This image is from the ‘Out My Front Door’ project. You can read more about it on the about me page. The basic idea of the project is to make images of sites I have found within a bike ride of my house. The goal of the project is simple, make images instead of thinking about making images. This is one of those sites. It is the last remains of a ranch that was donated to the city as open space. Story has it that the man who owned the ranch would spend over 4 days to mend the entire line of fence. Now it is home to many miles of trails for both cyclists, hikers, and runners. Philanthropy at its finest.
In an attempt to capture the essence of this wonderful space, I had a great time processing this image. I surely pushed it a bit more towards an impressionistic interpretation of the scene. However, to me the mountain itself is a beacon of green rolling grass, painted on a canvas of sky, that can be see from miles away.
Tech Note: I was experimenting a bit using the Promote Control which allows the camera to bracket any number of frames (up to 99) at 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV. Far more than most cameras are normally capable of. You can read a great review of it over on my ‘Bracketer In Cirme’, Brian’s Matiash’s site.
According to Brian, good Promote Control form.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Nikon CPL II
PromoteControl
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture:f/8.0
Focal Length:16 mm
ISO Speed:400 (oops)
Processing Notes:
Capture (21 images @ .3 EV)
NX2 – Raw Conversion
Photomatix 3.2 – HDR/Tonemapping
NIK Define 2.0 – Noise reduction auto profile
Photoshop – selective curve adjustments applied to grass
Photoshop – selective sat adjustment applied to grass (trying to tame it abit)
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Glamour glow
Sized For Web
LightAsMagic.com
Justin -
21 images…..sick!!!
Very cool I have just got to say. I’m not sure, but my iMac might melt trying to process 21 images of 12 megpx data in raw = a whole lot of crunching.
However, the image is outstanding and the details just pop. Could this be a poor man’s D3x?
Food for thought for certain. Thanks for posting.
Jeff
Thanks Jeff! My mac book pro didn’t have too much of a problem. I was surprised. I was a bit worried at first. Not sure about the D3X, but I will say it will take a D90 (or the like) and turn it into a bracketing monster.
I think the Promote Control might become Photomatix’s sole source of food.
Very nice image! I never would guess that 21 images were used.
Wonder how an image of 7 shots at 1EV increments would compare?
My thought is the camera can record about 7 stops of light (varies from who you talk to).
A 7 shot image would record 21 stops of light on either side of the metered exposure.
So wouldn’t recording 21 images at 1/3 EV increments only get you 1/3 more stop above and below the metered exposure than the above scenario?
Math isn’t my strong suit.
Am I missing something here?
I should improve my testing practices and have a control which to test against.
My math isn’t the best either, but that sounds about right. What I was very curious about,was using more images at smaller EV increments to capture the same light range. I will have to test it out a some more to make any conclusive decisions. So far though, I like. There will never be a scene with clipped anything!
I think you may have sold me on the Promote.
It does take a bit of getting used to. It isn’t totally plug-n-play, but once you get it dialed in, it is pretty darn slick. I will try to put together a Promote Control overview together in the next couple of weeks and post it.