop range is appropriate range. In shadows or on an overcast day or even indoors a +1,0,-1 or 3-stop range is more appropriate. A bit of experimenting will help you decide which works best for you.
In the final analysis, equipment is far less important than learning and then using good technique. I have a black and white image hanging in my home that was shot using an oatmeal box, sheet film and a pinhole. The image is stunning and the camera was made from the simplest of tools.
The image to the left was made using a point and shoot Fuji FinePix camera while I was in Rome. The drama created by the high dynamic range is captured, not through expensive equipment but, rather, through the application of composition approaches and technique. To those who ask about equipment I answer, bring along what you have and we will work on honing the craft. Learning how to see with the camera you have is far more important than spending a boat load of cash on the latest and greatest gadgets.
Yesterday was a slow day at my studio so I decided, as I often do, to take advantage of the day and shoot some beautiful landscape images in Northern Illinois. I hadn’t visited Volo Bog in nearly a year making my decision of where to go an easy one. I am not sorry I made that choice.
The atrium in the Thompson (named for the long-term governor of Illinois and designed by the renown Chicago architect, Helmut Jahn, the soaring atrium combines parallel lines with curved surfaces and bright red outlines to provide one with a sense of awe without reverence. Public spaces must create a sense of overwhelming power that welcomes one inside; a display of authority that embraces one’s senses. This building is, at that level, quite successful.
On the left is an image of The Bean, one of the more iconic images of Chicago. The Bean is its popular name. The artist named it Cloud Gate. But, as Shakespeare so aptly noted, “A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.” So call it what you will, Cloud Gate or The Bean, the fact still remains that it is one of those spots that visitors and natives alike tend to gather and gawk at their reflection in polished stainless steel.
The original, single exposure above is darker than I like. If I merely adjust curves I can lighten the entire image, but I cannot get the balanced tones across the entire dynamic range that my eye sees. By merging three exposures into an HDR image I may now account for the whole dynamic range available to the sensor and mirror what my eye sees as I observe the scene I am shooting. The Image to the right is the merged HDR image. Created using three images shot within a 5-stop range, I captured the highlights, found detail in the shadows and held the midtones in a rather pleasing manner.
The image on the left was shot in the Spring of 2009 as part of a series of images documenting barns in Kane County, Illinois. Shot with a Canon 30D with a Canon 75-300 f 4.0-5.6 lens using an ISO of 1600 at 1/100 sec at f 32 at a focal length of 80mm, the image captures midtones well but seems flat when viewed with no adjustments to the file. One of the things that intrigued me about this image was the melting snow on the barn roof. Water streaming down the mansard roof left distinctive dark flow lines that mirrored the vertical siding on the barn walls. In a standard exposure there is no way to capture that without extensive manipulation.
Here is where HDR or High Dynamic Range imaging comes to the rescue. When I shot this barn I bracketed three images. I shot on a rather bright (5 stop) day in the late afternoon as the light warmed and shadows lengthened. I set the camera to control the aperture (f 32) allowing the TTL metering, set at evaluative, to control shutter speed in order to achieve a 2 stop overexposure, a 2 stop underexposure and an exposure metered correctly. I used 
The image to the left is the original shot taken in the Spring of 2009 cropped to the square format. The image captures the butterfly quietly sitting on the flower in front of a blurred background. The bokeh effect is achieved by shooting with a fast lens wide open thereby causing the background to go out of focus while the subject being photographed remains sharp. Bokeh allows the subject to dominate the image. For small images bokeh adds an element of focus allowing the viewer to look more deeply at the object being photographed. It is a technique I like and use a lot.
To the right is an HDR conversion of the same image. HDR or high dynamic range images allow for the entire tonal range to be embedded in the image itself without losing any of the lens effects of the original image. Normally, HDR is accomplished merging three to five images shot at the same aperture, each exposed on a continuum from under to over-exposed with the one in the middle being properly exposed. The image in this post, however, was made from a single RAW file. Because the RAW file contains all of the exposure data from severe under to severe over exposure, Photomatix Pro allows one to do a single image HDR conversion. I find the results satisfying, though most of my HDR images are still shot with me in control of the over and under-exposure settings. The HDR image has a richness that is not quite present in the original exposure. The richness of color in the wings of the butterfly, an almost glow, is a consequence of the merger of under and over exposed images combined with the original which emphasizes the midtones at the expense of highlights and shadows.
Well, as August arrived the Gerbera daisies began to bloom. Last year they were a deep orange rust color but this year the blossoms are a variegated yellow-rust color. These close relatives of the common sunflower grow taller than the mailbox itself, flower in mid to late August and provide a photo opportunity that I simply cannot pass up. So here are a couple of detail shots of the Gerbera daisy blooms that are growing in my front yard as I write this post.
The weekend weather provided much heat and not too much of a breeze to cool things off, not even a little. Hardly a cloud dotted the sky to provide much-needed shade. The sun beating off the asphalt street made it feel even warmer than it already was. Yet, and in spite of the very hot weather, people came out to look at art at the Oswego Art Festival this past weekend. My booth was busy most of the morning hours and after a midday break in traffic, in the later part of the afternoon. People seemed to avoid the noonday sun.
