Photographers, heck… everyone, learn from my failure… PLEASE!

For those who follow me on social networks, you may have noticed that I’ve been somewhat quiet regarding publishing new images over the past couple of months. There is a very good reason for that, and I’m here to share with you why that is, and hope that you will heed the message of lessons I learned… the hard way.

Creating HDR Panoramic Photographs Part 2 – Processing the Images

This is the final part in a series about HDR Panoramic Photographs, which is distributed between this site and www.phogropathy.com. If you missed the first two parts, you may read them here:

• How to get amazing detail in your photographs
• Creating HDR Panoramic Photographs Part 1 – Capturing the Images

Throughout the article are supplementary images. Click on the images to view them at full size.

Welcome to the final installment of “Creating HDR Panoramic Photographs”! Now comes the part where we find out just how well we did shooting and start the merging process.

How to get amazing detail in your photographs

This is the first of a 3 part series on HDR Panoramic Photographs, which will be distributed between this site and http://www.phogropathy.com. Links to the corresponding parts will be added to the article as they are published.

Throughout the article are supplementary images. Click on the images to view them at full size.

Lately as my photos have been getting more exposure, I am finding a common theme emerging; “These images have so much crisp detail! How do you get them like this?”. To me, this is a good response as it means my images are making people think both from a technical sense and an artistic sense. While I have tried to find a good way to explain my workflow, it can sometimes be lost on people without a visual reference. What follows is my more detailed explanation along with a bit of contextual history. It’s going to be a pretty long read, so now’s your chance to go grab a cup of coffee. Go ahead! I’ll wait. 

Opprimo multi-negotium

In the distant past, I remember playing in the back yard, bored to tears and struggling to find something to keep me entertained. I was a single child with two teachers for parents, so I had to learn the masterful art of self-entertainment at an early age. Those long summer days seemed to me like time had the consistency of chilled molasses. It’s amazing how kids’ perspectives on the time when school is out are magnified, yet for adults, there’s never enough time in the day, which is a year-round misery. Being a parent tends to put an underscore on this vast difference in time availability as we often get assaulted by those innocently (or not so innocently) repetitive inquiries, “So what are we doing today, Mom/Dad?” or the ever faithful, whiny “I’m booooooored!” that sends panic up and down a parent’s spine. Thoughts of how much we can bend child labor laws admittedly do cross my mind when this happens.