New cameras are taking the challenge out of high contrast scenes, leaving photographers more time to compose and share their photos rather than retouch them in Photoshop. Check out the state-of-the-HDR-art in this December’s Outdoor Photographer magazine (intro below:)

INTRO:

Auto HDR, Quicker, Faster And Better?

New DSLRs with Auto HDR features can create high dynamic range images in just seconds, but are the results worth the convenience?

By Michael J. McNamara

In the last few years, high dynamic range (HDR) photography has become incredibly popular, propelled in part by the capabilities of both digital cameras and HDR-enabled imaging programs. As a group, outdoor photographers have been the biggest beneficiaries of the HDR process, as it enables us to tackle high-contrast scenes in nature and produce HDR images that more closely match our visual experience. Creating an HDR image isn’t new to digital, but with film it was a tedious process that required skill, an expensive darkroom and lots of trial and error. With digital photography, you can create an HDR image in the computer much easier and with better results. DSLRs can shoot a burst of bracketed exposures, and using a variety of HDR-enabled software programs, you can create an HDR image by combining elements from each exposure.

Camera designers apparently didn’t think this was easy enough, which explains why there are now Auto HDR modes in several new DSLRs from Nikon, Pentax and Sony, and we expect the trend to continue. At the push of the shutter button, these cameras shoot a quick burst of exposures and then use their powerful image-processing engines to merge them into an HDR JPEG image. As a bonus, several Pentax and Sony models can correct minor camera movements that occur between frames in the burst, allowing you to create HDR images without a tripod!

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NYC at Night with Sony SLT-a77

Sony’s new SLT-a77 features a high-resolution, 24.3MP Exmor sensor that can not only take very sharp images in low light, but also extraordinary Full HD video. In both case, built-in image stabilization allows you to shoot at slow shutter speeds with any lens, and image processing hardware helps tame noise. To demonstrate how well it performs, I shot some sample videos and still photos in Times Square, New York City at night. I used the built-in stereo microphone for sound recording, and set the camera to ISO 1600.

NYC at Night with Sony SLT-a77

INTRODUCTION:
One of the most exciting and challenging photo projects I’ve ever tackled took place in Sept. 2009 while on assignment for UNESCO’s World Heritage Photo Project. The week I spent diving and exploring the Great Barrier Reef was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget, and one that I strived to capture with the images, stories, and HD videos I brought back with me. But as the project progressed, I began to wonder: how could I share the awe-inspiring beauty of the reef and the fascinating creatures that dwell there with an audience that wants more than a digital slide show?

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I’m not sure what’s scarier:  facing an 8 foot White Tip Reef Shark from three feet away or figuring out what to pack for a two week long expedition that included everything from diving on the Great Barrier Reef to hiking through the jungles in the Wet Tropics of Queensland. My challenge, when it came to luggage, was that I was a one man show, and everything I packed I had to personally truck to the airport, in between connecting international and puddle-jumper flights at several airports, on to dive boats, and into hotels lacking elevators or even bellhops. On top of that, my goal was to minimize extra baggage charges, since the expedition had a UN budget that was more of an honorarium than a professional fee for the job I tackled.

Fortunately, I did my homework and researched exactly the baggage size and weight restrictions from each airline I would use. Further research and contacts at several consumer electronics companies helped me gather camera, computer, storage, lighting, communications, and GPS equipment that was light weight and compact. In the end, I found myself either carrying or rolling everything I needed, a minor miracle of technology when you consider that I had was able to take thousands of photographs and hundreds of HD videos underwater and above during the expedition, had no assistant to carry my gear, and didn’t incur any extra baggage fees along the way! I also somehow avoided any pulled muscles or a hernia.

Even two years ago I couldn’t have pulled it off because the equipment I needed to do both still and HD recording didn’t exist. But due to the compact size and extraordinary capabilities of the Panasonic Lumix GH1, I was able to combine both media capabilities into one camera (with an underwater housing and lighting system that was about the smallest ever put together for an interchangeable lens system. Next on the list was a lightweight, super-powerful Sony V-series laptop, pocket-sized 500 GB external hard drives from Western Digital, and a variety of other products I’ll list shortly.

I wanted to keep most of my camera and electronics gear with me at all times, so I got my hands on a Tenba Universal Rolling Photo/laptop case (my review of this case appeared in the Dec. issue of Professional Photography magazine) and packed it to the hilt with the equipment shown in the following photo:

The Panasonic Lumix GH1, while one of the most compact and advanced cameras in its class, can’t be submerged in water or safely used in the rain since it lacks waterproof seals. So, like many DSLRs or compact camera, it requires a fully waterproof housing to keep it safe and dry during dives. These  housings are fairly expensive, in many cases costing thousands of dollars more than the camera it protects, and must be designed not only to keep the camera safe under extremely high pressures (typically down to 100 feet or more), but also to allow the diver access to exposure, shutter, focus, and zoom controls. While several camera manufacturers routinely introduce compact digital cameras with a branded waterproof housing, it usually takes several months for underwater housing manufacturers to release a housing for a new DSLR model. The exception is Olympus, which routinely offers UW housings for its new DSLR cameras when they’re introduced or within a short period of time. The reason housings take so long to get to market is that the housing manufacturer needs an actual camera body and lens in order to design the housing to fit, and most camera manufacturers are unwilling to release their new models to any outside “accessory” company before the actual product launch–or even in the first wave of production models.

In order for my shoot on the Great Barrier Reef to take place in September, 2009, only a few months after the Panasonic Lumix GH1 was announced and just weeks after the first units reached stores in the US, I need help from the Lumix team in Japan. Fortunately, they had developed a relationship with the Proof housing company (also located in Japan) which had built an underwater housing for the Lumix G1 in 2008. So when my two GH1′s arrived from Japan in early July, 2009, a custom underwater housing and two lens ports were included in the shipment.

Unfortunately, it was up to me to provide underwater flash and video lights that would allow me to shoot underwater at depths below 10 feet, where most of the red light in the spectrum has been filtered out by the ocean water. Of course, lights were also necessary for me to shoot during during night dives or to capture creatures hiding in caves. The problem right off the bat is that Panasonic doesn’t manufacture its own waterproof flash or video lights, and I wanted to put together a system that was lightweight and extremely portable. The photo below shows you what I came up with:

The setup above includes two INON S-2000 flash units (red colored at end of arms) and two FIX LED video and focus lights. All four of these are attached to the camera housing via an assortment of Ultralight connectors, ball joints, and arms. The reason I chose the INON flash units is that they’re capable of true STTL metering with the GH1 via fiber optic cable connections (note the thin wire running from each flash unit to the housing.) The GH1′s flash unit is popped up inside the housing, and fires a preflash just prior to the full power flash. Normally, the preflash is detected through the lens by a metering sensor that instructs the camera to fire the proper amount of full flash for the scene. (all of this takes place so quickly you don’t notice two flashes firing.) However, in this case the camera’s preflash gets detected by the strobes via the fiber optic cable, and the strobes send out a preflash that’s detected and analyzed by the camera. It’s a stronger preflash that fools the camera into sending a “full flash” signal that’s much weaker than normal. (A side benefit to that weak full flash? The camera battery lasts far longer than expected–typically over 500 shots with flash!) However, the INON strobes instantly calculate the difference and send out the perfect amount of full flash between them. The result is a “synced TTL” exposure that’s extremely accurate–and in this case provided by two flash units, extending the range of the flash and the versatility.

Having dual flash units mounted on this system allows for very creative lighting, and each flash can be dialed down or up in power to provide desired lighting ratios. Plus, I could manipulate the Ultralight arms to position the flash units above, to the sides, or below a fish or target in front of me, or move them to the proper angles when shooting vertical compositions–an impossible situation with a flash mounted on the housing or camera. The results speak for themselves in the following photo gallery

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All photos taken by Michael J. McNamara for  Our Place World Heritage

Finally, the focus and video lights I chose, both FIX LED units waterproof to several hundred feet, allowed me to switch to the cameras HD movie mode and still have lighting at hand. One FIX light provided 500 lumens, and the other 1000 lumens when dialed to maximum output, lending a perfect 1:2 ratio. However, as I learned when viewing the videos vs the still images of the same subjects, LED lighting doesn’t provide the same color rendering index as the flash units, despite providing a color temperature of 6500k. They’re a bit weak in the red spectrum output, which is really needed underwater, so red objects appear less saturated when photographed or recorded on video when using the LED lights. By the way, the entire lighting system shown above cost approximately $2100, and I’m told the custom underwater housing cost approximately $4,000. Expect a number of housing manufacturers to offer production housings with fiber-optic fittings for under $2,000 in the near future.
Didn’t need the video lights much in this scene, which had enough lighting and action of its own:

Hey, did that White Tip Reef shark just give me the evil eye? Or was he wondering how I’d taste with a seaweed salad? This is a short preview of a 6 minute long full 1080p movie I made in the Coral Sea while doing a documentary for UNESCO World Heritage Photo Project, taken with the Panasonic GH1 in a custom housing.