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factor27

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I was browsing through some pbase galleries and ran across this:
http://www.pbase.com/shuk1in12x/evening_rural_scenics

How did the photographer capture the sunset without overexposing it but keep the (natural?) colours of the ground? Every time I try to take sunset photos I have to pick which one I want exposed well; the ground or the sky.

Is this all done through post-processing or is there something more to it?

Thanks for your help
 
Those pictures look like HDR.

To get a similar end result, you can also try using a graduated netural density filter as well...
factor27 said:
I was browsing through some pbase galleries and ran across this:
http://www.pbase.com/shuk1in12x/evening_rural_scenics

How did the photographer capture the sunset without overexposing it
but keep the (natural?) colours of the ground? Every time I try to
take sunset photos I have to pick which one I want exposed well;
the ground or the sky.

Is this all done through post-processing or is there something more
to it?

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
--
Regards,

Akin
http://www.koksals.com

Equipment list in profile...
 
It looks like those are multiple images that have been placed in layers via masking. For example, the images that have the sky properly exposed have a layer over it that uses a mask to hide the foregroup. Then the image with properly exposed foreground is placed on top and it has a layer with a mask that hides the sky. This is kind of fun and you can get some interesting effects since the layers themselves can do things like shift colors, etc.

BTW, the Retouching forum is probably a better place to ask this question.

jerry

--
jerryk.smugmug.com
 
Go here http://www.hdrsoft.com

And download the trial version of this very, very good software. You will be able to obtain such blendings between properly exposed different version of the very same subject, basically one for the sun, one for the average mood of the shot and one very overexposed to get info in the dark areas.

That's the kind of result you can get with a little patience. Take the time to read the instructions on how to properly use the tone mapping tool, it's the key.









Ludo from Paris
Tankers of tools, thimbels of talent
BestOf http://ludo.smugmug.com/gallery/1158249
 
A few ways can be used. Bracket exposure and merge, or a grad filter will reduce the intensity of the sky while keeping the ground at normal brightness.
 
One more comment on these techniques. As someone else pointed out, this must be done with some care or the result can look "fake." (No problem with that if, in fact, that is your intention... ;-)

However, the technique is not fake by definition. In fact, when we see a scene like these with our own eyesight we do not experience it the same way that the camera records it. We do see more detail in the shadow areas and our vision is not "blown out" by the brightest areas.

When I do a photo like this I am trying to create something that is faithful to the experience of seeing it with my own eyes. I'm not very much concerned with or interested in making it faithful to the way the technology of the camera captured it.

If you think about it this makes sense. How many times have you heard people who were viewing their photo of a sunset say something like, "It was so much more vivid in person."? One reason for this dissonance is that their camera accurately captured something that did not correspond to their recollection of the real experience.

Take care,

Dan

--
---
G Dan Mitchell
SF Bay Area
http://www.gdanmitchell.com/
 
Honestly, they are very good. I couldn't understand all the comments at the bottom of the page.

The only thing of interest on the page is the 'technique' (the pics are hardly exciting compositions in themselves) and as the technique is poor it's not worth your time looking at them for inspiration. They are far far better examples of HDR style pics kicking around the internet.
 
...means of "decoupling" low, mid and hi-tonal ranges, as well as color saturation and even balance, on these tonal "bands".

In other words, it is achieved by outputting brighter shadows and low-midtones in places where they would be otherwise naturally or linearly darkened, due to the natural contrast created by the source of light and its direction.

For some images a combination of several frames is required. But there are certainly issues with the manual combination employed, such as a tree that brings the tonality range of a frame (e.g. shadows), and then "pasted" on top of the same frame with a totally different tonal rendition (for the highlights). The edges will look bad, no matter what. In this case, you must resort to finer and more-sophisticated masking to achieve the results (which can be achieved on this way).

By combining these frames, you can individually modify saturation and color-balance on each of the frames PRIOR combination, which then yields in greens looking much greener (like 5200-5500K range), and the sunset around 6000K-6500K, all on the SAME frame (after combination).

The results are not natural, but very pleasing, with good dynamic range, indeed.

--

TIP: If you do not like this post, simply press the 'COMPLAINT' button. Mommy/Daddy are just one click away.
 
I like the idea of extending the DR but rarely do I see it done in a way which does look natural. I also dont think that the graduated filters look that natural even as used by many of my favourite pro landscape photographers

I have seen some HDR shots which havent gone over the top and do look natural so doing it well is a real skill and probably takes time to learn to do it well.
--
http://www.buchangrant.com
http://www.pbase.com/buchangrant
 
factor27 said:
I was browsing through some pbase galleries and ran across this:
http://www.pbase.com/shuk1in12x/evening_rural_scenics

How did the photographer capture the sunset without overexposing it
but keep the (natural?) colours of the ground? Every time I try to
take sunset photos I have to pick which one I want exposed well;
the ground or the sky.

Is this all done through post-processing or is there something more
to it?

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
 
factor27 said:
I was browsing through some pbase galleries and ran across this:
http://www.pbase.com/shuk1in12x/evening_rural_scenics

How did the photographer capture the sunset without overexposing it
but keep the (natural?) colours of the ground? Every time I try to
take sunset photos I have to pick which one I want exposed well;
the ground or the sky.

Is this all done through post-processing or is there something more
to it?

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
To me these look really good but not at all natural. I suspect a great deal of post processing was done.
 
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