Project 11: High Density Range.

In this project you're asked to look at how to resolve the problem if the your attempting to photograph a subject and your camera isn't capable of capturing in a single image the shadows and highlights as you feel they should appear. To get round this problem there is a very simple fix but it can be a little time consuming but the end results are worth the effort.

Light Version.

Dark Version.

To begin with you're given the two above images and asked to combine them to create a single image which captures the shadows and highlights. What i did to produce this was first to open the light version then next open the dark version and select the whole photo and then copy it. Next i pasted the dark copy over the light version so i now had two layers with the light version begin the background layer and the dark version sitting on top in a different layer. What this meant was that i could know take the rubber tool and erase specific areas to gain the effect i wanted, in this case i was going to remove the reflection underneath the shell so that the reflection in the lighter version would show through. While doing this i did try altering the opacity of the rubber (this either strengthens or weakens the way the rubber works) and found that i was most happy with the results when i had it set at 54%. Finally when i was happy with the results i flatten the image to combine the two layers and the end results are shown below.

Combined Version.

The only problem i found while doing this part of the project was working round the edges of the reflection because if you weren't careful you could easily have the background in the light version bleeding through as well. What i found work best was to use a soft edged rubber because then at least if this did happen then it wasn't as obvious as it could be using a hard edge one.

Dark Version.

Light Version.

For the next part of the project you were asked to take two shots of your own of the same scene, one had to be exposed to capture the highlights the other to capture the shadows. The first point to make about this is don't try doing this without a tripod because your photos when layered together just will not line up properly. The best way i found to set up my camera for this process was to go into the menu and select the AEB mode and tell the camera to take a set of three shots one at the middle setting then one at -1 and the other at +1 meaning you end up with the shots you need (this may not be the best way but it work well for me). Above are the tow images i selected and then below is the final version i produced following the same process as with the first set of photos.

Combined Version.

I'm very happy with how this photo turned out and with the process I've learnt as a whole because i know how difficult it can be in certain light conditions to capture the shot as true to the eye as I'd like so its good to have an alternative to fall back on, plus if my camera isn't capable because of its dynamic range then again it comes in useful.