Camera | Sony DSC-F828 |
Exposure Mode | auto bracket (±1 EV) |
Focal Length | 7.1mm |
Aperture | f/2.8 |
Exposure | 1/2000 sec. |
ISO Speed | 64 |
Flash | off |
When I visited the Angel of the North I knew that the photos weren't going to turn out particularly well. It was cloudy and bright which meant that either I exposed for the sky or for the sculpture but there was no way I could sensibly expose for both. So I had a play with the camera's auto bracketing feature to take photos at a range of exposure values. Here you can see the three exposures that I used to assemble the final image for this weeks post.
I did assemble them into a single photo to show detail in both sky and statue but it was rather unsatisfactory, so I decided I'd abuse the HDR feature of Paint Shop Pro and produce an image that had no grounding in reality but that I quite like. Having now pushed the HDR idea to the limits I can see why people enjoy using it but I'm still going to stick to the fact that it is no longer a photo.
Just to prove that HDR can be used for good as well as evil here is another image of the Angel of the North and the one that inspired the title of this weeks post. I think this is a much more natural image and would even go as far as to say that it is still a photo! Given the right light I could have persuaded my camera to take this photo, but there is absolutely no way that I could have taken the main image with a camera -- it could only have been achieved on a computer. Not everyone will agree with this distinction but I guess that as long as we are all open and honest as to how an image was achieved we can leave the rest to personal taste.
1 comments:
I certainly enjoyed the results. I agree wholeheartedly with your views of HDR manipulation. It can be an excellent tool (I have used it on very rare occasions) but some of the results on one or two blogs where it is used become surreal and, therefore, as you say, art and not photography.
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