Broken camera

While taking photos today, my camera broke. And it looks like that the same part went as on my old 450D, the shutter. So right now I have absolutely nothing to shoot with (until tomorrow when I will have a borrowed 7D for the time being :)). Of course I will have it repaired as soon as possible, but it also shows that it’s time to look for a new one. And if those Canon rumors I have been seeing recently I true, I already know what it will be :)

So much snow

I’ve been complaining for some time now, that there was no real winter this year. And today, the winter started. It has been snowing for almost the whole day, and of course I run out immediately to get some photos. Of course I didn’t get that many due to the camera problem I mentioned, but I at least got few. And here is one of the. The SNP bridge, almost completely hidden by all of the falling snow.

I took this only hand-held, as there was no reason for multiple brackets. This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop. And btw. this is not a black&white photo. I never did a conversion. It just looked like this with all the snow :)

Technique: Photoshop edit, Number of exposures: 1, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Lens: Canon 24-70mm F2.8 IS II, Focal length: 43mm, Aperture: 6.3, Middle exposure time: 1/60s, ISO: 100, Tripod used: no, Location: 48.139510, 17.105172

Sunrises can be sometimes so worth it. Like this one, that I captured in Budapest. And with the gray sky outside, it’s nice to look at something a little more colorful :)

This is a HDR from 5 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

There are so many different cameras and so many modes one can set on them. But not many of those are on each camera and even less are useful for HDR. So today, I will look at those main one (or I should say, the one you should use) and how they work together with HDR. All other modes, the ones I don’t mention here, like night photo, scenery, portrait and so on, are really only for people not interested in photography, as using the basic modes, will give you much better control and results than those.

Program mode – P

I would call this beginner mode. As each photo setup consist from the aperture, shutter speed and ISO setting, this one sets two of those for you. The only one you can change is ISO. As I said, it’s great for beginners and for snapshots. One should leave this mode as soon as possible. This mode is not at all suitable for HDR bracketing, as it will change the apperture in between shots, and so change the DOF (depth of field). You will not be able to blend photos like that, as parts that are sharp in one exposure, can be completely out of focus in another one.

Shutter priority – Tv (S)

Shutter priority has a little more specialized use that the other modes. From the three settings you set up two, ISO and shutter speed. This is useful when you want to archive a particular length for your exposure. For instance you want to freeze the action, so you use a short exposure. Or you want a nice soft water, so you use a long one. The camera always adjust the apperture automatically, so you get the exposure time you need (be careful, as the camera may adjust to the closes available, as there is not such a huge variation in apertures as in shutter speeds). This mode is not usable for HDR, as again, the aperture is changes, and so the DOF.

Aperture priority – Av (A)

Next one, Aperture priority, is an opposite to the Shutter priority. Here you can change the Aperture and ISO, and the camera adjust the shutter speed for you. This is probably the most useful mode in photography in general and also in HDR. As the aperture never changes, the DOF stays the same for all exposures and you can use the Automatic exposure bracketing in the camera, to get an exposure series automatically. It’s also great for hand-held shots, as you can set up a bigger aperture and so shorten the exposure lengths. If handheld you can also turn on auto-ISO, as that when combined with exposure bracketing, will bump up the ISO instead of taking a longer exposure ans so give you a better chance for a sharp photo.

Manual mode – M

As the name already suggests, here you set up all three values, the shutter speed, the aperture and also ISO. This mode give the most control, but also requires a little more time to set up a shot. One can use the Manual mode for HDR series, but only when setting every shot manually, or using a separate way to take the photo. Here I mean ways like using a promote or Magic lantern firmware. If you are only using the internal exposure bracketing, the manual mode is not the best, and you are better off with Aperture priority.

So what to take from this? If you are begging in Photography, go for Program mode, but try to move to Aperture priority as soon as possible. If you are starting with HDR, go for Aperture priority and if you are trying to get more control and use advanced tools, go for Manual mode every time :)

I so wish that the weather decided what it would like to be. It snowed again, it melted again, and repeat. Almost every day. I can’t wait for this crazy winter to be over, so at least I get some new photos sometime. It’s so horrible right now.

But here is one from my trip to Switzerland, a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

I hope you all had a great start into the new week, and as almost each Monday, let’s look at one of my photos, and how it was edited. For today, I have for you this blue hour shot, from the Kuchajda lake in Bratislava.

As you can the photo was quite OK already from the start, it just needed to brighten the shadows and get a little more color into it.

Finished photo

Original photo

I started with 5 exposures in Lightroom, where I only did the basic tweaks. I removed lens distortions and chromatic aberations. Then I exported all the file as 16-bit Tiff files and continued in Oloneo Photoengine.

All exposures

Lightroom tweaks

There I just changed the strength and contrast and saved the result. I loaded all the exposures and Photoengine result into Photoshop and did the following edits (layers numbered from bottom up):
1. Oloneo Photoengine result
2. +2EV exposure, from which I brightened the middle part
3. Color effex pro contrast on the whole image, but toned down a little on the sky, as it created a shadow on the top part.
4+5. Added glow to the photo.
6. Color balance on the middle part to make it warmer.
7. Added contrast to the bottom part of the image.
8. High pass sharpening to add detail to the photo.
9. +2EV exposure again from which I manually blended the light stars around lights.
10. A little more contrast in few areas, especially on the buildings

Photoengine tonemapping

Photoshop edit

And that’s all I did with this image. To find out more on how I edit, check out the guides and before after categories on this blog, or check out my video tutorial series here: