RawShooter software and a trip to the coast

Over the weekend, while on my second visit to Santa Cruz and Capitola, I made a series of shots of classic cars parked in the city square in Capitola. The end of the pier next to the Fish and Tackle shop were a dozen or so wooden canoes painted in red and blue....a colorful sight and I clicked my shutter away. A perfect day to be spending time in the popular seaside town, temperature was in the low 70s and light breeze in the air and sailboats in the harbor. We looked at each other and concluded that a glass of wine and lunch was in order. We proceeded to a restaurant with a view of the ocean and had a sumptuous lunch, the day could not be more perfect!!!


Softwares such as Photoshop, RawShooter, Topaz and Photomatix offer the creative photographer a mirade of tools to explore the boundaries of art and photography. (Click here to read my blog on HDR photography) A new software I recently added to my photo tool box is RawShooter. A standalone freeware that has sped up my post processing workflow tremendously. RAW files are displayed as thumbnails for quick preview and one can further group them into various priority folders for post processing or to send to Recycle Bin. Post processing has never been easier and adjustments made are saved as settings under "RW Settings" folder, leaving your original RAW files untouched. There is the usual "slide ruler" adjustment on exposure, saturation, highlight, shadow, saturation, hue, color temperature, tint much like in Photoshop. When you are done post processing the image, go to the "Batch Convert" tab and add your selected photos to the list. RawShooter will then apply your post processing settings to a copy of the RAW file and store the the processed image in a "Converted" folder in tiff format. Any changes you made are made to a copy of the RAW files and not the original which remains in your folder unaltered.


What a great software and it is FREE!! I have started reviewing all my old photo RAW files, giving it a spring cleaning and freezing up some much needed space on my external photo hard drive. Anyone who shoots RAW know how tedious post processing workflow can be, I highly recommend downloading Rawshooter as an alternative to Photoshop to speed up your workflow.

I am Speechless

OMG, OK, now I am speechless. Now I know how those beautiful images were created, some of them at least.

Painted archway leading to the wetland

Part II of my HDR study. I drove to Alviso, a rather charming old town 20 minutes north of San Jose proper this morning. A friend told me of the town and the weathered buildings, salt mines and cannery. There is also a tiny creek that drains 5 miles into south San Francisco Bay. I arrived around 8:15am as the sun was breaking through the dark clouds (rain expected later in the day). At the wetland were archways painted in light yellow and wooden pathways leading to each of the wildlife viewing platforms. It was magnificently beautiful, simple, yet, to a photographer, it was heaven. I had gone on an HDR mission, and so with the camera on the tripod, I shot a series of bracketed exposures and below are the toned mapped HDR images: I am blown away by what the software does to combine the tonal spectrum...... I am still in shock. Needless to say, I am sold on Photomatix, and will pay up ($99) to get the license so I can create my HDR without the Photomatix watermark and add my own watermark.

All 6 images were toned mapped using Photomatix, with little or no adjustment, all shot with camera on tripod, bracketed exposure and camera set for three consecutive shots with one single shutter click

Twigs in a small creek, Alviso marina

Painted building facade, Alviso, CA

Red brick building facade, Alvisio, CA

wild mustard field, Milpitas,CA


wild mustard flowers, Milpitas, CA

Images from my HDR study

Tripod, a sturdy one and ideally a wireless/or wired remote, no getting around it if you don't want to regret messing up an opportunity that presented itself. That is what I like about photography, every scene is unique and mother nature has a say in it. (Except in the case of a set up still life studio shot which to some extent can be repeated if you can figure out the light placement).

The Christmas scene below is a tone-mapped HDR (High Dynamic Range) image from three bracketed shots taken on a tripod during a foggy winter night. It was the lawn of the Capital building in Olympia. Without a tripod, one would not have three matching images to merge seamlessly. This one I was prepared. I had a decent tripod with me and it was worth bracing the cold night for it.

shot with tripod, long exposure, bracketed exposure

The second HDR image, that of a hillside pasture with a hint of spring was taken last weekend in San Jose. I was doing a small unplanned hike off a mountain range on a detour and did not have a tripod with me. It was 30 minutes before sunset and the hill slope just glowed with light. I set my camera to take three consecutive shots with a single shutter click and bracketed the shots (-2, 0, +2). Then I used Photomatix HDR software to map image details and shapes and merge the tonal properties. However the imperfect lines are visible if viewed at 100%.

No tripod, three consecutive shots, bracketed exposure

Then there is this last shot taken this past Fall at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle when on a spur of the moment, I decided to experiment with HDR. Without giving much thought to what I needed to do, I proceeded to bracket the three shots handheld (one of those stupid things I did) and thought to myself, yes, now I am going to merge them. Well, that is that, totally painfully obvious unmatched image tone mapped from three shots obviously from slightly different spot - It is sort of interesting and shows what it could have been if I had just used the tripod.

Disastrous HDR result - handheld, bracketed exposure - silly me

I remember a popular saying in the photography world:
"Beginner photographers debate over whether Nikon or Canon is a better camera, the real pros debate over which is the sturdiest tripod to have." Once lugging a good tripod with you becomes a second nature, the world you see through the lens will become that much sharper.



To see another tone mapped HDR image - of a city park shrouded in heavy fog, check out my first article on HDR Click Here

HDR Photography

High contrast scenes present great challenges to photographers and cameras sensors (and film media). The meter in our digital camera can only meter what it sees which is the "average" tone in terms of light/tone and colors. Without a good understanding of exposure and a clever use of filters (ND filters specifically), the resulting image will often be over or underexposed and flat leaving the average photographer exasperated.

Aspiring photographers have all been teased by the vibrant imagery we see on Calendars and Photography Books, we yearn to be able to also create these beautiful images. That day has finally arrived (well, sort of) with the advent of HDR High Dynamic Range photography - the new kid on the block, the latest obcession if you will. A new genre in digital photography is indeed here. In simple terms, HDR technique combines tonal properties at each end of the spectrum to produce a very rich and vibrant imagery. For a start, one has to take three identical images of the same scene/object: one at the set exposure, one overexposed and one underexposed. The easiest way to accomplish this is to set the camera on AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing) so the camera would take three shots: one at 0 on your meter scale, and the second shot at -2.0 and the third at +2.0. Because you need the three images to be taken from the same spot, a sturdy tripod and a wireless remote are essential to reduce camera shake.

Once you have the three bracketed images, you will need the help of a HDR software to put that tonal details together seamlessly. One such software is Photomatix. A trial version can be downloaded here at Photomatix. There is a PC and Mac version. It is a standalone software but a plug in is available for Photoshop. The trial version does not expire so long as you can put up with the watermark across your finished image. The price for the license is $99 and in my opinion it is well worth the investment if you plan to do a lot of landscape and high contrast scenes. Good way to test the software and see the end result and decide if this is your kind of art.


My first go at HDR tone-mapping - Evening at a city park shrouded in thick fog, shot at ISO 400

The software is extremely easy to use and accepts RAW files from my Canon 10D. Just drag the three image files and if you select the default settings, the software will do the rest. I would have preferred to shoot at ISO 100 but the thick fog meant I had to keep my shutter open for over 20 sec which would be really pushing it. Nevertheless, I was happy with the result. HDR works best with bright imagery but that is not a hard and fast rule, it is always good to experiment and find your own style.

I found a collection of beautiful HDR images at 17 beautiful HDR images online-photoshoptutorials.com

Did a search on Amazon for books on HDR Photography and found a handful of books written about HDR photography. One with high marks is:




Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography
by Ferrell McCollough (Author)

"It’s the latest and hottest technique, made possible only through digital. High Dynamic Range photography is the process of taking several pictures of a scene at various exposures, then merging them into one file. So the entire photo can look crisp and detailed, from highlights to midtones to shadows—and photographers needn’t sacrifice any part of their image. And the best way to master this exciting technology is with this thorough, easy-to-follow, and visually spectacular guide. No other title does justice to these cutting-edge techniques, which actually take the viewer into worlds far beyond normal photography—sometimes even beyond normal human perception. Ferrell McCollough, a widely respected photographer, pushes the boundaries and inspires others to pursue their artistic vision, too. The amazing results simply can’t be achieved any other way."