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)
November 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Yep I learned to love the combination of HDR and ND400 when shooting waterfalls in the western states of the USA – it seems a bit strange but it does work well if used with subtly like you’ve done here John.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
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?.