The Accidental Photographer

Welcome to my blog. The idea is to share some random photos and maybe some thoughts.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

HDR


For those who don't know, HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It is a photographic technique used to combine two or more differently exposed photos into a single one. It is usually used to compensate for the lack of dynamic range of the sencor cell of a digital camera. The results can be quite stunning or horrible depending on how one sees the photo. Some people like the surreal results achieved by excessive use of software and some like more discreet results.

I have been wanting to explore HDR photography for a long time but it was only today that I gave it a first go. When I bought my digital camera I already felt like testing HDR but by the time my computer was too crappy to have a conversion software in it. When I updated my computer there was another setback. My tripod broke down. You may want to try and shoot HDR hand held. Give it a go. Seriously.

As you might know I got myself a nice and solid Manfrotto tripod for christmas present but until now I haven't been using it. Today I finally took my gear out to grab a shot of the full moon. As I was heading out I realized I might as well try some HDR photos as well. The above photo is the one that worked out the best in my opinion. It is shot in Eiran ranta in southern Helsinki.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Verona


Last weekend I went to Verona with Salme to celebrate my birthday. As a surprise Jani and Anne came along which was fantastic. Verona is a nice and quite beatiful city. Some tourist brochure titled it the Bonsai-Rome. I don't quite understand what that is supposed to mean.

We had a fun weekend, lots of food and very good Valpolicella. On our way back we stopped at a couple of villages by Lake Garda which is supposed to be beautiful. The weather was awfully foggy so I don't what it really looks like. You can view a gallery of photos here.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Year, New Gear


As soon as the tax refunds are paid to my account I hit the camera store for some new gear. This year I have added a tripod, a monopod and a couple of neutral density filters to my gear. I haven't had the time yet to give them a try but hopefully during the weekend I will get something done.

To sum up last year I uploaded a gallery of the best shots from last year. You can see the gallery here.