Seeing 2010 (#148)

For your consideration: a new offering from my new foray into the unpredictable universe of High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing . . .

I had taken my wife Julianna to San Francisco Int'l Airport at 5.00am and so, being a short distance from the sleeping city's center in the predawn hours of a Sunday morning, I decided to embark on a solo nocturnal photo excursion. (Suspicious of myself the night before -- that such a crazy idea might strike me as reasonable -- I packed my tripod and associated gear in the car before going to bed for what was a very brief sleep.)

Odd how things often turn out unexpectedly: my original intent was to revisit and record images of Coit Tower, which I had seen only a few nights before bathed in an usual, bright orange light. Much to my surprise -- and dismay -- on this particular trek the famous landmark was utterly dark: never before have I seen it not illuminated at night. However, the streets were quiet and empty, I had plenty of time on my hands and no particular schedule, so I explored a bit . . . and discovered myself passing Grace Cathedral (which I'd never managed to visit, in all the years I've lived in close proximity to California's most beautiful city).

It would have been hard to find a better time to capture this wonderful structure with my camera's lens: rains had just ceased, leaving the air freshly scrubbed, and given the painfully early hour I enjoyed a view unobstructed by teeming tourists, passing cars, and other nuisances.

While setting up my equipment it I realized this could be an interesting subject for some HDR processing. Consequently I took several series of five exposures each, spanning settings from two f-stops underexposed to two f-stops overexposed. In principle this allows one to record the broadest range of details betwixt deep shadows and bright highlights. (I was doubly challenged by being not only a newbie to this approach but by being also plagued with serious camera focusing problems.)

The real fun began earlier this evening, when I finally sat down and attempted to process the best set of photos from that cold, wet, exhilarating morning shoot. I am still early in the learning stages; the submission below consumed about 3 1/2 hours of fitful tweaking in Photoshop and Photomatix. I'm reasonably pleased with the result; the one major disappointment was a completely unsatisfactory degradation of the image when I attempted to adjust the towers' perspective in PS -- far too much softening of detail ensued.

Thus, this, for your viewing pleasure. I hope you find it pleasing to the eye, to even half the degree that I struggled to derive my preconceived visualization of what I hoped to achieve on that chilly street.

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (HDR), #2126-2130

© 2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: October 24, 2010; Canon 20D; f/4 @ 1/3 sec to 6 secs; —1/3 EV; ISO 200; 17 mm.

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