Baker Beach

Baker Beach
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

I had an assignment from the office to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge to use in an exhibit about the solar system (the relative orbit of pluto passes through it when the sun is centered and scaled at Chabot Space & Science Center). I went to all the "normal" places such as Fort Point, Presidio, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Marin Headlands, and Baker Beach, which turned out to be the most interesting of them all. I liked the idea of the fence serving as foreground interest which mimics the structure of the bridge. All in all a nice picture of a cliche subject; the exhibit chose to use an image from Fort Point - go figure.

Glass Blower HDR

Glass Blower
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

This high dynamic range shot was extracted as three .tif images from a single raw file. Normally this won't do you any good since there is the same amount of information either way. But you can skew your tone-mapper results by extracting at 2ev intervals and telling the tone-mapper that the intervals are at 1ev.

I needed help getting her hair to look right so I used this technique to some success.

Light Scatter Over Distance

Sierra Foothills
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

It's amazing how strong the effect of clear air is on photographic contrast and saturation. This shot, taken after a rain storm, in nearly perfectly clear high-altitude conditions demonstrates the saturation/contrast fall off over distance. The snowy mountains in the distance are basically monochromatic and have very low contrast.

Butterfly

Butterfly
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

I normally avoid this type of shot, since it borders on cliche, but I'm taking this opportunity to promote the Butterfly show at the SF Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It provides access for those of us whom have trouble getting close to these flighty creatures. You can find more information here.

Ahwahnee Great Room

Ahwahnee-Inside Out
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

I just love doing these polar panoramas from interesting places I visit. The "normal" panorama from which this is created is spectacular in its own right, but this has a more interesting perspective.

It's best viewed at larger sizes so you can get "inside" the space.

The normal version

Restful Nest

Restful Nest
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

Here is a view of the Restful Nest bed and breakfast inn near Mariposa, California. It's on the way to Yosemite, though I can recommend it as a destination in its own right. The grounds are beautiful and quiet; there's a pool and hot tub for relaxing after those long hikes.

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

Finally a break in the rain and I can get out and take some springtime photos. I found this place on a nature walk near Mariposa, California. Sylvia and I were staying at a great BnB called Restfull Nest and this trail is just down the street from their driveway.

Overcast days like this automatically turn up the saturation in images without having to do anything special.

Piers

Piers
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

It's NOT boring! I've been fretting over whether or not anyone would give this image a second's look and finally there's been some traffic on Flickr. This is another of my "normal" HDR shots. It would be impossible to take this normally, even with neutral density filters, because of the deep shadows and bright highlights. I wanted to capture the texture of the rusting metal siding and the stained wood as a statement of the interconnectivity of dissimilar objects. - maybe that's too much for people to conclude on their own. Oh well.

Mars Encounter, Inside Out

Mars Encounter, Inside Out
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

This is an impossible view of an exhibit hall at Chabot Space & Science Center. It was made from a spherical panorama, which allows the viewer to see in all directions at once. It was converted to a polar projection looking downward. The center of the image is facing straight down and the entire circumference of the circle is facing straight up.

Shrimp Boat

Shrimp Boat
Originally uploaded by SdosRemedios.

This beached and decrepit shrimp boat rests offshore from China Camp; it's a high dynamic range image made from three exposures.

Flickr group produces astonishing color pix with new HDR plugin

The "High Dynamic Range" plugin merges several shots of the same scene taken at different exposures, producing pictures that have breathtaking, vivid, hyperreal colors.

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