[chupathingie]

So, it really takes on the hue of the light shining on it, so the red of the tower in the HDR is not terribly exaggerated.

That’s been my issue with HDR. Sometimes I really think the image benefits from exaggerated tonemapping, and that’s what so many people think HDR is. Current technology defines HDR as multi-exposure imaging, so as far as my opinion goes should be out unless defined as part of the theme.

Tonemapping is a different animal, though, and what the general public seems to think of as HDR (Silverstag got me thinking about this). Tonemapping and HDR are separate entities. HDR requires bracketed exposures, and relies on tonemapping only to kill the washout when trying to view the image; while tonemapping requires simply an image.

I love tonemapping, it’s usually part of my processing for any image I’m serious about toying with. It’s usually subtle, if it pushes over into the surreal I back off. Different algorithms have different effects (and controls). In single 12 or 14 bit RAWS, shooting to keep the sky inside the histogram usually means you can drag a couple few stops out of the shadows with some gentle tonemapping.

My one gripe with my drooled-over-and-saved-for dslr is that it only brackets 2 stops either way, so I have basically 9 stops on auto, and maybe 3 additional on the low end via processing.

But back to tonemapping. I don’t think there’s an analog equivalent to it (would love to be proved wrong, tho), so it’s also out IMO. It seems to be a dividing line between film and digital.

So I’m with inclusion of layers in general, provided there’s a not-insanely-difficult analog; I’d have no objection to Silverstag’s PS treatment as shown here…

On the flipside, I also have no ethical objection to recovery of data in an image. Digital allows for tools without an analog equivalent, and eventually will be accepted as “photography”.

I think I prefer the contests to default to “simple” photography with global analog-equivalent PS or the like (aside from local dodge/burn in conjunction with analogs). It keeps the challenge level up to those with an eye for composition and scene and allows for some digital darkroom action.

/loves me some Ansel Adams
//knows that his negatives were only half the picture

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hahhahaha… are you sure you’re not Calvin’s dad?

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/me checks fridge for beer, finds none. Vodka and coke will have to do.

‘Grats!

I sure wish I had time to spend on the contests. You folks are great inspiration. I feel like a patron wandering a museum in here.

[chupathingie]

This is as thin as I’ve managed so far…

That’s a very nice, crisp shot. Moon focus is my ‘other’ nemesis (though I think I have that one licked now–I ticked my lens at the proper focus point.)

I cheated… it’s a stack. if you really want crisp shots, shoot a few minutes of 1080p and feed that into a stacker… mash go, get coffee, walk the dog, wash the car and viola! You don’t even need to track with this method, most stackers know to search and align the images on the fly. There are a ton of tricks you can use for planetary imaging… such as doubling or tripling the image resolution before feeding the stacker (this works due to the image being jogged slightly between frames in an untracked video)

As far as focusing goes… 2 words: Bahtinov mask.

[chupathingie]

This is as thin as I’ve managed so far…

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What little I have is fair game (actually kind of an honor, in a weird way).

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I seem to be getting some milage out of this image… it was selected as a splash screen for the corporate IM client this week… I’ve been getting messages from total strangers all over the country today at work asking for bigger copies. That aughtta boost my flickr pool a bit LOL

[chupathingie]

What CauseISaidSo said…. that veil of snow coming down is neat looking, for lack of a more eloquent phrase.

CauseISaidSo, I’m in Amarillo. It surprised us too, we got about 4″ in the first hour and at one point had big 2″ clumps of snow coming down. The elevation here is 3600′, so that may have a lot to do with things.

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A lot of existing doublets and triplets are oil-spaced already. Several APO manufacturers have been using that arrangement for years.

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INteresting that you should bring this up… I just stumbled on this myself a few days ago while doing some random reading on ferrofluids.

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Congrats on both counts! Is this your first?

Yep. First.

I’m still a little dazed.

in time you will go from dazed to sleep deprived. congrats

Don’t forget the poop smell!

Congrats and happy anniversary! I hope the wife is pleasantly surprised when she finds out you’re pregnant….

[chupathingie]

ok, here’s a (rather poor, I admit) comparison chart, 1:1 crop. I was aiming for forcing some CA, instead what I wound up with was dark text. f4 at top, f32 at bottom.

[chupathingie]

I wound up with a Canon via the back door, as it were. At the time, they had the best far-red sensitivity of any of the makes out there. Finding out that the Canon had a shorter throw from the mount to the focal plane cinched it for me. I’ve picked up some Nikon/Nikkor glass… pawn shops are awesome…

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I’m shocked.. not one mention of the awesome street cred one receives when sporting “The Official Digital Camera of the Internet”.

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ok, looked them up from satellite view… it was Mill Rock. And I notice they’ve ‘shopped Knolls out now, it was hi-rez a few weeks ago. It’s even been removed from Google’s search… now it points to the facility in Schenectady, with no reference to the plant at all.

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