I’ve spent some time in the Bugaboo Range in Alberta Canada scouting for my new workshop. I have to say, I am really excited about the workshop and think that you’ll have to agree that if nothing else it is unique. We go exploring the pristine Alpine meadows, streams and the rocky peaks with a HELICOPTER! It was amazing and the workshop is on like…OK, I can’t say Donkey Kong there. Read the details and sign up right now or after you look at these images…HERE.
I was mostly interested in photographing the wildflowers, but the mountains were to amazing to ignore. I confess that I have mostly shunned the world of HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Mostly because, I rarely shoot landscape images and it just doesn’t work on birds in flight! And secondly, because it can look so fake and ridiculous. With the help of NIK Software’s amazing HDR Pro software for photoshop, I’ve begun to see the light. Get it? See the light as in see the light that was hidden in the shadows without using HDR. Come on keep up people! Of course you can still go wild and crazy, but you can also use a softer touch and make images that look amazing.
These are all either 3 or 5 shot blends depending on the mood that I wanted to create. I always shoot 5 shots, but I don’t always use them. The images are taken in a burst of images (automagically with my camera) with 1 stop difference in exposure. In other words, I have 1 image exposed the way that I want and then 1 image 1 stop underexposed and 1 image 2 stops underexposed. Likewise, there are 2 images at 1 and 2 stops over exposed. I then open all of the images in photoshop and make any tweaks like white balance to ALL of the images and then open them in the NIK software for the magic. NIK then blends all of the images attempting to make 1 image that combines the properly exposed parts from all 5 images. The math involved in doing that blows my mind right out of my head. Once done then you can edit the new image just as you would any photo that you take.
I’ve processed these from mild to wild to give you an idea of what you might be capable of doing. In addition to offering the workshop to the Bugaboos, I am also offering 2 workshops, The Art of Creative Photography and we will learn how to process HDR images in that class. The registration is live and you can read about the workshop and sign up…HERE.
Enjoy the images and be sure to let me know what you think.
Here is a map of the Bugaboos so you can see where I was and figure out where you will be taken by HELICOPTER on my workshop! Can you tell that I LOVED riding in the helicopter?
