How's he do it?!

[d2creative]

http://pellphoto.com/index.php?x=browse

Check out the processing here. Especially the portraits.
If you roll over the photo his exif info comes up. The pics are so darn clear, sharp and detailed yet some of these are shot apertures as wide open as f.2.8! But regardless of aperture, how the heck does he achieve this look. And although some may be true hdr(multiple exposures), most are not. I just can't figure out how this is achieved in photoshop.

[ngoduyviet]

Looks like HDRs to me, and a couple of sloppy ones too. Notice how his 2nd (scooter) shot, with the over sharpened/dodged halo around his body?

Still pretty impressive HDR PP.

[venchka]

Read teh small print:

A shot by Sandra (but overproessed to death by me of course :) ) .

At least he admits to heavy handed processing.

[bluman95]

Originally Posted by ngoduyviet

Looks like HDRs to me, and a couple of sloppy ones too. Notice how his 2nd (scooter) shot, with the over sharpened/dodged halo around his body?

Still pretty impressive HDR PP.

What is an HDR?

[venchka]

High Dynamic Range.

Done right=good
Done bad=Terrible

[erisian pope]

HDR is a method of combining multiple shots taken of the same subject at different levels of exposure (including underexposed and overexposed) and merging so as to retain maximum detail in both the shadows and highlights. The resulting picture can appear very natural (the human eye and brain can work together to allow you to see a scene where you see the details in both the shadows and highlights whereas a typical photograph doesn't have enough range to capture both in one picture). Many people use the HDR technique to achieve surreal results instead of realistic results - an effect that many seem to appreciate but others (including myself) tend to dislike.

[gmarblestone]

I love it as long as it is used sparingly. I used to HDR everything.
See photomatix an easy way to HDR.

G

[d2creative]

So back to my original question... are ALL of these hdr? What is he doing? Taking one shot, then faking multiple exposures and running through something like photomatix?

Some are obviously overdone hdr but some are just uber crisp and there is no way he got mulitiple exposures on it. Like in the portraits.

[jeffkohn]

You can get the tone-mapped look without shooting multiple exposures. Photomatix lets you create a psuedo-HDR from a single raw image and then tone-map it. LucisArt is a plugin that has some filters for producing similar effects, I think there was a thread on here about it recently.

Personally I think that look is overused. Dave Hill made it popular, and now everybody is copying it (though at least Dave Hill is good at it).

[bluman95]

Originally Posted by erisian pope

HDR is a method of combining multiple shots taken of the same subject at different levels of exposure (including underexposed and overexposed) and merging so as to retain maximum detail in both the shadows and highlights. The resulting picture can appear very natural (the human eye and brain can work together to allow you to see a scene where you see the details in both the shadows and highlights whereas a typical photograph doesn't have enough range to capture both in one picture). Many people use the HDR technique to achieve surreal results instead of realistic results - an effect that many seem to appreciate but others (including myself) tend to dislike.

So do you do this with bracketing on the camera or just take multiple shots?

[12stones]

Originally Posted by bluman95

So do you do this with bracketing on the camera or just take multiple shots?

Either or. You can bracket or you can manually set the exposure for each of the shots that will be merged.

[barP]

a lot of what he's doing is just using masks to adjust individual parts of the image, but he is also a good photographer. it looks to me like he makes good use of dof, but he's also artistic and creative.

wp.

[bluman95]

Originally Posted by barP

a lot of what he's doing is just using masks to adjust individual parts of the image, but he is also a good photographer. it looks to me like he makes good use of dof, but he's also artistic and creative.

wp.

Is there a tutorial somewhere that walks one through the process?

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by bluman95

Is there a tutorial somewhere that walks one through the process?

http://photocamel.com/forum/hdr-photography/

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by barP

a lot of what he's doing is just using masks to adjust individual parts of the image, but he is also a good photographer. it looks to me like he makes good use of dof, but he's also artistic and creative.

wp.

No doubt that he has good compositional skills and knows his way around his equipment.

But even his f/2.8 or f/5.6 shots are worlds sharper and cleaner than my f/22 shots.