Galleon

Galleon
Originally uploaded by Szczur

Well, I've had another long break from this but I'm back. :)

I couldn't get my head round the whole HDR thing in photography. In case there's anyone reading this who still hasn't heard about it, HDR is High Dynamic Range imaging. The idea is that monitors and printers aren't able to reproduce a scene as it really appears - they work with a very low dynamic range. To capture more of a scene, it is necessary to shoot at least 3 images with different exposure settings and then merge them to make an HDR file. The problem is that your HDR looks rubbish on-screen and you can't print it. This is where I came unstuck. I got some program to sort it for me, but, unless you know what to do with it, it really doesn't help much.

Earlier this year my father bought me a book on the subject, for my birthday, he'd seen it on Amazon and decided I might like it. He didn't know how I'd been tearing my hair out with this. Anyhoo, the book explained the process of tone mapping, which is what you have to do with your HDR file so that you can view a representation of it on your monitor, or print a copy. It explains how to make an extremely realistic looking scene or how to make more surreal views. What you see here is one of my attempts at putting theory into practice.

The galleon pictured sails from Gdansk in Poland to .... Gdansk in Poland, for the amusement of tourists. Sometimes though, like the day I shot the source images for this picture, the sky looks suitably pirate-y.