Free HDR software for Windows

I was looking for free software that would run on Windows that would aid in creating HDR images.

After about 5 minutes of searching I came across these 2:

1. Luminance HDR (qtpfsgui) and

2. Picturenaut

I am new to HDR photography, so I wasn’t very sure about all the different options in the software. But I found it a lot more easier to create a cool looking HDR image using Luminance than with Picturenaut.

Here are the input images that I used (found via a Bing search for HDR source images)

-2	0	+2

This was the resulting image using Luminance:

More to follow, once I learn a little more about the 2 softwares and get a few sample source images of my own.

Nikon D40 – Using the remote control

Its easy if you know where to look!

Under the custom settings menu (the pencil icon), set the remote on duration (option 17). This specifies how long the camera will stay on waiting for a command from the remote once it has been put into the remote mode. I like a setting of 10 minutes. But be aware that the longer this setting, the more it will drain your battery. This setting needs to be messed with only once:

Now, every time you want to use your remote to capture a picture, you need to put the camera into the remote shooting mode. You do this by going to the Shooting mode options (option 4) under the custom settings menu and selecting either the Delayed remote mode or the Quick response mode.

 

Here is where you can buy a cheap Nikon remote that I can confirm works with the D40. (meritline)

Photosynth of Coors Field

My latest PhotoSynth – of Coors Field in Denver. Turned out to be a 100% photo-synth.

Interesting things that I found while making this latest photosynth:

1. There is a brand new interface to the website.

2. You can select images to highlight as well as add descriptions to individual images.

3. There is a new viewer – a silverlight viewer – which allows you to do a lot more, and a direct 3d viewer – which runs very fast and the way I like viewing the synths.

How I carry my digital SLR lens hood

Before, I realized I could do this, I rarely ended up using the lens hood on my digital SLR.

But while I was walking around, I saw a professional photographer who had his hood mounted in reverse on the lens.

I tried it and it worked. Now I can carry the hood with me all the time and use it more often than I used to previously.

Below you can see the 2 ways in which the hood has been mounted on to the lens (the first one is the in use position and the 2nd one is the storage position - which you can see makes it easy to store it in your camera bag)

More info on lens hoods:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_hood

http://toothwalker.org/optics/lenshood.html

and this interesting discussion on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/groups/tamron17-50mm/discuss/72157604024209303/

Taking great baby pictures – 10 tips from Nick Kelsh

http://www.olympusamerica.com/crm/oneoffpages/crm_baby.asp

Here are the ones that I think are useful from Nick Kelsh’s post:

Get Close

Most amateurs never shoot a close-up and close-ups are so powerful. Fill the frame with your baby’s face and leave out the lamps and furniture and all of that other visual clutter. A good close-up of a baby can be other-worldly.

Experiment with the flash off

A flash on a camera is a very handy thing. It allows you to take sharp pictures in dark rooms. But it does something else, too. It ruins the mood. It’s about as romantic as the headlights on your car. A picture taken with a flash is the signature look of amateur snapshots. Use it if you’re shooting snapshots (don’t get me wrong - I love snapshots) but if you want to take pictures that will make other people say, “Hey you’re a great photographer!” turn off the flash.

Find beautiful light

If you want to shoot beautiful baby portraits this may be the most important step. With your flash off, put your baby in some soft window light or the light of an open, outside door . This is the light Rembrandt built a career around. If you get just how profound this tip is you are well are your way to moving up the photographic food chain.

Keep your backgrounds simple

You could not possibly error on the side of too simple with this. I spend about half my time shooting pictures trying to find clean, simple backgrounds. Why is that stop sign sticking out of your baby’s head?

Take advantage of the moment

You have what every professional photographer wants – access. Store your camera is the same place all the time and always turn your camera off with the same settings. Be ready for the stuff only parents see.

Crank up your ISO

I don’t want to get too technical here, but I rarely take a picture with the ISO below 400. Do pictures get a little noisy (grainy) when the ISO is high? Sometimes. How often will get you get complaints from viewers when you’ve captured a great moment and there’s a little noise? Never.

Taking stunning portraits… 20 tips

10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits

Discover the secrets of stunning portrait photography in this tutorial.

and then check out the follow up:

10 More Tips for Stunning Portrait Photography