Recently I have fallen in love with taking HDR photos. Typically HDR photos produce a photograph which is far more representative of what you would have seen if you were there.

How does it work?

This is because all parts of the image can be illuminated, and in focus. Normally when you look at a composition you will look at one part at a time, your eyes will focus on the object you are looking at rather than the whole thing at a time. This is replicated in photos by using a small aperture, meaning thins in the fore, middle and background are all focused. However in normal photography, especially at night, you are unable to replicate your eyes ability to change the, “exposure”. Using the HDR technique you are able to take multiple photos at varying exposure, then layer them, allowing extreme light and dark areas to be visible.

The effects vary depending on the subject, but typically photos will look like a rendering out of a next generation computer game, as everything is visible. In day shots you are able to pick out amazing skies, and at night you can get shining lights but also see detail in the shadows.

This may sound confusing so have a look at this photo on Flickr by Delox. An HDR photo using 9 exposures.

So how do you do it?

A lot of DSLR cameras have a bracketing mode which will take 3 photo, one after another at different exposures. However you can also just take as many photos as you want, changing the exposure in different ways. Once you have your photos the easiest way to create an HDR photo I have found is to use a program called Photomatix from HDRSoft.

When you open Photomatix, just click HDR>Generate. Then select the photos you want to use and hit OK. Once done you can then go to HDR>Tone Mapping. Once in you can start playing around with the settings, there is no right setting for a photo and it all depends on taste. Some outcomes will give you a realistic view, whilst others will give you a very surreal cartoony look. This is a good example of a before and after.

Once done you can then import the photo into iPhone, LightRoom etc and treat them like a normal photo. Have a look at my HDR photos on Flickr, and some of my favorite HDR photo on flickr.

For those interested I have uploaded some more photos to Flickr you can see them on my photo stream here.

I have also added the standard Flickr photo badge to the side bar of my site, as I attempt to push more content through this blog. It’s only a start but I realised after playing with plaxo that it’s essentially what my blog should be. What is the point of having a blog but then also having lots of other micro blogs, photos, music, links in other places. I appreciate that if your blog is mostly your business then you may not want your twitters on it, but for me my blog is a place to muck about. So really everything should be here.

I like the way people like Simon Willison include everything in their blog. Sure you get a lot of update, but that’s the point of a blog right, that’s the point of categories… I aim to allow people to subscribe to my written blog (this) as normal, but then also subscribe to links I post on del.icio.us, my flickr photos, things I Digg, shared stuff in Google Reader and perhaps Last.fm summaries (if they update it for the iPhone!!!). I initially started doing this with Elsewhere and links although I don’t think anyone notices them or reads them, so giving them a prominent placing would make more sense.

Something that started bugging me the other day was a feature I think is lacking in Flickr. I realised I could send photos from my iPhone via email, although I don’t like the fact they appear in my photo stream. What I want to do is remove these photos from my stream or have one stream for real photos and one for mobile image blogging. I guess however I can play about with tags and groups, although it would be nice to have more control over the stream than editing dates :( Anyone have a solution for this?

Yesterday evening I received my free copy of, “A Global History of Architecture“. No I haven’t followed my brother and sister into Architecture, I got it because it contained my first published photo.

I quickly flicked through to the Incas and only found two black and white photos of Machu Pichu?! I was a bit confused so checked my flickr photos to see which one was mine. It didn’t seem like either of them was, so I went back to the index page to see if there was another section. On my way I noticed the glossy spreads near the start, and there is was… a full half page of glossy paper with my photo on it :D

I guess I really owe it all to flickr. Well done chaps!

I think this is the first time I have really thought about it, but it’s a great feeling for someone to want to license your software, whilst there is so much more I would like to do with Ceros, we have come a long way!

I feel a bit guilty for not posting much recently. I have been filling my personal time by being addicted to PES2008 and doing lots of photography. My Nikon D80 is great, although I often over estimate how long it takes to sort out all your photos, upload them, tag them etc etc. But at least it’s a lot cheaper and easier than back in the film days!

Be sure to check out my photo stream on Flickr.

From my last post it should be clear that I recently got myself a Nikon D80. I have been without a camera since after I went travelling and have been waiting for another big occasion to get one. Problem is by the time I am about to go away again I have no spare cash left.

So this time I saved up and got one when I could, and now I can worry about where to take it. It has to be said though, living in London gives you so much opportunity for photography! There are so may things right on your doorstep.

I got a Nikon D80, mainly because I have other friends with Nikons, and sharing lenses is really handy. I was planning on getting the D40x but it lacks the auto focus, which is a real pain for action shots. The D80 is great though, having 10MP allows you to take an OK photo and crop it, or zoom into a section without loosing quality. Having a camera with a good lens also makes normal photos really stand out.

I have been shooing photos in the RAW format and then using Adobe LightRoom to tweak them. LightRoom offers so much more than iPhoto, but is very easy to understand, I would recommend it to anyone. One of the most useful features is the ability to crop a section without throwing the rest away. At any point in the future you can re crop the photo recovering the cropped stuff! Really handy!

So check out my Flickr page for some more example of what I have been shooting!