FuzMuz Loc: Southern Utah

Ansle via his zone map technique actually developed High Dynamic Range photography for film. Here is a digital facsimile.

fence line

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

actually, he did most of it by dodging and burning in the development stage, so the result appeared to have an expanded dynamic range. i'm not certain he would've been a fan of the current HDR fad. not a bad conversion, and you have some nice leading lines here, but there's too much exaggerated detail, which is typical of overdone HDR...

tilde531 Loc: Seaford Delaware

I'm currently enjoying a book called: "Ansel Adams: Yosemite and the Range of Light" (third time reading it!), which depicts a good deal of his amazing works in random order.
Given what I've seen in this book; I'd be inclined to agree with you, Rocky.

FuzMuz Loc: Southern Utah

Fortunately for me my instructor disagrees with you

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

Unfortunately I don't agree with your instructor. SQUIRL033 is correct, about Adams darkroom techniques. His work, had no relation! to the over done HDR techniques of today. HDR done correctly! however, does bear some resemblance to Adams zone map techniques.

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

your instructor thinks Adams didn't do much dodging and burning to achieve his results? or he disagrees with my opinion on overdone HDR?

there's no such thing as 'high dynamic range photography for film'. the dynamic range of any given film was determined by the film itself, and the manufacturing process. Adams had nothing to do with that. his 'zone' system had to do with metering in such a way that he was able to strike a balance between light and shadow, and then achieving the final tonal range he wanted with dodging and burning in the darkroom.

FuzMuz Loc: Southern Utah

Squirl _ It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know digital didn't exist during Ansel's time. Dodge & burn was his way of achieving the HDR effect of today. I was given very high grade for the class and that's all that is important

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

agreed... he used dodging and burning to achieve the tonal range he wanted. i'm glad you got a good grade in your class, but frankly, all that means is you gave the answers your instructor wanted to hear. i still think this image looks unnatural, like it's oversharpened, which is a common problem with many HDR images.

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

HDR photography is a process of increasing the dynamic range of a digital image, it is not meant to make an image look like a surreal painting.
Unfortunately programs like Photomatrix with its “Tone Mapping”, have turned a good tool into a circus side show.

A lot of photographers wont do, and don't like HDR; because they have been given the wrong impression of it. When its done properly its a great benefit, but when done improperly, like 90% of the image I see; its more of a curse.

TangueroLS Loc: Dallas, TX

It's probably unwise to insert myself into an "uh-uh" "uh-huh" conversation but sagacity being one of my least attributed virtues, I find myself strolling right in as if I knew what I was doing.

FuzMuz, I think you may be a bit defensive about your HDR attempt receiving a passing grade. What SQUIRL033 said about giving answers that the instructor wanted to hear is, essentially, true.

Just think of it in scientific terms: if you put something out for peer review, there's a good chance someone will come along to say what you did isn't quite as good as you thought. It's an opportunity to use those comments to improve your technique, not to defend what you've done.

In that spirit, I took your original image, from above, and despite the fact that it's so small AND a JPEG, I did a little manipulation in Photoshop. Simple stuff. Anyone can do this.

Started with the original, which, to my eye, as SQUIRL033 said, is over-sharpened and overdone. Good HDR will not draw attention to the technique. This one does.

Duplicated the original layer and blurred it, as shown in the 2nd image. Used the Soft Light blending mode at 100%. This helped to get rid of the halo effect, particularly along the sky/mountain line where it's so noticeable.

Added a Curves Adjustment Layer with the mask shown below and bumped the middle (exactly 50) up to 57. (These numbers may vary on the original.)

(cont'd below)

Original


Blurred


Adjustment Layer Mask

TangueroLS Loc: Dallas, TX

Then I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and brought in the darks (13) and the lights (213) so that it has some snap without plugging up the shadows and blowing out the highlights, and minimized what I think of as an overall gray "cast" to the image.

Again, with a small JPEG, it's hard to correct some of the areas that need attention but if you use this as a jumping off point, I'm sure you'll end up with a photograph that you'll be much happier with. And you'll have refined your technique in the process. Meanwhile, the rest of us (including myself) can go take a flying leap off a rocky prominence.

Adjusted image


Final image with Levels

largeformat Loc: Bend, Oregon

TangueroLS: For what it is worth, you are a gentleman and a scholar. You did a fantastic job on this jpeg file. Hard to believe the difference. I was one of the lucky ones and studied with Ansel when he was teaching in Yosimite in the 60's. I purchased some of his more desirable prints for $25.00 each back then. What a deal.

TangueroLS Loc: Dallas, TX

Your assertions have not stood the test of time, so I shall demur with a simple "Thank you."

I'm as envious of you as a man can be; studying with Ansel must have been a treat. Even moreso, buying his prints for 25 bucks a pop. I can only imagine their present day worth.

FuzMuz Loc: Southern Utah

Thank you for critiquing the photograph and not criticizing the photographer. I suspect Squirl's reaction was a result of my showing him how a simple one mouse click 'White Balance' adjustment could improve one of his photos. Why Steve came out of nowhere to criticize the photographer is unknown. Letting off steam about a process is one thing criicizing people for using it is quite a different matter.

Anyway thank you again for the helpful critique. Your extensive editing has removed the halo effect and I will try to use this process in the future.

To clear up a bad assumption - I did not use HDR in the original. It was a single photo edited in PSE9.

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

to be honest, that never entered my mind, and i don't even recall which of my images you did that with! i wasn't criticizing YOU, Fuzmuz, just pointing out that your image looked oversharpened, and the tonal transitions weren't as smooth as they could have been. TangueroLS did a nice job of correcting that, the the resulting edit looks much more like something Ansel would've done. i apologize if you took my remarks as a personal affront... that certainly wasn't my intent. trust me, if it is, you'll know it! ;)