20% Time 4/15/08

Well, I was really hoping to get started on a project this week having to do with HDR photos.  What is that?  Professional ones use three or more pictures (best if done in the RAW, 16 bit, format) that include a regular picture, one over exposed and one underexposed.  Then, all a person has to do is scan or sync camera to a computer, open up photoshop and “merge to HDR”.  Then, a couple adjustment layers later, you get crystal clear, vibrant pictures which blend the darkest darks with the lightest lights that are just physically impossible to capture with a camera, if not all together nonexistent in the first place.

Despite the total coolness of this ability, I do not have CS2 - in short, no capability whatsoever to create HDR pictures.  Then, I stumbled onto a tutorial that does not need the special merging and only requires effects and adjustments.  So I booted up photoshop and diligently tried to look for the extremely important “shadow/highlight” adjustment only to find that my program is insanely old (photoshop 7- it almost makes me want to consider bootlegging CS3).

So, after my crushing defeat, I went back to the trusty snowdrip tutorials and tried one that I probably already knew how to do.  I started off trying to find a good landscape picture and finally found one via flickrcc.

cc “Landscape from Kuwait City” by Khalid Almasoud

So, I got the picture and started on the tutorial.  Basically, just open a new, larger document and turn the background black.  Then put in the add noise filter, and motion blur the whole thing.  Then, by adjusting the RBG levels to lessen the amount of rain and darken the overall picture.  After that, just drag it over to the original picture and set the blending to screen and all the black background will disappear.  Then I added a quick bolt of lightning (in a previous post) and tried to put it in a spot that would give it enough room to actually be seen.

I wish flickrcc was more comprehensive… the tall building in the middle is the Kuwait freedom tower.  The picture was taken by an Arabic photographer and I did not realize any of this until after I started posting all this.  I did not want to be seen as anti anything, I just really liked the picture.  At least I did not have the lighting hitting the Freedom Tower.