A ranch in HDR

Today I visited a western ranch. While my daughter was riding - I made some pictures of interesting buildings on the ranch.

I used my Canon 60D in AEB mode, and selected +1,3 over and -1,3 under exposure. I made pictures without tripod. I used burst mode. The images were processed by Photomatix Pro and Bibble for post-production.

Applying lighting techniques

This assignment was the hardest for me. I used the natural lights before that. This assignment took twice as long as, in the past. But I feel that I have learned to use and handle the lights.

For this assignment I use the house of a see snail - of course it's empty :) It has nice color, detailed surface and special shape.

Sometimes the lighting was very difficult because the object is asymmetrical and different thicknesses.

SHAPE

First time I used a white reflector. It did not give satisfactory results. Then I thought that I placed the soft box behind the object. First, the top of the shell got too much light. I set the lamp lower - and I get the nice shape.

FORM

The shell spines are very characteristic -  I wanted to show. I tryed many settings, but all too many seemed to object. I wanted to emphasize the thorns. I used a hard light to highlight the forms. I put a spot light above and behind the shell. The node of light is very restricted. The hard shadows present the form of the object.

TEXTURE

For this image I used a spotlight on the right side of the lens. This resulted in a beautiful picture, but the shadows on the dark side are very hard. I used a white reflector to give light to the dark parts, but the shadows do not lose as completely.

COLOUR

The shell side is white with yellow and brown stripes. I placed two soft-boxes next to the camera, in same level of the object. It was a very schematic picture. I placed a warm light spot over the shell. This give a nice sparkle to the top of the object.

ATTRACTIVE LIGHTING

When I was experimenting in the spot light, I saw that the shell is translucent in the bright light. I tried to find a situation where the light is not distracting but illuminating the shell.

INTERESTING LIGHTING

This image is interesting from that I used a torch for illumination. I used long exposure time, and I quickly moved the torch around the object. I made a lot of pictures, but it's the most balanced.

Shiny surfaces

Shiny statuettes, without tracing paper cone

Shiny statuettes, with tracing paper cone

Shiny metal flower, without tracing paper cone

Shiny metal flower, with tracing paper cone

Contrast & shadow fill

Without diffuser & reflector

Without diffuser, far white reflector

Without diffuser, close white reflector

Without diffuser, far foil reflector

 

Without diffuser, close foil reflector

Without diffuser, far crupmled-foil reflector

Without diffuser, close crumpled-foil reflector

With diffuser, without reflector

With diffuser, far white reflector

With diffuser, close white reflector

With diffuser, far foil reflector

With diffuser, close foil reflector

With diffuser, far crumpled-foil reflector

With diffuser, close crumpled-foil reflector

Tiny diamonds

Few weeks ago I bought a Sigma 70 mm - 300 mm F/4.0-5.6 DG OS lens. It's a great lens for me, and the long focal length give me new perspectives. The day before yesterday my daughter and me were hiking. I take some photos with my new lens.

The old mansion

Few days ago my friends and I visited an old mansion. The visit aims to document the current status. Meanwhile, I made a few interesting photos.

Excercise: White Balance

I take some pictures with different white balance settings. If I use fluorescent setting - with tungsten lights: indoor is purple, outdoor is blue. With sunny WB setting in same scene I get correct colours outdoor, but the indoor is yellow. When I set the WB to tungsten - the indorr colours are ready, but the outdoor is blue.

FLUORESCENT

SUNNY

TUNGSTEN

I can play with different WB settings. The old house is given nice scenes.

DIFFERENT LIGHTS

The left room has fluorescent lights, the right room gives sunlight, the foreground has tungsten lights. I use tugngsten settings for this image.

TUNGSTEN WB IN THE CELLAR

CLOUDY WB IN THE CELLAR

Two different feelings with different white balances:

SUNNY WB

TUNGSTEN WB