Jeffrey wrote:
Pretty wild stuff! Great lightning captures. Perhaps you can share the technicals?
D700 and 16-35 on 15-second, f5.6 ISO400 exposures with camera sitting on my dashboard, shooting through windshield.
RAW 14-bit captures. I haven't really memorized a workflow since this is just a 3-shot series, but it's something like:
1) Clarity in LR4, using Color Efex 3.0 "Tonal Contrast" in limited amount. Back into HDR Efex 2 to give some definition (but again see previous post about this, you have to fight the software from raising blacks, or manually burn them back down).
2) Back into LR4, for perhaps a bit more clarity and to play with highlights and whites. Burn the blacks down, then fairly heavy-handed NR to get rid of the ridiculous noise being induced by this wrangling of the files.
Finally, spot-removal of the hot pixels that have been induced.
In *all* of these steps it is requiring me to manually brush some edits in (or not), as global sliders affect parts of the image a lot more than others, so you have to pick and choose the effect areas.
What really cool shots. I agree that this is not true HDR, which for me is a good thing... But I like the look that Nik software added to these shots of yours. They really seem to have added some great drama to these. Obviously you had to have had the basics there to begin with, but this is one of those rare cases where the HDR really adds to a shot but doesn't have an over the top HDR feel. And the D700 was a great camera for these kind of shots.
Jim
Jul 14, 2012 at 01:23 AM
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moonpeep wrote:
dammit. Enter those in contests or something beyond just FM.
Haha, funny you mention that - My dad had sent me a National Geographic contest entry on July 11th because of a completely amateur hummingbird shot I managed...I remembered it today but the deadline was the 11th No worries, I hadn't processed these until after that date anyway.
Oh well, I think I'll get them gallery-wrapped for my walls (and as gifts) - should be nice enough for me
p.2 #10 · New Mexico Route 66 Lightning "HDR" (x3)
JimFox wrote:
Hey JL,
What really cool shots. I agree that this is not true HDR, which for me is a good thing... But I like the look that Nik software added to these shots of yours. They really seem to have added some great drama to these. Obviously you had to have had the basics there to begin with, but this is one of those rare cases where the HDR really adds to a shot but doesn't have an over the top HDR feel. And the D700 was a great camera for these kind of shots.
Jim
Thanks Jim.
I've been doing a lot of pseudo-true HDR processing (using just 1 RAW) and the Nik software does pretty well, but one must certainly learn its nuances.
As I'm thinking over my workflow for these images, though, I almost have to wonder if I couldn't do the same thing (maybe with less noise) by looping NX2/LR4 imports. Basically, I could almost pull off the same effect (I think) using Tonal Contrast and Clarity sliders, more than once, in each program.
Ah well, just thinking aloud!
Glad you liked the shots and thanks everyone else for the comments.
No worries, I hadn't processed these until after that date anyway.