ND Grad or multiple exposure blend?

This topic is something I see quite regularly on the various forums. People want to know if they need ND grads or split neutral density filters anymore since digital allows us to take more than one exposure to compensate for the difference in brightness (dynamic range) between the sky and ground.

Well the answer is you actually need both to cover all circumstances, as there a pros and cons to using each which I'll cover next.

ND Grad / Split Neutral Density

The filter method is quicker and allows you to get the photo as close to correct as possible 'in camera' which will greatly reduce the amount of time you need to spend in Photoshop. Also if you need to take the picture quickly or hand-held then this is the only way to go.

the main disadvantage to using the filter is the obvious change you will see between dark and light over objects that appear in front of the sky such as trees and buildings. Personally I quite like this effect and I don't think it detracts from the image. Some people really hate it though.

Multiple Exposures

This method is handy if you don't want to shell out for ND Grads or you want to capture more dynamic range than you would with the filter method. Basically you would take 2 or 3 exposures to cover the entire dynamic range then blend them in Photoshop.

The main disadvantages to this method are more time in front of the computer, no hand-held shots, tricky selections to get the blend right (can be a real nightmare with trees!).
you could use a program that specializes in HDR which will blend for you, however these type of pictures always have that HDR look to them that is not always what you want.

So it really comes down to personal preference, personally I like to use both methods depending on what I'm shooting at the time.

Thanks for listening.

Sensor cleaning and chamber lubricant

I recently got hold of the Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly as I had some noticeable dust on the sensor of my Canon DSLR. I'd heard these were really good so I popped a battery in, turned it on for 10 seconds as directed and then swept the brush across the sensor. I then took a picture of the sky and examined it for dust. All dust spots gone!

I then went to one of my haunts early the next morning (5am) along the coast to get some sunrise shots. After the sun was fully up I noticed something in the top right corner of the view finder which looked like a couple of streaks. I assumed that these were on the my polariser so I gave it a clean, took another shot a rechecked. The streaks were still there which meant there had to be something on the sensor! Now during shooting I hadn't noticed as the light was very low, the chance had also passed to get the shots again, and anyway I don't carry any sensor cleaning kit in my bag as I'm not overly keen on cleaning my sensor on the beach for obvious reasons!

After I returned home I flipped the mirror up on the camera and had a look at the sensor. There were two or three large oily streaks on the sensor it self. Where had this come from? I can only assume that the Arctic Butterfly had caught some excess lubrication from the chamber which had later fallen onto the sensor.

The photo's I had taken all had these streaks on them and it took me an absolute age to clean them up. At one point I thought the shots were ruined, but I managed to save them.

The moral here is BE VERY CAREFUL WITH SENSOR CLEANING BRUSHES and do NOT touch the side of the chamber!

to remove the oil I bought Visible dust swabs (£50.00!!) which easily removed the residue.

Thanks for listening.

Photoshop or Lightroom? or both?

Photoshop is a fantastic program isn't it?

However for photographers about 90% of the program isn't used or isn't relevant and this is understandable, as it's not just aimed at us photographers. So when Lightroom came along I thought, here's a program that will have all the photo editing related tools with Bridge all wrapped up in one package!
To a certain extent this is true, however there is one very important thing missing that will stop me ditching Photoshop: Layers!

Alot of my photography is landscape based and I regularly take two exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground and then do a layer blend via a mask in Photoshop. I know that in Lightroom I can export to Photoshop for editing and then return it to Lightroom, but that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? You then lose the non-destructive RAW editing that Lightroom touts. Plus having to use both Photoshop and Lightroom is a real pain and very expensive!

I do love the features Lightroom offers especially version 2 with the new local exposure tools, but CS4 now offers these as well. So for the time being I won't be buying Lightroom and I will continue using Photoshop and Bridge as this combination can do everything that Lightroom does.

Thanks for listening.

Tip for Canon HDR and exposure bracketing limitation

Many of you that use Canon DSLR's may have noticed that when it comes to exposure bracketing, the Canon is quite limited. not all Canon's mind you but certainly the 40D and 50D are.

Exposure bracketing is limited to three shots at -2, 0 and +2. While this may be ok for some people, if like me you occasionally like to take HDR images then the default exposure options are quite limited. What really annoys me is the fact that my old Olympus E500 went to +3, and I know that Nikon cameras (including the cheap ones) will do five exposures from -5 to +5!

If you do need more than what the standard options offer then try the following trick that I use to get -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4.

Set the camera up for normal exposure bracketing of +/-2, then use the exposure compensation to set the exposure to -2. When you take the bracketed shots you will get -4,-2 and 0. Now move the exposure compensation to +2 and shoot again. you will now get 0, +2 and plus 4.

What you will end up with is -4, -2, 0, 0, +2 and +4. Delete one of the '0' exposures and you have five exposures covering 8 stops!

Cheers for now.

Digital photography forums and photographic comments

How many of you are members of photography forums that allow you to create galleries and receive feedback on them?
I first gave this a try about 18 months ago as I was hoping to get some (real) feedback on my photography at the time.

The first few comments I received were very favourable and I was pleased. However after trawling through many other galleries (some good, some not so good, some bloody awful) I noticed that everyone was receiving good comments. Now let's be clear here I'm not saying that bad photographs should be slagged off but there should be positive criticism as opposed " Oh yes I really like the way you captured this or that blah blah blah" rather than "the exposure is spot on but there is no foreground interest, perhaps you should try this blah blah blah". You know what i mean.

Without proper positive criticism the photographer may never see the mistakes they are making and will take far longer to improve.

So come on people! it's in everyone's interests to positively criticise at every given opportunity so that we can all learn something!

anyway as you've probably already gathered I don't post my photographs on any of these forums anymore!

Thanks for listening