Free HDR Tutorial Video

Okay now that I let it out there with a smaller beta crowd, we can make it official! The HDR Tutorial has been totally re-made and we’ve worked out all the bugs. Also, I made a new video to accompany it that shows how I at least start the process. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – Snow in Nikko

It was a freezing cold morning when I woke up to explore this temple area of Nikko. Luckily, I was the first person to arrive, and I was pretty much alone for this early morning because of the snow. It gave me a peaceful period to explore with my music on… taking my time and moving around the temple to take in the big picture and all the nice little details.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Nikon D3X, Travel

Note on Photomatix Pro 4.0

If you want to get Photomatix, use the Photomatix Coupon Code STUCKINCUSTOMS to save the most money). You can download it from the HDRSoft website.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 is available.  I own it and think it is amazing.  If you want to buy it, or get a free trial, you can see if you can get a good special offers from Adobe on that link.

New to HDR?

If you are new to HDR, you can enjoy my friendly, easy-to-use HDR Tutorial.  I’ve taught tens of thousands around the world how to do it… I’m sure I can teach you too!  The tutorial is free!

Quick Verdict

Photomatix Pro 4.0 is the clear winner.  Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR is much better than CS4, and it has a few redeeming qualities.

Advantages of Photomatix Pro 4.0:

• Faster (MUCH FASTER – see the chart below)
• Upgraded noise-reduction just for HDR
• Better ghosting control
• and more image control for higher quality images

Advantages of Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR Pro:

• Having one integrated solution right inside Photoshop
• Easier to learn because there are less controls

Photoshop CS5 vs. Photomatix Pro Comparison

* Photoshop CS5 Gives you a warning about not using JPG photos to make an HDR.  You have to click “OK”, but I did not include that wait time in my timings.

Test Subjects and System: I chose a 7-exposure session from a lake at sunset near Nikko, Japan.  The exposures ranged from -3 to +3.  I shot them with a Nikon D3X a few weeks ago. I have a speedy 17″ MacBook Pro.  I bought it about 9 months ago — the specs are to the right. In the Photoshop CS5 test, the only things running were Photoshop CS5 (in 64-bit mode), Bridge CS5, and Skitch for taking screenshots.   In the Photomatix Pro test, I kept those running + Photomatix Pro.

Special Conditions:

Now, the Photoshop Merge to HDR Pro option does not allow me to turn on and off Auto-Alignment, Cropping, or anything else.  Normally, I turn that off in Photomatix because I use a tripod. To keep the tests fair, I turned on the Align Source Images, Cropping, and Reduce Noise in Photomatix Pro. That way, it was doing the same tasks as Photoshop.  

However, in my normal conditions, I don’t have those turned on, which makes Photomatix even faster. Also, as you can see I processed with RAW and JPG files. I preach in my HDR Tutorial that using JPGs is just fine.  I don’t see any difference in quality. But, I do notice that JPGs are much faster. This is important!

Overall Speed

In these tests, Photomatix Pro 4.0 was much much faster.  There’s almost no comparison. Photomatix Pro processed the images in 1:05 — Photoshop CS5 did the same job in 2:48.  It was more than twice as fast!

There are two intense “Computer Processing” periods. The first is when you load the images into the program.  After this is done, the human takes over and adjusts the sliders.  Then there is a second period of processing.

I will discuss each of them in turn now.

Speed – Loading the Images

Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR was slow.  Painfully slow!  

During the loading of the images, it give a few indications of why it is so slow.  After a period of time it says “Aligning”.  Then, after another bit, it says. “Transforming”.  Then for another longer period, it says “Crop”.  I did not touch the computer at all during this time…  I kept the timer on my iPhone going to watch. In these tests, the only thing I had running was Photoshop CS5 and Bridge CS5.  This is not typical.  Note that I am usually running Google Chrome, Tweetdeck, Mail, and iTunes for music.  So all the times you see in the chart are actually much higher, and the delta between CS5 and Photomatix Pro grows even more.

Note that I do not think there is a way to turn off the automatic aligning of images, stretching of images, and subsequent cropping. If you could disable that, I am sure Photoshop would be faster.

There is another feature that I did not test — the “batching” of images. I know this functionality very well in Photomatix. I am sure you can make scripts to do this in Photoshop, but I do not know how. If you know any easy way to batch load in HDR images and process them, let me know (I don’t think you can).

My first broken test: What I had running in the background for all the tests before the reboot:

• Tweetdeck
• Google Chrome with about 6 tabs (gmail, websites, nothing too taxing)
• iTunes playing music
• Photoshop CS5
• Bridge CS5
• Apple Mail & iCal
• Skitch

The first time I ran it with Merge to HDR Pro, it took 6:05 (six minutes and five seconds) to load.  Just amazingly slow!  Then, I thought, “Well, I do have it in 32-bit mode,” since I was also running some old plugins.  So I tried it again in 64-bit mode.  I shut down Photoshop and re-opened.  Then I did the Merge to HDR Pro option through Bridge again.  The second time it took 13:10.  THIRTEEN MINUTES.  I was just about to Force Quit the program — I was sure something was wrong!  How can this be — in 64-bit mode?  Isn’t it supposed to be faster?

So I decided to reboot and try again. I was worried that maybe there had been a memory leak or something had just gummed up the works.  Because thirteen minutes just didn’t make sense!  Now, I am using big images from a Nikon D3X.  And these were RAW files, but that still seems like way too long… After I rebooted, I loaded NO OTHER PROGRAMS expect for Photoshop CS5, Bridge CS5, and Skitch.  I did not like doing this for the test, because this is not a “normal” environment for me. I usually have several things running.  This time, it was much faster and clocked in at 1:54.  

After this, I decided to restart the whole test and have nothing else running to keep the results as clean as possible.

Speed – Processing the Images

After you make your slider changes, you can process them.  There is a period of waiting whilst the image processes.  Again, Photomatix Pro was not just a little faster, but way faster.

For the RAW files, Photomatix Pro took an average of 8 seconds and Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR Pro took a whopping 51 seconds (two tests at :50 and :52). And remember… I wasn’t doing anything else on the computer… I wasn’t checking the mail or tweeting or anything… just watching the water boil…

Photo Quality and Control

I’ve been using previous versions of Photomatix for years, so I am familiar with the sliders.  Because I am a private tester, Photomatix would not allow me to post screenshots of the new GUI.  However, it is very similar to previous versions.

The new Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR Pro dialogs are very similar to that of Photomatix Pro.  However, they do not have nearly as fine control.  There are about 1/3 as many sliders, which is good and bad.  It’s good in terms of simplicity, but it is bad it terms of flexibility. I find that there are so many different sorts of HDR shooting conditions.  The more sliders you have to adjust one part of a photo for one condition and another for a different condition — the better.  

I’ve processed a bunch of images with both now, and I prefer Photomatix Pro.  I get much more fine-grained control. More importantly, I feel like I get more “pop” with the Photomatix Pro controls.  It’s tough to explain… what do you think?  What’s your experience with these tools so far?

The two above images are from Photomatix Pro 4.0 (left) and Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR (right). Although it is probably hard to tell at this resolution, I believe the Photomatix Pro one has finer control. Both tools allow you to move the sliders around until you are happy with the image… so there is not really a one-to-one comparison possible here… Also, I did not show the new GUI for Photomatix Pro 4.0 at the request of the developer.

Better Ghosting Control

I remember when CS5 Merge to HDR Pro was announced that it had this cool feature for repairing ghosts.  Ghosts are those nasty bits where part of an image is moving around in the various frames.  A dog running across the bottom of the frame would be a good example. Well, Photomatix Pro 1-ups CS5!  It allows you to control various ghosts around the frame at the same time!  

Basically, there is an intermediate step where you can drag the mouse around one area and select a new single “source” image for that area, and then do it again for another section.  For example, you may want to pick the dog from one exposure and the blowing tree from another.  It’s great flexibility and very smart.

Noise Reduction for HDR CS5 did make some very nice changes with Noise Reduction, but that is part of the RAW import process.  Since the Merge to HDR Pro option goes around that, you don’t get any of the good Noise Reduction for HDR images inside CS5. Photomatix Pro 4.0 has a newer, more robust way to reduce noise.  It even allows you to adjust the noise in the “input” images before they even begin the processing period.  Smart. The image there to the right was taken from a single RAW. As most of you HDR veterans know, noise at night is a big problem. The new Noise Reduction in Photomatix (which works even for a single RAW photo) really saved me a lot of time. You can click on the image there to go see the full size on SmugMug. You’ll notice little white bits… they almost look like stars that I drew in, but they are falling sparkles from previous explosions.

Photoshop CS5 Merge to HDR Pro Advantages

There are a few good things about the Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro features.  

For one, it is a totally integrated solution.  You don’t need a separate program, so that is quite nice.  Also, the controls, sliders, and whatnot are consistent to the Photoshop experience.  I quite like that.

The other thing that is good about it is that their solution is more “simple”.  There are not as many sliders or controls, so it can be less intimidating.  That is indeed a good thing.  There is a “bit” of power there with the curves adjustments, and that is nice.

 Personally, I am a little jaded and I like to have more sliders and more control to make the image how I want it — and I found the simplicity to be a bit annoying.  I don’t like complexity for the sake of complexity — I like it for power and control. The last good thing about Merge to HDR is that it is “Free”, in that once you have paid hundreds (or even over $1,000, depending on the suite), all the HDR functionality is included.

HDR Toning – Are you kidding me?

I was also intrigued by another little feature in CS5 that all the videos were raving about.  It is called “HDR Toning…” and it allows you to take your image inside Photoshop and give it an “HDR Look”.  Cool, I thought!

 Well, I got in there to try it, and it told me that I had to Flatten the entire image first!  That means, basically, that you have to take all of your layers and make them one. This is another reason not to HDR Photoshop.  This is a deal-killer for me, since I like to have several layers open while I am working on an image.

Worse, it makes no sense!  Most of the other Photoshop filters and controls work on a single layer without requiring the entire thing to be flattened.  What’s up Adobe?  You gotta fix that up… it’s sloppy.

What are Your Results So Far?

I’m sure many of you already have Photomatix Pro 3. Now, I understand that the tonemapping algorithms are the same. So I am pretty sure that you will get similar speed results. We have a lot of great HDR Photographers that hang out around here… so I’m interested in hearing your feedback. Am I off my rocker? All I kept hearing about is HOW AWESOME Adobe CS5 is with HDR… but I just don’t see it. Am I living in a fantasy world? I’ll keep on testing, and will slowly update the full Photomatix Review when I have time. I swear I must have watched about 30 videos when Photoshop CS5 came out — they were all about how amazing CS5 Merge to HDR Pro was. But, really — is it? It’s a big improvement over CS4, but that is like saying WW2 is a big improvement over the first one. Okay… that’s too harsh… but CS4 HDR was really really bad. CS5 is much better, but I just can’t come up with any compelling reasons to use it… from speed to image quality – I think Photomatix Pro 4.0 is a better product all around.

This is one of the first images I edited with Photomatix Pro 4.0 — I was very happy with the result!

Daily Photo – The Lake at Nikko

This place was Cold with a capital C, as you can plainly see.

And worse, I had forgotten my special little gloves with the flip-up fingertips.

So I was goin’ finger-commando while trying to line up this shot. The wind was pretty stiff in my face. The wind always seems to be against you, eh? I think I just never notice it when it comes from any other angle.

By the way, there is only one place that is convenient to quickly warm up your fingers.

There is an older, historic part of Nikko that is about a 30 minute drive away. The drive is practically straight up a mountain, through a series of switchbacks. During the entire time up the mountain, I was surrounded by clouds. I thought it would be quite miserable at the top. But once I poked out, everything was free and clear. I was between cloud layers, exactly where this chilly lake sat at sunset.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Travel, tutorial

Teaching Programming to my 9-year-old – any ideas?

Some of you know that my background is Computer Science  I got started programming when I was Ethan’s age with my Timex Sinclair 99. I made some awesome games for that thing back in the day… good times…

So, my question… what is the best language / tool / platform to teach a 9-year-old programming? I’m thinking about either using the Android wysiwyg tool, Python, or even a good old-fashioned BASIC emulator.

Daily Photo – The Silent Bridge

When I woke up in Nikko, snow had been falling all night. I started a long walk from the old lodge where I was staying towards the older area that has all the temples. Along the way, I passed by this old bridge with it’s ancient and lavish design. Underneath it, the crystal-clear water flowed quickly as the snowmelt was giving it a bit more action than usual. It was very peaceful and nice.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Travel

Interesting Newsletter Soon!

Some interesting news is coming soon! Are you signed up to our newsletter for free?

We send out about one newsletter a month or so… it varies depending on my mood and travel schedule. The last one contained a bunch of unpublished photos from China (I believe it was issue #17)… and you still have access to it if you sign up now. Be sure to check it out!

Daily Photo – Red Gate After Rain

When I’m someplace interesting, I usually set the alarm to get up quite early. Painful, yes. And then, when I’m in that half-wake state, I stumble to the window to look at the clouds and weather. If it’s a mess, I don’t go, and joyfully crawl back into bed. That’s just about the best feeling in the world.

But, sometimes, I force myself to go out anyway… that is what happened on this day. It was one of those frustrating mornings when it was raining — which makes carrying an umbrella + tripod + two cameras + camera bag quite a drain! But after walking a few kilometeres, I found this giant red gate that led to a quiet temple complex. I set up for a few shots before venturing into the beyond.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Nikon D3X, Travel

New HDR Spotting Editors

I am going to be asking for some more HDR Spotting editors. The flow of photos is picking up and I think the current team is getting overloaded! Anyone can apply — please head on over to the site and put in your application!

New Nikon 18-200 Review

The photo below has been added to the Nikon 18-200 Review. It helps to show the full range of the zoom. My reviews are usually short and sweet, showing the practical use of the camera or lens.

If you want to see more Reviews, just follow that link!

Daily Photo – The Icy Part of the Waterfall

This waterfall was enormous! I’ve never been to Angel Falls in South America, although that is on my list. I know that these places are extremely difficult to photograph. Luckily, for this one, I had a good vantage point at the bottom that let me zoom in.

I took this photo in the very early spring, during cherry blossom season in Japan. There is still snow and ice in the highlands, and you can see a small pack of it here behind the waterfall. I also have a “zoomed out” version of this on the review page mentioned above.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Nikon D3X, Travel

Taking Photos Sans People

I continually get good questions like, “How do you take photos without people in them???”  And then, even better, many people in the community respond for me, telling others how I do it!  That’s great… I really enjoy when you guys talk to one another, post links to show examples, and all this sort of thing.

Are you the silent reader type?  Don’t be!  We want to hear your thoughts and questions!

Anyway, to answer this perennial one, there are many ways.  But, in this case, I took the HDR in Aperture priority mode at ISO 50 and f/22.  By forcing these two, it made the shutter speed extra-long.  When the shutter is open a long time, people that are walking by do not even cast enough light to make any long-term difference on the sensor.  Does this make sense?  Maybe experiment a little and you will see what I mean.

Daily Photo – Old Forest After the Snowmelt

On another one of those painful mornings, I woke up early to explore all around Nikko.  Some snow had fallen during the night, and a warm morning sun helped to melt everything into reflective wet surface.  It also helped the leaves and bark to glow in an inviting way.  There are many beautiful old areas of Nikko that are separated by these long pathways through the forest.  It’s right out of a Final Fantasy game, and I could not help but stop every few hundred feet for another photo!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Travel

SmugMug in China!

Have you seen my SmugMug Review?  I have something new to report about China – It works here!  I’m still here in China, making daily updates to the blog.

Flickr is blocked here, so if I still linked my photos there, the blog would look rather boring.  Now, when I meet with people here, I can easily show them everything, and it essentially opens up the blog to several hundred million more people.  That’s great… and not something I really thought about before switching my main party affiliation to SmugMug.

Daily Photo – The Nikko Waterfall from Afar

I’ve been pretty lame, frankly, in finishing up my Nikon 18-200 Review.  But, this is a photo that I took with that lens when I was in Japan.  I wanted to show the vast range of the lens, and this is the “zoomed out” view.  In coming weeks, I’ll post the “zoomed in” view, so you can see the tremendous range.  Yes, it’s a cropped lens so I can’t use my full-frame, but it’s not really the end of the world.  It’s light, cheap, and very flexible…  these are some nice plusses!

I had never gotten to a waterfall in such a unique way!  I started at the top of this thing and took an elevator DOWN, hundreds of feet.  I then went through about a quarter-mile of caves to emerge at the bottom, where I got this perspective.  It was really unique and messed with my whole sense of location.  I’m so used to taking the elevator “up” to get somewhere interesting.  I had to put on my earphones to listen to some unique music to get my bearings back before shooting this photo.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Nikon D3X, Travel

Five Tips for Photographing People

I’ve been talking about this for a long time, so I wanted to go ahead and give you some free tips for on-the-street people photography.

From various conversations, I think that photographers are REALLY interested in taking photos of people they see on the street. We can’t help it, right? Our eyes are drawn to interesting “things” — not just landscapes. And if we see an interesting person, we really want to take their photo, yes? But then, often times, we don’t even pull the camera up to our eye because we are shy, embarrassed, or think about all the horrible things that could go wrong. So, maybe these tips will help!

Look, honestly, I don’t know if these will do you any good or not. But these are some things that I personally think about. So, insofar as some of my insights are useful to me, maybe they will be useful to you too!

Even though I’m known for “landscape photography”, I actually enjoy all kinds of photography! I take hundreds of people photos, object photos, food photos, model photos, B&W photos, etc. I assume that you take many types of photography too.

1) If you prefer to take photos of people as they are acting naturally, go ahead and take the photo before they notice you. You are a photographer, and this is you. You capture life… if you see something interesting whether it is a landscape, a pile of peaches, or a person that strikes your fancy, go ahead and do it. If you like and it is convenient, you can always go show them the photo after you are done. I do this whenever it makes sense, and I have a nice little interchange with the person.

2) Keep an extra camera ready for people shots. When walking the streets, I normally have my “big” camera ready to go for city landscape shots. My tripod is on. My wide-angle is on. It’s in that “mode.” If I am going to have to switch lenses, it will take forever, and the moment will be lost. So, I carry a second camera on a sling around my shoulder for people shots. On that camera, I have an 85mm or 50mm prime lens. Now, you don’t have to have this exact setup by any means, but having ANY kind of second camera for people shots is recommended.

2b) I find that the 85mm prime keeps me outside something I call the radius of intimacy. That is, when you use a 50mm, you are so close that people often stop acting naturally, unless they are a professional model or a natural thespian.

3) If they ARE likely to notice you, be confident and deliberate, softly asking permission with your eyes. This is a very subtle and hard thing to explain. I usually raise my eyebrows while I raise my camera, clearly indicating, “I’m about to take a photo. Everything is okay.” If they don’t want you to, they will make it clear. Usually, they say it’s just fine. People like to be thought of as interesting.

4) If they are very close, I ask permission out loud. Often times, I don’t want them to pose… so I say something (smiling!) like, “You look very interesting — can I take a photo?” Once they say yes (98% of the time they do), I usually ask them not to pose and carry on about their business. Then I start taking a bunch of photos and enjoy the pressure of capturing the moment.

5) Don’t be shy! If you feel overly shy, it may be a larger indication that you are letting fear motivate you rather than the opportunities that life provides. So, if you feel doubt or fear, just try to channel me and be brave and forthright.

Regarding that last one, seriously, folks, just be cool and confident with it. If you want to do it, and it feels right, just do it. Do not worry so much about rejection. Yes, you WILL get rejected 2-10% of the time depending upon how likable you are. Out of 500 people photos, I’ve been rejected maybe 10-13 times. It doesn’t bother me a bit. So what? People say no… big deal. The fact is that MOST people LOVE to have photos taken of them. To be interesting in a world of same-ness is a tremendous thing. Chances are that no one has ever taken a photo of them before, and they will feel special that you thought they were special.

Most of the time, after I take a photo and people look over at me, wondering, “Why did you just take a photo of me?” I usually say, “You look cool!” Or, “You look awesome!” Or, if they don’t speak English, I give them a thumbs up and a facial indication that I think they look cool. 99% of the time, they smile and carry on.

If you’re taking a photo of a kid, just get a steady nod from the parents before. Bend down to take the photo, look up at the parent, saying, “is it okay?” with your eyes. They’ll say yes or no… There is a significant number of moms out there that watch too much sensational news and assume that 50% of the population are pedophiles… but, maybe you’ll hit that other 50%! Again, we’re all just photographers, and if we see a cute or interesting kid, of course we want to take a photo! It’s what we do! There is no need to apologize for it!

Daily Photo – Salaryman in Tokyo

While I was in the middle of making a time-lapse sequence (see the video below the photo), I was using my D3S on a sling to take quick photos of interesting people. They were everywhere!

Behind me, waiting for the light to change, was this young salaryman. Salaryman is the Japanese word for “businessman”. That word salaryman always cracks me up for some reason. Anyway, he was this young kid, standing there in a most unassuming way in this nice suit. I spun around and grabbed a quick shot.

He looked a little confused at me after I took it. I gave him a nod of thanks, and he smiled in a surprised way then went merrily on his way.

Videos – Life in Japan

While I am busy shooting landscapes and people in Japan, I also take time to make some videos.  Below are a few of them from recent past.  The music from both is by the great Patrick O’Hearn (buy his stuff!).  Enjoy!

Filed under the categories: Hakone, Japan, Kyoto, Nikko, Nikon D3S, Tokyo, Travel

New eBook – First goes on sale to Newsletter Subscribers! For the past few months, I’ve been working on a new eBook. It’s very cool — a very detailed description of a best-of-breed digital workflow. Are you starting to feel like your digital photos are a little unorganized? I’ve put together a great system for you! The first shot at it will go to Newsletter subscribers. It’s free to sign up, so just do it below! First Name: Email: 5 Tips for Photographing People in Public I’m working on an upcoming post that gives some practical and easy-to-follow-through-on advice on taking photos of people in public. I get a ton of questions about it in Twitter and whatnot, so I am happy to share these tips. You’ll notice a lot of this activity in the new video below…. and I know everyone enjoys and wants to take pictures of people in public, but are sometimes unsure of how to go about it.

New Video – Japan: Heartbeats of Time

I spend a lot of time thinking about the way memory and sight work together. I don’t think we remember in “pictures” or long videos… but something in between. Perhaps we also sense, at times, more than 30 fps, and unexpected parts of the brain fire when we are presented with certain objects and forms.

If you want to know more about how I did this, visit the “Stuck In Motion” section of the website. Good news – the best bits now only require a $200 camera!

Also, you may enjoy seeing my free HDR Tutorial, which describes how I accomplish some of the other favorite photos below, which were also shot around Japan.

A Few of my Favorite Photos from Japan

Filed under the categories: Japan, Kyoto, Nikko, Nikon D3S, Tokyo, Travel

Newsletter Torpedo Away!

The Newsletter has left the building. It should arrive in your Sunday morning email box, shiny and happy. I hope you love it…

Good Night with Jack and Brian

I had a nice evening last night with Jack Hollingsworth and Brian Matiash. We went out to do a bit of HDR shooting, talked for a while at Mozarts, and then had some great BBQ at Rudy’s. After that, I brought them over to my place and showed them a secret new video (which you all will see as soon as it is done!). They are both very nice guys… and I am going to get Brian to do a guest post very soon.

Daily Photo – Ancient Nikko

I have a bunch of these textured shots (See my Textures Tutorial) that I will be posting over the next few weeks. I showed this one to Jack this evening when he came over, and he seems to like the look as much as I do!

This is my first shot from Nikko, Japan. Nikko is famous for all the incredible temples from the Edo period. I woke up early (violently early, let us say) to go out and visit all the sites before the tourists came. You guys know I don’t like tourists in the shots… Actually, to tell the truth, I don’t like them around at all. I like to listen to my strange music and roam around these ancient places by myself, stopping to take photos when I am ready.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Nikon D3X, Travel