That’s quite a few acronyms, we know what HDR is (or at least should do) but what is ND400? Well, ND is for neutral density and the 400 is, well, almost a ten stop filter. Not quite welding glass material, but getting there. Handy on it’s own for creating different finishes at unusual times. How about a 5 second exposure with midday sun on the beach, or positioned for traffic of passers-by?.
Enough of that, the warmer days are getting closer so I decided to do a sunrise (although on this particular morning it wasn’t all that mild) As we set off, the were no clouds in the sky, so with the prospect of a bland dawn, we headed away from the sun and set ourselves up to capture the light as it fell upon the old dilapidated pier once the sun had risen a bit.
© John Conway 2010 ” HDR – Dell”
(click the photo to see the bigger version)
It was at this point I had the ND400 on to smooth out the waters that I thought, why not try an HDR. I find with the ND400 on I get quite an intensity of colours, blues more noticeable it seems. The 10-15-30second exposures gave me a result I wasn’t expecting.
When I process in Photomatix, I try and not exceed 80% for HDR and 65 for saturation (unless I want a specific look) I had it toned down quite a bit but it really finished up looking quite 3D looking. Not sure if it is the colours itself or the use of the ND400 (or a combination).
Given the chance I might do a few more of these over the coming weeks to see how they work out.
Let me know your thoughts (even for those that just use an ND400 or equivalent)
