Trip to Lichfield to see Dr Johnson

**arith** · 23rd October 2010, 01:26 PM

I went on a trip to Lichfield yesterday with my monopod because I wanted to take some pics of Dr Johnson's Birthplace.

Not a single HDR turned out and so far I have only identified one decent pic out of about a hundred, but maybe I can find five or six.

I've spent four hours on this, the HDR turned pink in every instance and I tried three times; this was slightly blown but had a lot less noise than darker ones; was it worth the effort.

Second is the one that did turn out; but it isn't HDR.

**FredSpencer** · 23rd October 2010, 03:45 PM

What's the point of HDR when you can take a well exposed shot like your second one? I would have been very pleased to have taken that - good colours and detail with an interesting subject well composed.

**carregwen** · 23rd October 2010, 03:48 PM

#2 is very good, Steve. Great composition, interesting scene, good colours and detail. Like Fred, I would have been very pleased to have taken that. It's a traditional shot, but non the worse for that.

**arith** · 23rd October 2010, 04:43 PM

The first is something else altogether, I don't stray from chocolate box cover much but the things I want are demanding. When you look at water with a strong light over it, it dances.

All I want is for a still image to emulate that effect; I think directly into sun as here but not a silhouette, shimmering light.

WELL STILL TRYING.

**Wirefox** · 23rd October 2010, 07:46 PM

Another vote for No2 here. It has a beautiful depth and warmth to it and captures that wonderful liquid light you get in those weather conditions in the UK. Why are skies like that never around when I am out with a camera. They see me and switch to white

**arith** · 23rd October 2010, 09:37 PM

This is all I can salvage out of the HDR; 20 try's and 60 frames but only 2 close enough and even these were blured. I added the purple in the middle, actually I don't think it enhances it a bit here but can't make it worse either.

Very very blurred HDR:

I suppose the benefit in doing this is seeing there isn't any benefit in doing this.

**FredSpencer** · 23rd October 2010, 10:13 PM

What's the middle bit like without your 'adjustment' to the colour? For composition perhaps a tighter crop to remove some of the empty space at the bottom, the strong pillar on the left that is half out of the shot which takes my eye away from the subject and the bits on the right too. It will take some more sharpening as well. Hope you don't mind:

**arith** · 24th October 2010, 12:54 AM

It is a bit like yellow and gold. It is ok I suppose in the middle in this but not very sharp and so I don't like to crop too much. I like the boathouse because that is easy and I appreciate why everybody seems to like that one, but I'm after a bit of a challenge to capture light in difficult ways.

The North Transept is one I took as a panorama a year ago but because there is a yellow window behind and different ones in front the white balance was impossible to get right and so I made it B+W, later I thought I would do both colour and B+W. Nowadays I don't do nine frame HDR's or 27 frame panoramas but I have a lens wide enough and fine enough to do a better job.

I just didn't take my tripod because I wanted to go to a museum. This is last years beefed up version.

and a photo from the museum, got lots to do though.

**Colin Southern** · 24th October 2010, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by FredSpencer

What's the point of HDR when you can take a well exposed shot like your second one? I would have been very pleased to have taken that - good colours and detail with an interesting subject well composed.

To answer the question Fred, personally I think that a large part of the problem is that many folks don't realise that modern digital cameras are capturing around 11 or 12 stops of dynamic range, but we're only displaying around 6 on our monitors ... so they feel compelled to shoot HDR where tonal range compression of the HDR process "magically" reveals this "hidden" detail.

I've lost count of the number of times I can produce a better image from a single properly exposed RAW file than others get from a true HDR composite; often simply by adjusting ACR's fill light and brightness sliders.

**arith** · 24th October 2010, 08:00 AM

I think it is over 11 ev in the Cathedral, the light comes through the windows and they get blown, and it was over 11 ev in the pic of the pond. I think Fred is saying; look around for easier photo's.

But I want the shimmer of the light as in the top, and I wanted the floor in the Cathedral so that I can look up in the vaults; that is why the Bishop kept asking me if I was ok since I was lying on the floor and he thought I was dead.

I did however take an ordinary photo at 1/15 400iso f4 whith stability on and leaning against a post, not my choice of composition but at least something to show for being there; it is blown and with a 1/4 light still blown but with 100% fill soft due to noise. This is the best single exposure.