Fotoviva Art Prints

You may have heard of HDR images before but what exactly are they and what purpose do they serve? Well let’s start with what it stands for - High Dynamic Range. Basically this is a technique that allows for a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e. a large range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDR is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.

This effect is made by blending a minimum of 3 differently exposed images together to create the ideal exposure, which is more like the human eye would see it. There are various programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Photomatix which will help you automate the process as it can be quite difficult and time consuming doing it by hand using blending layers. There is still a lot of tweaking required as every picture requires different settings to achieve the desired result, so practice makes perfect.

With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy to use desktop software, the term ‘HDR’ is now popularly used to refer to the process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range. It is necessary to use a tripod for your bracketed exposures to ensure alignment and sharpness.

Searching through the net you will find wildly differing styles of HDR use with some images looking totally unrealistic with crazy colours and toning. On the other hand there are the serious photographers who use HDR to subtley enhance their pictures to create an image more akin to how the human eye would see the scene, rather than have to rely on filters to help improve the limitations of digital cameras’ sensors.

This HDR image of a sunset over a field of haybales was generated from 3 exposures using Photomatix Pro. It was then enhanced further with various Photoshop techniques. I have kept the HDR changes to a minimum to preserve the authentic appearance. Sunset images are a great topic for HDR as they have such a wide tonal range. Try attempting to create a similar result with one exposure and you will no doubt either end up with a washed out sky with a good exposed foreground or a nice sunset but no detail in the shadow areas such as the haybales. This hdr picture can be bought as a poster or canvas print from the Fotoviva Art Store.

We are happy to announce the arrival of Peter Paterson to the Fotoviva Team. He has been taking photographs for over 35 years starting mostly in monochrome which was processed in the darkroom. During this time he gained the Associate distinction from the Royal Photographic Society and also recently gained the EFIAP award, together with the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain Distinction DPAGB.

He exhibits photographs nationally and internationally in various Salons around the world and has also had photographs published in Digital Photo Magazine, Photography Monthly, Digital SLR Photography, FPME, and Creative Mono Yearbook.

Great credentials and wonderful pictures indeed. We will be uploading many of Peter’s great work over the coming days so check back regularly. We have a really nice abstract beach image in our ‘Modern Art‘ collection which is perfect for adding a summer feel to any room.

If you are interested in space and all the unkown that goes with it, you could add Astronomy Picture of the Day to your bookmarks for a daily feast of photography that is literally out of this world. Each day NASA bring a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Today’s stunning digital view, entitled ‘Sagittarius Triplet‘, is actually a collaborative composite recorded by 2 cameras and 2 telescopes about 2 thousand miles apart! The deep, wide image field was captured under dark Arizona skies. Both M8 and M20 were recorded in more detail from an observatory in Pennsylvania. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae, with contrasting blue hues, most striking in the Trifid, due to dust reflected starlight. These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way.

And how about this for incredible stats - all three nebulae are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant. The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the Lagoon Nebula.

NASA certainly has the technology to shoot some incredible images that reach deep into space. Their telescopes and observatories are so advanced these days that they can - excuse me, just had to get it in - boldly go where no man has gone before! Forget pictures of the moon, head over to APOD and see what lurks in the far reaches of our galaxy