Making HDRs from a single RAW: Gas-breathing fireflies; Shibuya,Tokyo.
N.B. The bottom triptych shows the three versions of the exposure I split from the initial RAW file, which were used to blend the HDR.
A bit more explanation here:
japanorama.co.uk/2009/09/03/how-to-shoot-great-long-expos…
Charles, one of my students, came out for a night photography lesson in Shibuya on Tuesday. We did various things as excercises with using a tripod, including some shots from the overhead walkways near Shibuya Station. The main issue there is that the walkways have some flex, and they bounce… making long-exposures like this a bit tricky. Over a 30-second exposure, the flex in the walkway can throw the focus right off. So, we found a slightly more stable section of the overhead area – near where the lift is situated.
Charles shot some, I shot some. This was a 20second exposure at f/20… which is way too stopped-down for this lens, as at that aperture distant objects get soft. But, this shot had the best traffic trails on it. f/11 is about the optimum level of dof and sharpness on this lens. But, when I was shooting at f/20 I had forgotten I had a neutral-density filter in my bag. Doh! 20seconds was a good length of espoxure, so when I had remembered about the filter, I shot a bunch more at f/11 and 20seconds. Much sharper but the traffic had thinned-out a fair bit so the trails weren’t as good.
At these sorts of junctions, you have to watch the traffic-lights and stay a while before you shoot, to see the flow of the traffic anf the timing of the lights. This was by far the best shot, as it has the trails from traffic turning in two directions, which really makes the composition pop.
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
One RAW file, split into three shots, 1-stop apart and then blended in Photomatix
Change to red and blue channels in Photoshop, to bring out the red of the car lights.
Learn photography with Japanorama in Tokyo:
japanorama.co.uk/2009/02/26/photography-lessons-in-tokyo/
13 comments
luke chan wrote...
yes such photo can only be using 1 RAW with different exposure, otherwise lights will be messy with multiple photos.
like this:
inspired, thx a lot : D
Luke Walker wrote...
Wow. Great photo. Love the light trails.
Iain Jaques wrote...
Great Stuff!
Roger Lim wrote...
Thanks for the tip!
Paul Benjamin wrote...
Surely it's jut a localised curves adjustment on a 14 bit image and not HDR?
Nice picture none the less...
Kenny Lam wrote...
Ever tried stacking technique for traffic shots?
Quite a cool technique for shooting long fat juicy streaks! :P
OshHisham wrote...
great alfie!. i miss japan so much. i was in nagoya for more than 4 years....
iloveugetawayfromme wrote...
Seen in:
Lines&Curves
Alfie Goodrich wrote...
@Paul/StrikingShots: you can importt ehRAW directly into Photomatix and have it make a pseudo-HDR from the single RAW file. Using the exposure compensation sliders and making three images, to then blend as an HDR. Adjusting curves in the original RAW is not something I have done to get exactly this effect, but will try it. I guess it is pseudo-HDR, yes, but making three images with different exposures from the original RAW, and then stacking them, does constitute something towards achieving a higher dynamic range than is possible in one image shot at any one exposure setting. IMHO.
Altus wrote...
Nicely done with the 1-RAW and good on ya posting the 3 different "exposures" pulled out of the one shot for the rendering to show the contrast.
Josh Dionne wrote...
I love this shot, and the one in the second comment (can't read Japanese unfortunately). I need to get me a real tripod some day soon and try this out.
I also need to find a bridge or overpass with traffic underneath it. Many bridges here just cross over water, but no boats, either.
-Josh
Teban S wrote...
Love this!!!
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Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Amazing! Thank you for the 'how I did this' part! Its going to be my next project!