HDR Photography
Different types of lighting (e.g. incandescent, fluorescent, sodium vapor, mercury vapor…) produce light of different colors. Though that’s pretty common knowledge, mixing lighting types in one picture can have striking effects and add color to scenes that might be drab in daylight. I say, “scene,” because this picture strikes me as a bit cinematographic–or perhaps even like the set of a play. I can just imagine Sharks and Jets preparing to rumble around the corner…
Berkeley isn’t particularly urban, and, as such, doesn’t have much of a skyline to speak of. Still, its taller buildings offer an interesting contrast in construction techniques and styles. I like the reflection that can be parsed out from the sum of the windows.
Here’s a shot where the power of HDR photography is really evident. We have regions, like the street lights and the lights on top of the gate, which are over-illuminated and other regions, like the trees and the texture of the gate pillars themselves, which are under-illuminated but when you apply some tone-mapping you get a great image where you bring out the cool lighting while still picking up the cool little details.
Last post for today (making up for a lack of posts all week) is this shot of the Advanced Light Source (the domed building) at Berkeley Lab as seen from the Berkeley hills shortly before sunset. With the haze it sort of reminds me of some sort of mountain top compound used for nefarious purposes.
It may be a bit trite but any photo blog based in Berkeley should probably have a picture of one of the most prominent structures on campus. I’ve always admired the way the Campanile is illuminated at night, making it seem much less isolated than it is in fact.
I really like this shot I took of Cal’s Doe library which makes the big north reading room seem so warm and inviting.
UC Berkeley’s Bowles Hall holds the distinction of being the oldest dormitory on campus, and probably the most durable; despite a huge variety of attempts to dismantle it or convert it to other purposes, the hall and its fraternity-esque traditions remain.
Designed by George Kelham, it also happens to be one of the most beautiful buildings on Berkeley’s campus. I’m a particularly huge fan of California Gothic and the way concrete is used in place of stone to similar, but cleaner, effect. The ability of HDR tone mapping to capture that texture without losing the detail in the windows is a great demonstration of the technique for a practical, as well as artistic, purpose.
Grizzly Peak, in the hills above Berkeley, is a great spot to get photos of San Francisco–if the weather cooperates. Though it was a bit foggy on this particular day, it afforded a great chance to see some interesting shadows. San Francisco itself is just visible beneath the sun.
This is also a great instance of just how useful HDR can be, as a technique; sunset images without tone mapping typically require the foreground to be completely silhouetted.
Getting any sort of reasonable image of Strawberry Creek has been difficult recently with the recent environmental calamity, but even with all of the activity, pontoons and petrochemicals it was still possible to capture this long-ish exposure image of one of the forks of the creek as it runs through UC’s campus.
I recently had a chance to shoot the new Li Ka Shing Center. Brand-new buildings are so free of the dirt and grime endemic of everything else in a city; they always have this surreal quality, like something from a video game. I was particularly entranced by the texture of the sheathing laid over the densglass that comprises the building’s shell.
Welcome to Decaseconds, a photography blog where Brendan and I display our latest photographs. Though we’ll be posting all kinds of images here, we have a mutual interest in long-exposure and HDR (high dynamic range) landscape photography. That will be our focus.
UC Berkeley’s Campbell Hall is currently undergoing demolition that has resulted in the mummification of the building; the glow from within made a fantastic counterpoint to the light reflected from the overcast sky.
Decaseconds 