Posts Tagged ‘architecture’

Tools for Bracketing Exposures – Part 2 – Tech Thursday

HDR photos of National Cathedral, Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media

In the menus for Nikon cameras that have a bracketing feature. With this feature you can specify the order that the bracketed exposures are created. In this menu, it shows that the exposures start from underexposed frames first. Then the metered exposure (MTR), and finally the overexposed frames.

Bracketing Setup

Nikon bracketing setup
Nikon bracket setup

After that is all setup, go back and put your camera in Aperture priority. In this semi-automated mode, you can ensure that the aperture will not change as you make the bracketed exposures. The camera will then change the exposures from under to over. It does this changing the shutter speed after each time the shutter is fired. You can tell that your camera is set to make bracketed exposures by the tick marks along the exposure scale. This is an important indicator as you may setup your camera to make bracketed exposures, then forget, then wonder why your camera seems to have gone crazy with all these strange settings.

Nikon LCD screen setup for bracketing - ©TimeLine Media
Nikon LCD screen setup for bracketing – ©TimeLine Media

Camera Setup

Once you have the camera setup for bracketing exposures, change the motor drive mode for the camera to the highest frame rate that is can shoot. On some cameras like this D4, you will be able to shoot a bracket of photos very quickly! In this case, if you have the bracket setup as above going from the underexposed to the overexposed frames, you will be able to hear the shutter slow as you go through the series. It is an especially nice audible check to know that the bracket was setup directly. Having a shutter release remote like the MC-30 for Nikon DSLRs will take your hands off of the camera body making the exposure even sharper by avoiding the camera shake from pressing the shutter button.

Nikon MC-30 remote shutter release
Nikon MC-30 remote shutter release
Nikon remote connection to DSLR
Nikon remote connection to DSLR

Just click and hold the big button on top until you hear the camera make all of the exposure that you had setup. In this case, it was setup to make 9 exposures, so I just held it down until it was done. Very easy! Now you will have all the exposures you need, that are easily brought into your favorite HDR program for processing.

HDR photos of National Cathedral, Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media
HDR photos of National Cathedral, Washington, DC – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

National Cathedral – Interior

National Cathedral interior - ©TimeLine Media

It has seemed like a long time since I have written a post! There is a nice backlog of things that I want to post about, but there are lots of things going on outside of photography that I am taking care of before I can get to them. Back to the photos – these were from an open shoot. The National Cathedral moved all of the chairs out of the nave which allowed you to view the expanse of the main worship space. Having an unobstructed view of the cathedral was a unique experience, and one that is difficult to capture in photos.

Empty Cathedral

National Cathedral interior - ©TimeLine Media
National Cathedral interior – ©TimeLine Media

With the repairs being done to the structure from the earthquake of August 2011, some of the stained glass windows were hidden from view. But there was still so much to photograph in the space. It took me 15 minutes just to get my bearings. It was nice to see so many photographers take the opportunity to come early on these two mornings to make some uncommon photos of this landmark.

National Cathedral interior - ©TimeLine Media
National Cathedral interior – ©TimeLine Media

I tried to stay out of the way as much as I could, but it was difficult. The other photographers were also very kind to gauge where each person was lining up a photo so as not to be in each other’s frame. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to setup my big camera gear. With the DC traffic, I was already late and had lost some time to shoot.

National Cathedral interior - ©TimeLine Media
National Cathedral interior – ©TimeLine Media

So all of these photos were taken with the Fuji X100s. In every situation I bring this small camera, I am impressed by the capabilities. The noise performance, and the low light capture ability with the f/2.0 lens is impressive. If you need to make bracketed exposures for HDR, there is a drive mode that will create 3 very quick frames with 3 different exposures with one click of the shutter button. It came in handy in conjunction with the self-timer to get sharp photos in such a dark space!

National Cathedral interior - ©TimeLine Media
National Cathedral interior – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Photography Websites

Tidal Basin at sunrise - ©TimeLine Media

It has never been easier to share your photos online. I can remember in the first years of the web how magical it was to download photos. Using a web browser was so easy. Comparatively you had to download individual files from a gopher or FTP site. Then open the photos in a separate JPG or GIF viewing program. With the browser, you had an experience that was much easier to view a collection of photos in an album-like setting.

Websites Sharing

Lincoln Memorial at sunrise - ©TimeLine Media
Lincoln Memorial at sunrise – ©TimeLine Media

Now, social media networks heavily encourage the sharing of images online. With the price that Facebook paid to acquire Instagram, it is not surprising to see where they see the most participation in their users. With all the social networks, though, there is a tradeoff for photographers. Because all of these networks are free to sign up, participate, and share, the companies need to make revenue somewhere. YOU and your photos are now the currency that these networks use to grow their business. In some small parts, they are taking your photos and using them to get more people to share and participate, and they hope, get them to patronize their advertisers.

BW Vector Social Media Icons

To take more control over this natural give and take, I believe all photographers should have their own web space that they are paying for, and maintaining themselves. It has never been easier to reserve your own domain name, and sign up with a web host with all the gigabytes of storage you need for a minimal cost. If you are bothered by these social networks “stealing” your images to use, this is the best way to display your photos online. I post a little on these as a way to drive traffic to my personal website!

Tidal Basin at sunrise - ©TimeLine Media
Tidal Basin at sunrise – ©TimeLine Media

Speaking of which, my portfolio website is currently undergoing and exciting revision! I am switching over to a new service for showing off my best images. I will post more when the transition is finished, and I would love to hear what my blog readers think of the changes!

TimeLine Media portfolio site
TimeLine Media portfolio site

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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