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  Dynamic Range Tutorial  

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Uploaded: 11/15/04 10:47 PM GMT
Dynamic Range Tutorial
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This tutorial outlines the technique I used to stack two photos to improve the overall look and color range in "Teal Road Pasture".

White/overexposed skies are a pet peeve of mine, and I'll gladly do the extra work to have a natural sky (especially when it's this dramatic). When taking the source images, you'll want to be careful to keep them well aligned to make stacking easier. A tripod can help with this. If your camera has an "Exposure Bracketing" mode, (which takes a shot at an exposure it thinks is correct, a second darker and a third lighter) this will help as well. The two sources here are handheld with two images from exposure bracketing of -2/3ev and -2 2/3ev.

(By the way, I can't take credit for the technique, I'm sure I've seen it outlined somewhere else.)

Comments

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+camerahound
11/16/04 3:05 AM GMT
Superior tutorial, Mike. Kudos!
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The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
=xentrik
11/16/04 3:18 AM GMT
Thanks Tracy, I hope it's found useful. It's reasonably straightforward when you think about it, but I thought I'd lay out the steps in case people were interested in how it was done.
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+mayne
11/16/04 3:29 AM GMT
Very well done Mike and very informative. Nice and clean:-)
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Darryl
Si
11/16/04 1:36 PM GMT
Nice clear tutorial Mike - I agree with you on washed-out skies, and this is a great way to avoid them :-)
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=xentrik
11/16/04 2:48 PM GMT
Thank you greatly, Darryl and Simon.
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d_spin_9
12/06/04 6:32 AM GMT
thats a great way of doing it, although it can be lengthy. for any of you rich people out there you might want to check out this dynamic range tool from www.fredmiranda.com. his example is awesome, also the custom colour grain removal from high iso's on specific cameras is quite interesting, it also looks like it does a very good job. if anybody decides to get any of these tools let me know how they really work, and if they're worth the cash, cuz if the ISO removal tools work really well, and supports batch processing, that would make indoor shots great, cuz i'd be fine shooting at iso 800-1600 without a flash if i could just get rid of that stupid noise efficently
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The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
+Samatar
01/04/05 12:46 AM GMT
Very helpful. I could have used this technique in a recent sunset photo I took if I'd known.
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-Everyone is entitled to my opinion-
chopper_pilot
05/09/05 10:00 AM GMT
Wow! What a difference. Thank you for opening my eyes to something I wasn't paying too much attention to. And also thank you for showing everyone how to get the most out of photos of this nature.
I can't wait to try it out.
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"One good thing about music...when it hits you feel no pain" -Bob Marley-
.isaacp
09/07/06 12:13 AM GMT
theres a tool a friend told me about which makes this much quicker and simpler called photomatix which although it isnt as controllable it does allow for saturation and sharpening and can create some pretty impresive effects (theres a free version that allows combining of two images whereas full version allows as many images as you like)
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