Indecent Exposure Podcast 65: Insights exhausted
Back to basics about bit depth and the great whiteout contest.
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EPISODE 65
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Note: To minimize confusion, we're now providing entry deadlines. They'll usually be Thursdays at noon Eastern time. You can still post links after that, which may still get included, but to ensure they get entered, that's the time you should target. To enter, please use the blog comments to provide a link to your entry, plus any background information you'd like to share with us and other listeners.
Dear Lori and Matt,
I had a question come up this week at my internship and I suddenly realized how little I know about bit-depth. I've always been aware of 8, 16, and 32 bit color mode options [in Photoshop], but never really got a handle on the intricacies of them. I did a bit of research and came up with the potential problem of banding in 8 bit mode, but I was hoping you guys could expound upon any advantages and disadvantages there may be when working in the various bit levels.
Many thanks.... - Brian
Senior Editor Lori Grunin has been covering digital imaging for two decades, but her memory's kind of sketchy on the details. You can hear about it every week on Indecent Exposure, the podcast she co-hosts with Matt Fitzgerald.
Lori Grunin has been an avid photographer for almost 30 years, and spent the past 15 attempting to master every aspect of technology.
Matt Fitzgerald has been involved with digital camera technology and the photo industry for more than 15 years. Matthew's background includes work as a professional photographer, a technical representative, and a repair technician.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmarv/3176686120/
Snapped this photo while experimenting with long exposures and HDR. I didn't plan on capturing the jet takeoff, but it worked out perfectly. Load the original file size and zoom in on the jet's path. You can even see the blinks of the running lights.
Could you talk about white balancing night photos with street lights? Specifically how to make the sky look black instead of a dark version of another color. And also stay true to the colors of the lights in the pics.
I've been all across the spectrum trying to find the right effect. I've calibrated white balance and gotten really cool (as in un-warm) like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmarv/3499682773
And I've used Auto, Daylight and Tungsten white balances and gotten pics that all look over-cooked like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmarv/3499682279
And I've played with HDR and gotten really un-natural colors like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmarv/3540870436
Thanks.
PS. My handle is Mad Marv, not Mad Marvin.
Lee.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/owenmartin/2829905201/in/set-72157616953707665/
I took this photograph for my work on light pollution, I wanted to show how the orange glow of sodium street lighting changes the visibility of the night sky.
I took this photo with an ISO of 3200 and a 30 second exposure. I used a 0.45x wide angle adapter on my 18-55mm lens at 18mm, making the image roughly equivalent to 8.1mm. I used a tripod to take this photo in order to get a sharp image.
Owen Martin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeadc/2875845889
The shot was taken on the steps of Whitby Abbey, the seaside town that gave Bram Stocker the inspiration for the Count Dracular. I thought the 'ghost' figures were fitting.
Lee.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82742117@N00/3624807368
Take after a shower at a local lake nearby in Queensland Australia
cheers
Daryl
Markitect
It was just after a shower of rain so looks like the grass etc is more reflective I guess
Cheers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobmcclenahan/3638804002/in/set-72157619649685865/
Don't have too many night shots. This was taken during my vacation to Beaches Resort in Turks & Caicos. Tried to capture the family swimming the glowing lights.
Night - Xmas in Keystone:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p58/super6s/cnet/XmasinKeystone.jpg
This was from a skiing trip on xmas break, at least 12 years ago. The fuzzy people to the left were my girlfriend & her parents... now wife & inlaws. They got used to me running all around taking pictures early on. They pretty much ignore me now...I'll just catch up later.
Markitect
I like the two kinds of light in the shot. I think it makes the lodge seem inviting, but draws your eye away to the night skiing beyond... tension.
Thanks for the comment. It was a great & cold night.
Markitect.
People watching on the 16th street mall:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37791728@N07/4003393403/sizes/l/
Highgloss
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happybird101/3842675248/
we were walking the dog at around 10pm
Here is my submission for this week's contest.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38413087@N02/4008994508/
It was a both a fun and frustrating experience shooting at night. The hand held shots were blurry in spite of the VR being on. I really missed a tripod. I had to change the shutter speed and ISO setting multiple times. I kept going from under exposed to over exposed. Here is one of the happy accidents
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38413087@N02/4009033020/in/photostream/
Karthik
Here is my Night entry, like the halos in it. I used PS to tweak it a bit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30978872@N03/4004604845/
Thanks for your nice comments on the White entry.
grace
This week I could not find what I thought would be a good subject so I improvised and used a bit of my photoshop skills. Close by is one of the city's water towers. I always thought they looked like it would make a good ship. I did shoot this at night other than that its a image of my own design.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmacke/4011799477/
Let me know what you think.
Keith Macke
Here's my submission for NIGHT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloodless/3246236888/in/photostream/
This one is part of a photo shoot I did for a band called Memento. I pulled this one off with only the available light I had which were the street lights. I tweaked the white balance to get that "studio lights" look
Hope you like it
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wXe6R--6vE--Eu1OGBOufA?feat=directlink
This was taken after a long day of exploring and playing in the snow of Flagstaff, AZ since we never see the white stuff in Phoenix. I like this photo because it is the cold twilight contrasting with the lone warm cabin.
Halloween is one of my favorite times for night-time photography, although I tried to keep these entries as Holiday agnostic as possible.
Here is my submissions. I really have a hard time weeding my choices!
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Night+Light.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Purple+Night.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Night+Garden.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Cherry+Night.jpg.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Moon+Over+Home.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Branch+Over+The+Moon.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Night+Glance.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Shrouded+Moon.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Through+The+Garden.JPG.html
://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Light+The+Way.JPG.html
http://www.mikekukielka.com/gallery/v/Photo+Contest+Entry/Light+The+Way.JPG.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11061372@N07/4013391668/
I thought "night" was going to be an easy subject, but then I realized that most of my pics were just taken *at* night and were not *about* night.
I actually took this pic while hunting for meteors. I saw a couple, but didn't get a pic of them, except maybe in this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11061372@N07/3816469387/
But then again it might just be an airplane. Otherwise, I think the light pollution was way too strong to get a good show.
-ChewDawg
Well the subject was night. I had trouble with this subject as I saw night as the lack of light and not any objects "in the night". SO not having light and needing to get an image is (I suppose) impossible. Or maybe if I was in Earth orbit I could have taken a picture of the shadowed side of Earth and called it night, but that was out of my budget. So settled for this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35413458@N03/4013985114/
I know it looks like trees & is blurry and vague but that's kind of like night, right?
DaneinNY
ps LTS
I was really excited about this weeks theme, but then it took me until now to work out what image to submit, and even now I am not sure. (In fact, I have just gone and changed my mind before clicking submit on the comment :-)
My entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/3455139307/in/set-72157602195426616/
The Canberra Nara Candle Festival is held every year to celebrate the Sister City Relationship between Canberra and Nara, Japan.
I didn't really know what to expect the first time I went, but took my camera and my 50mm f1.4. Unfortunately I didn't bring a tripod! But then I had fun working with the limitations of hand-held photos at night.
These are my favourite night shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/sets/72157602195426616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/2893899488/in/set-72157602195426616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/2893885640/in/set-72157602195426616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/4013381655/in/set-72157602195426616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/4013381127/in/set-72157602195426616/
Cheers, Tim.
Wrong link!
Real link to entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhughes/2893885640/in/set-72157602195426616/
This is from the Canberra Nara Festival.
Here is my entry for this week. This is an early night shot at St. George's in Grenada.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mokhtar_shakibani/3846234505/
Thank you,
Here is my entry for this week. This is an early night shot at St. George's in Grenada.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mokhtar_shakibani/3846234505/
Thank you,
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by jeppcharts
October 15, 2009 10:02 AM PDT
- Hi Guys,
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Like this
Reply to this comment
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by DetroitBORG
October 15, 2009 2:02 PM PDT
- I have to say this is my favorite photo among your candidates. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4014701518/in/set-72157622030514474/
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Like this
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by KeithMac2007
October 15, 2009 2:33 PM PDT
- Such sad memories, nice capture!
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Like this
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (66 Comments)My entry for this weeks contest was taken at the Oklahoma City Memorial. The Memorial is such an incredibly powerful place to visit to begin with. At night it's just over the top.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4013938771/in/set-72157622030514474/
I had trouble deciding which one to post this week so here are the other candidates I chose from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4013938587/in/set-72157622030514474/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4014701872/in/set-72157622030514474/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4014701518/in/set-72157622030514474/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/4013937757/in/set-72157622030514474/
Love the show, as always!
Eric