It’s a shame my vacation in Dubai couldn’t have occured just a couple of weeks later so that I could attend the 2008 Gulf Photo Plus Workshop in Dubai. Of course I had never actually heard of it until I was actually in the country but now that I know, I really wish I could be there. The workshop is a week long event that covers photography, Photoshop, and video with some of the best in the business. Granted, I really don’t care about the video (sorry Rod) but I bet the photography and Photoshop portions will be amazing. How could they not be with world class photographerJoe McNally,The Strobist, David Hobby, and one of my favorite photographers, David Nightingale, as part of the instructor team. Headlining the Photoshop instruction is none other than Ben Wilmore, that bus driving, HDR crazy, Photoshop instructor extraordinaire. I am sure that everyone will get their money’s worth at this workshop. So if you’re going to be in Dubai April 30th – May 4th, be sure to stop in to the Gulf Photo Plus workshops. For more information on instructors, classes, schedules, and more, check out the Gulf Photo Plus web site.
I can’t wait to see what HDR stuff Ben brings back from this trip. And speaking of Dubai HDR images, here’s a few that I have processed from my trip. Enjoy!
When I started looking through the class schedule prior to my trip to Photoshop World last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was actually an HDR offering among all the other type of classes. Kevin Ames taught a class called Lighting Without Lights that used multiple exposures and HDR processing for interior shots (his example was a hotel room shot for a magazine or ad campaign). Of course it was no surprise that the class entitled High Dynamic Range Imagery was being instructed by Ben Wilmore. Ben has been working the HDR angle for some time now and he really does have it down to a science, sort of. I was curious to see exactly what Ben was doing and how much it would differ from what I have done with my images. More importantly, I was looking for some validation for my tutorials. I was really pleased to find that, with the exception of one step, Ben was processing his images almost exactly like I have been doing. We even shoot our HDRs in the same fashion (generally 3 exposures from -2 to +2 stops). I know you are wondering what Ben’s extra step is and I’m going to tell you. Once he has processed his HDR file in Photomatix, he runs it through the Tonemapping process again, changing just a couple of sliders (mostly reducing the saturation). This step really extracts all of the detail out of the shadow areas.
So now that I feel pretty validated, I have been looking back at some images and trying the second run of Photomatix processing just to see the difference. The big difference between my images and Ben’s is that he is a master of Photoshop so his post-Photomatix processing is just amazing. Also, Ben likes to make what he calls “Illustrative” images that are more painterly where as I prefer a somewhat more realistic approach. It’s all personal but Ben’s stuff is just out of this world. If you would like to see his stuff, you need to check out The Best of Ben and to see what else he is up to, make sure you check out his blog, Where is Ben.
I received some questions and also felt the need to listen to myself talk so I recorded a follow-up video for my last HDR post. The article describes how to take the 32-Bit HDR file and process it down to a usable 16 or 8-Bit format while maintaining the tonal ranges that are achieved using the HDR photography method. The Photoshop method of processing tends to render a much more realistic view of a scene then other software that utilizes the tonemapping methods. So go ahead and sit back, relax, and enjoy the sultry tones of my voice as I guide you through the processing routine (you know I am kidding about the whole “sultry tones of my voice” thing, right?).
If you are having trouble viewing the embedded video, try clicking here to go straight to YouTube.
And here is a look at the image that I processed in the video. As you can see, it maintains a very wide tonal range, from the bright skies to the deep shade of the boulders along the creek bed, that I could never have captured in a single exposure. So next time you are out shooting with your tripod, go ahead and take some over and under-exposures and give the HDR thing a whirl. You never know until you try.
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