Last week I was at WDW with a friend, and though I brought both my DSLR and my NEX, I ended up shooting the entire 5 days with only the NEX5N. ; It was too hot, and since I was with a friend I didn't want to bog us down with big camera kits and tripods, so the NEX just worked out better as the light kit for moving around.
As usual, the sun can was brutally bright and the contrast incredibly harsh at times, so it was a great time to play with in-camera handheld HDR. (camera takes 3 frames in quick succession, aligns, and merges them in camera for a single HDR photo. ; HDR can be used in Auto, but I generally preferred to set the HDR level myself - the more mild landscapes that just needed a little shadow boost got HDR +1 or 2 (EV), while some of the more extreme direct-sun shots I cranked up to HDR +5 or 6 (EV).
'Normal' looking exposures or more extreme tone-mapped style can all be obtained out of the camera...some may prefer the more extreme look, others the more natural - I experimented a little with the more extreme but tend to like the more natural.
This required HDR cranked up to +5 to recover the deep shadows in the courtyard with the sun setting behind the building:
Here I wanted the deep orange sunset colors, but at the same time the foreground was nothing but silhouette when I metered the sky, so using HDR+3 let me bring some of the shadows back to life while maintaining the sunset rich colors:
But I also wanted to experiment a bit with more HDR, so I decided to see what happened when I cranked up to +5 or +6 (I can't remember if this was 5 or 6, but it was one of them)...it gives more of that 'tone mapped' look, where the foreground is much more vividly exposed and in detail:
It was fun shooting with this mode, and suits the lazy side of me, since it could be done handheld, like any other shot, one press of the shutter, and no post processing needed - and not slowing down my friend's trip by stopping every 10 feet to set up a shot!
--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
As usual, the sun can was brutally bright and the contrast incredibly harsh at times, so it was a great time to play with in-camera handheld HDR. (camera takes 3 frames in quick succession, aligns, and merges them in camera for a single HDR photo. ; HDR can be used in Auto, but I generally preferred to set the HDR level myself - the more mild landscapes that just needed a little shadow boost got HDR +1 or 2 (EV), while some of the more extreme direct-sun shots I cranked up to HDR +5 or 6 (EV).
'Normal' looking exposures or more extreme tone-mapped style can all be obtained out of the camera...some may prefer the more extreme look, others the more natural - I experimented a little with the more extreme but tend to like the more natural.
This required HDR cranked up to +5 to recover the deep shadows in the courtyard with the sun setting behind the building:
Here I wanted the deep orange sunset colors, but at the same time the foreground was nothing but silhouette when I metered the sky, so using HDR+3 let me bring some of the shadows back to life while maintaining the sunset rich colors:
But I also wanted to experiment a bit with more HDR, so I decided to see what happened when I cranked up to +5 or +6 (I can't remember if this was 5 or 6, but it was one of them)...it gives more of that 'tone mapped' look, where the foreground is much more vividly exposed and in detail:
It was fun shooting with this mode, and suits the lazy side of me, since it could be done handheld, like any other shot, one press of the shutter, and no post processing needed - and not slowing down my friend's trip by stopping every 10 feet to set up a shot!
--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
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