HDR trial shot using Nikon D5100

[Cazzie]

Taken during my walk yesterday morning, overcast. I used the bracketing feature on the D5100 and set the bracketing at 2.0 AE. I used Aperture Priority Mode at f/11, ISO was 800 (love how well the Nikon shoots at high ISOs). Auto-focus with Matrix focusing. Standard 18-55-mm lens was set at 35-mm. Camera was tripod mounted. Shooting was set at Continuous and three shots were captured, one at -2 Ev, one at 0 Ev, and one at +2 Ev. HDR processing was done with Photomatix Pro 4.0; post-processing and resizing done in Photoshop.

The photo was shot from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge in Danville, VA looking west along the Dan River. The foreground features a little isle and a favorite spot for fishing for striped bass when they come up river in late April to spawn. In the background are the old White Mill (Dan River Mills #8 Mill) and its crossover covered bridge that once led to Long Mill on the north side of the river. For the record, it is the longest covered span bridge in the USA, sad how a poor economy cannot make use of that somehow. Also shown is the dam that was used to supply extra power for White Mill and Long Mill.

Caz

[gigabyte]

Love it, I am experimenting but nothing I would dare share yet, hopefully soon tho...

[jmig]

Caz, In shooting HDR, I like to use autofocus to focus, either using 1/2 shutter or the AF/AL button. Then I put the lens in manual. Sometimes I will use LiveView to blow up the image and fine focus manually. Sometimes, I can't see the LCD well enough so I just let the camera do its thing. The reason for going manual is that the camera will autofocus before each shot. There is a tolerance in the focus. This means that conceivably you could have all three shots with sightly different focuses.

Just remember to turn the lens back to autofocus afterword. Do I know that last sentence from experience? Who MEeeee.....

Also, that lens is fine at f/18. It will give you great depth of field. If on a tripod, no need to worry about shutter speed.

[gigabyte]

OK how is this for a first effort, I love the subject matter, I live near the ocean so I have a thing for fishing boats etc. This was shot with bracketing at 2.0 AE Aperture Priority Mode. I didn't think to get the shutter speed or aperture I would have to look at the original properties on the desktop. I merged the images with Machinery HDR (trial version) but that is the extent of the post processing. I still have a lot to learn but I am enjoying it so far. I am off to Toronto on Sunday but likely will not have chance to shoot anything, then I hope to get to the Atlantic Air Show next weekend, I really hope to fill a few cards at that.

Comments and suggestions please, I know it is newbie stuff but I like it.

[Panther_99FS]