high dynamic range photography Archives - Nathan Firebaugh Photography

Fall Colors In The Smoky Mountains

By | Canon 6D, Canon HDR Photography, HDR Photography, HDR Software, Landscapes, Lightroom 4, Photography, Photography Blog, Photomatix, Tennessee, Topaz Adjust | No Comments
[sociallinkz]

 Smoky Mountain Colors

This year my fall trip to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was a mixture of fun and photography! The weather was excellent unlike last year when fog took over for just about the whole trip and made for some blah colors. This year with the help of mother nature the colors were top notch and the air was clear for me to capture them. There are so many beautiful spots in the park that I have a hard time picking spots to photograph. I took this one on the Roaring Fork Motor Trail which I found to be full of spots including waterfalls, old structures and houses and of course the beautiful water. My personal favorite spot to stay during my journey is Wilderness at the Smokies, which combines a water park, golf courses and indoor fun center.

Buy A Print Of This Photo

Sunset Through The Flowers

By | Floral, HDR Software, Landscapes, Lightroom 4, Nature, Photography, Photomatix, Photoshop, Sony HDR Photography, Sony NEX5N, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Clarity, Virginia | No Comments

[sociallinkz]

Sunset Through The Purple Vetch – Blue Ridge Parkway, VA

I took a trip up on the parkway to capture what turned out to be a beautiful sunset yesterday. The tree’s at the overlooks seems to block lots of the views and make for crappy photo’s. So coming up with a good composition is always a challenge! For this one I decide to lay down and shoot the sun rays through the small flowers on the ground. I used the Sony NEX-5N for this shot and captured 3 bracketed shots handheld, with the 18-55mm kit lens.

I then processed this shot using Photomatix Pro, Photoshop CS6, Lightroom, Topaz Labs Adjust and Clarity. If you haven’t seen my review on Topaz Clarity you should check it out! This is an excellent piece of software to make contrast adjustments in landscape photography.

Sunset Through The Purple Vetch

Purchase a Print of this Photo

Some of my landscape prints are available here.

Shine On!

By | Canon 6D, Canon HDR Photography, Georgia, HDR Photography, Photomatix, Photoshop, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Detail, Travel | No Comments
[sociallinkz]

Shine On! HDR + Topaz Clarity

Today’s photograph takes us back to my trip to Georgia a few weeks back, this sunset was one of the best during the trip and I took many shots from different angles and compositions.  I decided to edit this one last night using Photomatix, Photoshop and Topaz Labs plug-ins. First I took the 5 exposures from my Canon 6D  and ran them through Photomatix then, imported them to Photoshop and used Topaz Clarity to enhance the overall contrast. Next I used Topaz Detail to bring out a little bit more of the details in the image this was mostly seen in the sun rays. After that I used Topaz adjust to make minor adjustments to the color by starting with a preset then dialing it down just a bit.

Let me know what you think!

8798438789_612883382d_b

Order A Print Of This Photo

Tybee Island At Sunset

By | Canon 6D, Canon HDR Photography, Georgia, HDR Photography, Photomatix, Topaz Adjust | No Comments
[sociallinkz]

HDR Island Sunset

Just outside of Savannah, GA is Tybee Island which is a small 3 mile island, which happens to be the site where this weeks picture was taken. This was the best sunset during the week I spent on the island, when I processed this photograph I pushed the colors to the extreme side of things.  I like to do this every once in awhile, I can’t help it I just love color! I have another set of brackets of the same sunset taken at a different location and when I process that one I will try and keep it realistic. I have posted lots of new photographs to my portfolio within the last week at www.nfirebaughphoto.com you should head over there and check them out. Prints are for sale with prices starting at $7.99 for 8″x10″ prints.

 

 

8642651057_0ef5170561_c

Purchase a Print of this photo.

The Sun Setting Over The Hill

By | Canon 6D, Canon HDR Photography, HDR Photography, Virginia | No Comments

 

[sociallinkz]

Just Another Sunset

I had a great time with the Exposure Roanoke group on a photo walk at the Greenfield Center in Botetourt,VA. The theme for the walk was bird photography,  as we walked around the lake we identified birds and took some photographs. But before long my eyes left the bird scene and began to wonder around the landscape. The rolling hills made for some different photographs and I captured a few that I think are worth sharing. Below is one of the sun setting just behind the tree over the hill. This was a 7exp bracket using my Canon 6D which was then edited in Photomatix Pro (my favorite HDR software), Lightroom, Photoshop, and Topaz Adjust. This also was a good test for my new tripod from 3 Legged Thing so far I like it. 🙂

 

8550680362_aa1118caa7_b

Shooting HDR With The Canon 6D

By | Canon 6D, HDR Photography | No Comments

We had some great weather this past weekend which allowed me to get out in downtown Roanoke,VA and shoot some HDR photographs with my Canon 6D. I have yet to use the in camera HDR function and have continued my normal 5 exposure routine using my Promote Control with the 6D. The results I think were great but I will let my audience and fans decide on that one.

 

Taubman Art Museum Roanoke,VA

Purchase a Limited Edition Print of this photo 

 

Which brings me to another point Photography in general seems to be a funny thing… in my views you have two types of photographers  the ones who live and die by the golden rules of Photography.  These people always follow the holy grail like  the rules of thirds, most of these dislike HDR photographs  etc. Then there are Photographers like myself who create not to impress other Photographers but to create images for the pure sense of creation, or maybe it’s an experiment to try something a different way. I try to create images that will grab a users attention whether that be by using lots of color saturation or HDR to make usual scenes seem unusual.  If we all followed the same rules and thoughts… what would be the difference in photographs? The angle something was shot at? The camera that was used to capture the image? My advice to anyone in photography is to create what you WANT to create, yes there are rules for photography and if you break these rules you may be frowned upon by some, but don’t let that influence your vision. Create for your audience be it big or small, push yourself harder with each shot or each edit, and don’t be afraid to try new techniques!