I don’t often shoot in the middle of the day because the light is usually too harsh. If I meter for the highlights, the shadows go black, and if I meter for the shadows, the highlights blow out. I looked out the window yesterday though, and saw some nice colors down toward Makena, along with some great cloud cover mixed with the blue skies, and decided it might be a good day to do some HDR work.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, which is a process that involves taking several shots with different settings, exposing for everything from the highlights to the shadows, and using software to blend them all together. Adobe Photoshop has a Merge to HDR feature under File > Automate, but I prefer using Photomatix, as it gives me better control over the tone mapping of the final image.
I used a polarizer for the water and a 3-stop soft ND grad to accentuate the sky even further. I’ll go into more detail about how I actually produced the images in another post. For now, enjoy them and tell me what you think.
Makena, Maui, Hawai'i. HDR, 5 exposures, 2 stops each; tone mapped in Photomatix 3.0, finished in Lightroom 2.5.
Makena, Maui, Hawai'i. HDR, 4 exposures, 2 stops each; tone mapped in Photomatix 3.0, finished in Lightroom 2.5.
Makena, Maui, Hawai'i. HDR, 5 exposures, 2 stops each; tone mapped in Photomatix 3.0, finished in Lightroom 2.5.
Makena, Maui, Hawai'i. HDR, 6 exposures, 2 stops each; tone mapped in Photomatix 3.0, finished in Lightroom 2.5.
These are more than stunning, great work. Great composition on these, too.
I’m really looking forward to getting back to Maui now that I’m getting more practice with HDR.
Just beautiful, Peter!
Nice looking HDR work Peter!
thu these photos i wouldn’t be thinking the things you must do to make it LOOK SO GOOD!thanks to you ! gotta love that Makena cloud ! mahalo for a great series of pics!
Great shots Peter. Showcases what great images can be created by using art and technology.
Thank you all! I really appreciate the ongoing support!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. Your photos are incredible, just amazing!
Aloha,
Deb