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Windows to the soul

Posted by
Kylie Greenan (Hunters Hill, Australia) on 24 August 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

This is the first of my images of my trip to the local weekend markets and what I saw there, this guy... a japanese breed of dog that I couldn't pronounce let alone spell, was the first to greet me as arrived... such a beautiful nature and so playful, not one of those dogs that jump all over you, just put his paw up as if to say... "hi there". But he gave me this deep soulful look and I managed to capture it...this image looked to me a bit like an oil painting with such beautiful colours in his very thick coat. I didn't catch his name, but somehow I think we connected.

Thank you for your lovely comments and questions on the HDR image yesterday, just a little info here, HDR is High Dynamic Range photography and what it means is you take a series of images with different exposures ie -2, -1, 0, +1, +2. You can use only a couple of images or a lot (I think I have read somewhere someone used 10?). You need a tripod of course, use manual focus, ISO, white balance etc, also remote release and mirror lockup is recommended (make sure you don't move the camera between images or they won't overlap cleanly when you merge them). Use Aperture Priority set at f8.

For yesterday's image I used 5 images merged. You can set your AEB to 3 stops and use continuious shooting and it will bracket the images one after another which will eliminate camera shake a lot I have read. I opted though to do this manually to get a wider range. What you do then is download a package like PhotomatixPro3 onto your computer that effortlessly merges the images together (I have read this can also be done in PS but not as effectively, I haven't tried it). Once you have merged the images you can adjust the levels similar to PS. The result you get is great range in colour and tone as you have merged from under to over exposed images to get a wider range of depth in light, shadows and colour. I am sure there are many photographers on here that would explain it a lot better than I have, and to be honest this is the first one I have done, but I will be sure to put up any more that I do :o).

So, just google HDR Photography and have a look at some of the amazing images (Some people take it to the extreme and get almost a sketched look) and if it's for you, you can download Photomatix Pro 3 (again just google it) on a trial basis (it will put text in your image though until you purchase the package, it's around AUD$25-30) and voila! It's lots of fun...go on grab your tripod... off you go then :o)

Canon EOS 40D 1/100 second F/5.6 ISO 400 85 mm

© Kylie Greenan Photography 2009
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Canon EOS 40D
1/100 second
F/5.6
ISO 400
85 mm