The Disneyland Photo of the Day...

[alphabassetgrrl]

I usually shoot RAW and use -1 or so. Couple of reasons- I'm going to drop the mid-tones in post, anyway, so let's start with some good color intensity. Also, letting the camera underexpose lets it use a faster shutter speed in low-light conditions, or a better aperture.

[Barbaraann]

I don't understand the photography lingo, but I sure am enjoying looking at the pictures. I especially enjoy the Black and White Shots from Hot Sauce 1.

[alphabassetgrrl]

Yeah, he gets some seriously amazing shots!

[Barbaraann]

MiceChat has some amazing photographers. I need to remind myself to come view this thread more often.

[Hot Sauce 1]

Hot Sauce,

I think we will all gladly, patiently wait for the amazing stuff you have taught us. Your work pays the bills and that has to come first. I think I will have to take a few bottles of sauce from you soon when I finish up my last one.

On a photography related side note, I have a question for you or anyone else about exposure compensation with a DSLR in RAW formats. Since you can adjust the exposure afterward in RAW, is there a technical reason to adjust the exposure prior to taking the picture?

I am sure there is but was curious if it is a case where if you start at a lower exposure you have more room to brighten up afterward.

Mike

The more you can get right in the camera the better. The ultimate goal would be to have photos that don't need any post processing. (I know it's a dream but we can all hope.)

From an exposure standpoint, you want it as good as possible from the start so you don't have blown out highlights or shadows so dark that there isn't any information in them to retrieve in post.

Some of the newer, full frame sensor cameras like the Nikon D600 that I recently rented have such an amazing dynamic range that blown highlights and dark shadows aren't hard to fix. However, fixing all that incorrect exposure in post also comes with a price which is usually noise or color abberations.

Under most circumstances, especially at Disneyland where the light can be very uneven in every image, I usually underexpose by 1/3rd stop. Sometimes more depending upon the situation. For example World of Color I underexpose by 1 1/3 to 1 2/3rds stop so the color in the fountains isn't blown out and the flame sequences are nice and rich. I find that having the exposure a tad but under exposed is easier to fix than having it over exposed. This also gives you a faster shutter speed so your photos have less chance of being blurry.

I have heard that the brighter areas of a digital image actually carry a lot more digital information than the darker areas and are easier to fix but I haven't seen seen any evidence of this in my limited experience.

There also situations where you have to over expose by a bit to get a proper exposure. White rooms and snow are perfect examples. Since most cameras are set to a 18% gray, they will under expose bright whites and over expose blacks.

I watched a video of how the 18% gray works with cameras that was really educational. The guy set the exposure to 0 which should give you a properly exposed image. He photographed a solid black wall and a solid white wall. Both photos looked exactly the same, Gray! It is the cameras way of trying to balance the whites and blacks in an image.

He had to under expose the solid black wall by 2 stops to get it right and over expose the white wall by 2 stops to get it right.

Does that help at all or have I confused you even more. I think I am.

[mpabis525]

That does clear thugs up a bit. I hadn't even thought that even in dark situations like WOC, you can still have overexposed lighting without dialing it down some more.

I still have the Hot Sauce bible printed out with all the settings for my park visits sonar least I won't screw up my pics too bad. But hey, two months with a DSLR and getting used to it and I have only screwed up three picture moments that I can't replicate again. Considering my wife hasn't destroyed the camera because of it I will consider it a sign that I am getting used to it ok for now.

[Hot Sauce 1]

1-11-13
Today's "Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day" showcases a new feature in Photoshop CS6 called the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter.

(Wow, I'm finally getting a new tutorial done. It feels good!)

I recently upgraded from Photoshop Elements to the full version of Photoshop CS6. (yes, a very pricy upgrade) The main reason I wanted CS6 was because of the RAW editor, which is much more powerful and has a lot more features than the RAW editor in Elements. In my eyes, it alone was worth the price of upgrading.

In all honesty, other than the RAW editor I've only learned how to do one thing in CS6 and that is the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter. My next post will be a typical post processing workflow and if I used my wide angle lens, the AWAF is part of that workflow. There is a lot to show on the AWAF, so I thought it would be best to give it the space it deserves with a tutorial of its own.

I use my wide angle filter quite a bit at Disneyland. It brings so much into the frame that the curvature of the lens will bend and curve any straight line into the center of the frame. There are many instances where I like the distortion that a wide angle lens creates but others where it detracts from the image and is so distracting that it hurts my eyes to look at it. Architecture is the perfect example of something that is supposed to have straight lines and looks horrible if it is curved, unless the architect designed it that way.

So let's start with this photo of the fountain and Carthay Circle Theater. (I'm not really sure why they still call it a "theater" since it is actually a restaurant modeled after a theater, but I guess that's an argument for different day.)
As you can see, the Carthay Circle "Restaurant" is leaning and curving towards the center as are the light posts and any straight object near the edges of the photo.


I open it in Photoshop CS6 and at the top of the page click on Filters - Adaptive Wide Angle. That will open up this window.


The first thing to do depends upon which wide angle lens you use. There is a dropdown menu in the top right corner for choosing your desired effect. If you have a fisheye, there is an adjustment for those. Since I'm only using a Wide Angle lens, I leave it on Auto.
(Note: the other choices like Fisheye really take a lot off the edges of your frame.)


Over in the top left corner are some choices of tools. I want to straighten the lines, so I use the top button that has a straight line with dots on the end. This is to draw lines on the image and it will straighten them.


On the right side of the frame there is a magnifying window that magnifies wherever your mouse is. This is so you can see up close where to draw your lines and get all the small details that need to be fixed.


I used the magnifying window to put my mouse on the very top spire on the Carthay and drew a line all the way down the center of the tower. This will straighten out the curve of the tower but it is still leaning inwards.


Next, place your mouse right on the line (in the center circle) and right click. That will bring up a menu to choose Horizontal or Vertical.


I click on Vertical and it will make the building stand straight up. See how straight it is now. Also notice how the line I drew went from Green to Pink to show it has been straightened.


I'll do the same thing to the fountain.


You can see how much nicer and more natural our image is becoming. Also notice how we've lost a lot on the edges.


It's important to get the light posts and trash cans too. If everything in the image is straight and a missed trash can is leaning, it looks really strange.


I also straightened the marquis on the Carthay Circle.


Instead of choosing Vertical, I used Horizontal to make it look correct.


Now I look around for any other lines that might need to be straightened. There is a nice solid line down the decoration on the fountain.


Even though it looks pretty straight, when you straighten it, it does look better.


I went around and did the other lamp post and one of the tree trunks as well. Once you've finished fixing all the lines, click OK and it opens it up back in the editor. Here is what we have now.


Using the Crop tool, I will crop off as little as possible, leaving some of the edges missing that I can recreate.


I selected the Clone Stamp tool and a soft edge brush at 200 pixels.


I cloned in the corners of the sky and the water in the fountain. I even cloned in the missing part of the stream of water on the bottom right corner. Here is our final image.


As you can see by all that was lost, when you use a wide angle lens and know you will be straightening out the buildings, you really need to step back and leave a lot of dead space around the edges because you will lose a lot of it.

Here's a few more images before and after the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter.









Happy Snapping!
Michael Greening 2013

[Echo237]

Don't mind me, just accidentally posting in the wrong thread...

[WDWFigment]

While the AWAF is a cool tool, the best way to "remove" distortion is by shooting without the lens at an angle. I like some of the corrections you've made here, but a couple of them have some odd spatial relationships as a result of the AWAF.

Obviously, this is easier said than done. There are some times when shooting that I think some converging lines will be nice, but then on the computer, I realize I no longer like the look. AWAF is helpful then.

Just want to point out that this is easier accomplished in camera to those who are not well-versed in UWA photography.

(Side note: the simplest way to correct curving lines from an ultra wide is by using a lens profile correction...the lines in the original photos here are straight, not curved.)

[Hot Sauce 1]

I just got back from 3 days at Disneyland. Actually it was a half day at Disneyland and 2 days in DCA. I don't know why but I just feel more excited and at peace in DCA than I do in Disneyland. (strange)

Anyway, I shot several new tutorials and hope to have some up soon. I still cannot for the life of me figure out why we are actually busier this January (usually our slowest month of the year) than we were in December, which is our busiest month of the year.

Here's a few pretties in the mean time.
When I shot this photo, I selected a single focus point and put that on the raft so the foreground and everything else would be blurry. I knew the mist and the blurry foreground would create an interesting feel and slight sense of mystery.

Look to Adventure... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

For this one, I didn't like all the fountains sticking up out of the water so I cropped the photo off right at the water line and then used the "Reflection" button in Photoscape to create the reflection. Then I added a slight surface blur to the reflection.

Feeling the Blues...[Explore] by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

Who doesn't love balloons...

Ears and Eights... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

I used a Van Gogh filter on this shot for a unique look.

Gogh For A Spin... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[alphabassetgrrl]

Pretty, indeed!

[Elias1955]

Geez, can we get a collection of your teachings in a little book, Hot Sauce?

[Mac Daddy]

Geez, can we get a collection of your teachings in a little book, Hot Sauce?

Funny you should mention that...

[ni_teach]

Geez, can we get a collection of your teachings in a little book, Hot Sauce?

I have been telling him for a while that he should write a book.

[Hot Sauce 1]

Geez, can we get a collection of your teachings in a little book, Hot Sauce?

I'm working on that. The book is about 95% finished. I have a few more posts to do that will also be in the book, then I have to send a bunch of them to a company to do a layout for a sample book to send to prospective publishers.

I planned on having it done about 9 months ago but work just got so busy that I haven't had a chance to touch it in months. (very frustrating)

Here's a new photo that I just did. It is a 11 section panorama. Each section was a 3 exposure bracket processed in Photomatix, then layer masked in Photoshop. Then I stitched them all together in Photoshop and ran it through Nik Color Efx for some final detail. All in all it took me about 3 hours to do the entire thing.


Passing Through.... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr