The other end of the fountain – HDR necessary?

I read somewhere on the web that the Nikon D800E dynamic range was so great, that shooting HDR (blending multiple images together to increase tonal range) was unnecessary.  This image was one image but edited in HDR Efex 2 so that I could use their tonal range processor.  I believe I have to agree that the need for HDR to get such a large tonal range is probably not needed?

P.S.  I posted the original picture (click thumbnail).  Also, I posted a previous picture of the front of this fountain here.

ISO 100 1/125 sec f4 14mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, Aperture 3.3, PS 6, HDR Efex 2)

Faith & Storm – Olympus OM-D settings

I’ve posted a video displaying my micro 4/3 lenses and my routine setup for my Olympus OM-D.  You can view it here.

Recently, a lot of storms have crossed our area.  One evening I drove out to an old cemetery (I’ve posted a prior picture here) and shot some long exposures with my Nikon D800E.  This is a 6 second shot.  I really like the clouds.

ISO 100 f2.8 6’s 14mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, single image, HDR Efex 2, Photoshop CS6, Aperture)

Demolished Church (soon to be)

 My brother-in-law drove me around the back roads of Southern Illinois looking for old churches and homes.  We came across this church that was originally built-in the late 1800’s.  Unfortunately, it will soon be demolished because it is no longer in use (this is a common occurrence in this part of the U.S.).

P.S. This is my first attempt of a HDR with the Nikon D800E (9 exposures).

ISO 100 f8 14mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, HDR Efex 2, Color Efex 4, Photoshop CS6, Apple Aperture)

 

3 Monuments part 2 (yes, it was taken with a DSLR)

Almost 2 years ago I said good-bye to all my Canon DSLR gear with the assumption I would never buy another one.  Earlier this year Nikon introduced the D800 and D800E.  What caught my eye was the 36 megapixel full frame sensor.  My first thought was “wow”, a full frame camera with the picture size of a medium format camera.  I immediately placed a pre-order but shortly after cancelled it.  I’ve been debating a lot if I really wanted to go back in this direction but after reading all the reviews, I came to the decision that my love for landscape photography warranted another attempt.

Last week, I finally came across one (Best Buy online)and purchased along with Nikon’s popular 14-24mm f2.8 wide angle lens.  I have not had much opportunity to shoot with it yet but so far I’m surprisingly impressed.  I don’t like the size but for landscape I can tolerate it.   Over the next months, I’ll continue to post pics and my opinion.

Here is another shot of the cemetery taken at a farther distance.  It was taken hand-held with my Nikon D800E and 14-24mm lens.  I was very impressed after realizing the ISO was 6400.  I think for that high of ISO, the quality is acceptable (I did use Define 2.0 for Noise Reduction).

P.S.  My Leica M9 will not be going anywhere and will still always be kept very closely to my side.

ISO 6400 1/8’s f2.8 20mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, Photoshop CS6, Color Efex 4, Aperture 3.3)

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