Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. H igh D ynamic R ange Overcast ‘Car Lighting’

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Example White on White against Dark Ivy: On my exercise walk to Madison Park, I spotted this challenge, a white shiny object in front of a very dark field of ivy. If too much tones are used up describing the white object, there is little to fully draw the background.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Example Shoot RAW & JPEG: Even with shooting RAW, I under exposed enough to get all the white detail. Even with RAW, blown out means ‘no detail’. The black margin shows my 10% safety margin crop. The right example is what I got out of the camera unprocessed.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Example Processed: This shot is only for class demo purposes. I will not be using in my portfolio. So my processing goal was to make it ‘clean & finished’ looking. Besides lightening up the background, cleaning up the street detail and lightening it up too was the major focus.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I For Sale: E-bay image? This is not a magazine ad level photograph. It’s a purposeful grab shot processed to look desirable. Would this image make you want to see the actual ‘previously owned’ car for purchase? I covered the shot with the horizon line level and pointed down. This uphill version looked the most ‘racy’. High Dynamic Range: Example

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Expectation Against Expectations: I actually expected the downhill version to be the most effective. I was pleasantly surprised at the final outcome. My own ‘prejudice’ kept me from seeing it when I originally shot the variations.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Student example Great shot: This is an excellent lighting job on the blue car. But, it’s spoiled by the poor camera framing. I cropped off the top and bottom but the ‘too close’ side cropping was done in the camera.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Student example Shot for Selection: There was no short cut to override the selection process for this image. It was done with great patience and care. That means a lot of time was spent doing it. But once done, it allows for color scheme magic. Use the up and down arrow keys to compare the before and after color treatments.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I High Dynamic Range: Comparison No Comparison: My grab shot, fix up or not, is no comparison to the student’s grab shot on a professional set. The top back light makes the blue car very dimensional and it ‘shines’. And notice how the low camera angle and the ¾ view is making the car look lighter and more aerodynamic.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x End