The Trigger Happy SQ

I’ve always wanted to try HDR ever since my brother introduced me to the world of Photomatix. I read about how to do it and thought I’d give it a try during our latest visit to Ilocos Sur.

These two pictures were taken near Playa De Oro Resort, Mindoro, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur during sunset.

High Dynamic Range Imaging is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

Well OK, that’s how Wikipedia explains it to us hehehe.

So on with the pictures…

This first shot is composed of three pictures merged together using Photomatix. My mistake was, I had my ISO at 1600 I think, meaning a lot of noise. So I had to remove the noise first before merging the three images. I used the Auto Bracketing function of my camera to come up with three pictures with different exposures.

This other shot was also made using three images with different exposures.

If you ask me, I prefer the first one because of the colors. But in flickr, they seemed to like this better. It was also 2nd place in Pinoy Kodakeros’ Outstanding PinoyKodakero Award last month, January.

I hope you guys try HDR out. It’s rewarding and you can create unique images :) Good luck!

The last early morning shot for 2007. Taken at 5:22 AM, December 31, 2007

Last dawn of 2007. Taken at 6:05 AM.

Afternoon, New Year’s eve. 4:45 PM.

Last sunset. The person on the picture is my husband (whom I have successfully converted into a shutter bug hehehe)

The night of New Year’s Eve of 2007. 8:32 PM.

This was taken in San Juan, La Union last November 1, 2007. San Juan is the Surfing Capital of Northern Luzon and special events related to surfing and of course, summer are held here often.