A few days back as I was reading Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure, I came to his section entitled, “Implying Motion with Stationary Subjects” (page 96 of the paperback 3rd edition) in which he relates how you can get a nifty effect if you zoom while pressing the shutter release. On the evening of the 4th I was in the backyard of our new house snapping pictures. The property is pretty much positioned East/West with woods behind it. The sun setting behind the trees produced some lovely lighting, and as I was shooting this tree along with its shadow, I tried Peterson’s zoom effect a couple of times. I was pleased with this image the most.
I also did some web searching to get an idea (albeit excessively brief) of how HDR worked, and found a tutorial on how to create an HDR image in Photoshop Elements 8. After playing around with it a bit I decided that this image might be a good candidate for an HDR attempt, so after processing the image in RAW I saved several images with the exposure going up and down various degrees. The image below is the result of merging the image exposed at 0, -0.50, and +0.50 in RAW, as well as following the other directions the tutorial offered, tweaking them slightly and bumping up the saturation. Have a great Friday!
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XS ~ Lens: Canon Zoom Lens EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm ~ ISO: 100 ~ Aperture: f/22 ~ Shutter Speed: 1/3 s ~ Format: RAW
Very nicely done Eden. Like how the lines work with the tree. If you ever get serious about HDR, try Trey Ratcliff’s website, http://www.stuckincustoms.com. He is a master and also has a tutorial.
Thank you Len, and thanks for the link!
Wow, Eden!
This is awesome. A really nice art piece. I really like those lines and colors. Great job.
Thank you Jimi!
This is genius Eden! I love the processing, the colors are so vibrant, you’ve nailed this one for sure!
Thank you Dave
Not being a photographer, I never knew all you could do.
This is so unique and amazing. Thanks for creating it and sharing it!
Thanks for looking at it Debbie
Nice job Eden. I see that Len suggested Trey Ratcliff’s site with I visit often and Trey’s got a great tutorial. You may also want to check out Rob Hansen’s site http://robhanson.wordpress.com/. He has some great HDR tutorials as well. A few weeks ago I also posted a blog post on HDR http://edithlevyphotography.com/2011/06/14/to-hdr-or-not-to-hdr/
Thank you Edith, and thanks for the links
Very nice. I like this shot. The zoom effect worked quite well.
Thank you Chris!
Excellent shot, beautiful vibrant colours
Astra Wally
Thank you Astra!
The zoom effect really added the impact, I like the sun rays forming a line. Great shot.
Thank you Simply Ness, and thanks for stopping by!
Very cool, Eden!
This image is full of energy!
Thanks spilledinkguy!
Great capture and great experiment, Eden! I love this!
Thank you sunsetseasoul!
Cool!
Thanks Darcy!
Full of energy! good shot Eden
New colors blog welcome
http://rolandtheyscolors.blogspot.com/
Thank you!
Since I rarely use a zoom lens I usually don’t shoot like this but it is a cool style for sure, well done!
Thank you Mats!
I think that this is lovely Eden. You’ve created an impressionistic image with bouncing light and saturated colors. I discovered this “slap zoom” technique several years ago and let it slip through my fingers. Thanks for reminding me how much fun it can be. Check out this video on this technique.
http://wn.com/During_The_Shoot_Episode_3_Slap_Zoom_Technique
Thank you Barbara!
Excellent effect ! Great intensity and sense of motion. I just managed to stop myself before I hit my head on the tree – can not afford another monitor.
lol! Glad to hear there were no damages or injuries
Thanks for the comment!
Wow – what a great effect! Lovely shot.
Thank you Lady Fi
Great work!
Thank you Frida!
what a incredible light effect, really cool this one
Thank you Fabrizio!
Now thats pretty cool, maybe I should do more in my post processing…:-))
Thanks Ed
This is great, Eden. I love the way you combined the two effects.
Thank you Robin!
Nice one! This is how i started messing around with HDR. I think I have turned 5 or 6 of my friends on to it. Many people don’t like it, but when used properly, i think it can significantly enhance a scene. Great start Eden!
Thank you Adam!
WoW!
That’s really cool and a completely different use of HDR. Very impressive and inspiring.
Thank you Nigel! I’ve been told that this isn’t a true HDR image because of my processing. But I was happy with the result anyway
Thanks again!
Great shot and processing Eden. The cool thing about this technique is that you get verydifferent results if you go from wide to tele or tele to wide – but im sure you tried both.
Thank you Jan! If I remember correctly, I only tried this one technique, though I tried different amounts of zoom. Thanks again!
I’ve seen this zoom technique before, but I think this is one of the best examples that I’ve seen.
Thank you Journey Photographic
Like what you’ve done here! Good job!
Thank you Jeff!
Well done! This is the fun of photography, creating art. I have the first version of this book and it is an excellent resource.
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by! I agree with you about the book
You’ve created an imaginative and surreal photo. Nice job…and keep shooting!
Thank you, Phi, and thanks for stopping by!
That is a really cool effect. I think if you can perfect the look of the leaves, this would be a real work of art. Keep up the great work and way to stay creative.
PS thanks for all the great comments.
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by