Rather than cut and paste every single option and feature, I’ll link to their main page (there is an english button on left to translate).

Of particular noteworthiness to me is that it allows bracketing up to 10 shots. Clearly allowing for some amazing HDR panorama captures.

Options Galore

Their site also has many LCD captures to show you all the options dialogues so I won’t bore you with that list or multiple screen captures here as well.  Just one image to show you the UI.

The site link is: http://gigapanbot.com/

The GigaPanBot, Gigapixel Panorama Robot creator says it is a private project and to email if you would like information about how to build one yourself!  I’m sure if you were willing to write a check they might help faster or who knows.  Just speculating!

Finally, the GigaPanBot in action firing off side by side mounted Canon+Telephoto monsters for dual coverage. CRAZY!!!

You’ve got to go to 4 minutes, 20 seconds.  NUTS!

Embedded video below, but here is the direct youtube link if you prefer to watch full screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXyEMAwWOdk

I am heading to Ft. Lauderdale (soon) to do some one on one training for an established architectural photographer. Specifically to show them my HDR workflow. They reached out to me after surfing the net tirelessly looking for those using HDR for architectural photography.

The reason I’m posting this is two fold.

1. Yes I’m available for one on one training (for a fair price or trade of services)
2. This is last minute and I’m planning on driving which means I could make myself available to work with another photographer or photographers in Florida.

I could take multiple routes to get to Ft. Lauderdale.  Here is a map of my starting point and destination (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE).

As you can see, by choosing which interstate(s) to take from NW to SE, I could hit any part of the state easily.  The date is NOT set yet, but will be finalized in the next 48-72 hours.  Basically as early as this tuesday July 27th through August 5th.  That date could be determined by YOU effectively because I told the other photographer I am putting the word out on Twitter and my blog first.

If you live in florida and have been wanting to either kick start your HDR knowledge or take it to the next level, then email me at DIGITAL COAST IMAGE at GMAIL dot COM.

The photographer in Ft. Lauderdale has requested one on one only to use their equipment and software, so even if you live in that city, I wouldn’t be able to include you in that session.

Spheron HDR video – footage from SpheronVR AG on Vimeo.

I would have LOVED to have seen some dramatic backlit scenes as examples.  I was most interested in the lighting examples around the 3 minute mark in the above video because of the way you can relight shadows due to the latitude in the file/capture.

Full Spheron Press Release here: http://bit.ly/bnjShW

This is about 8%-10% of the images I’ve shot for realtors, builders, etc over the last year.  About 10 shots are more than a year old and I can’t quite let them go.  I actually could have uploaded many other shots, but I have some shoots only on stacks of DVDs and have long since wiped the shots off of hard drives.

Here’s the gallery link:
http://digitalcoastimage.com/comps/selections/index.html

The naming of shots is like this… here’s a link to one shot:
http://digitalcoastimage.com/comps/selections/content/arch_inter_110_large.html

The name of that image is after the “content/” so it would be named “arch_inter_110” (leaving off the “large.html” at the end.

Another example would be:
http://digitalcoastimage.com/comps/selections/content/pool_patio_108_large.html

The name of that image is also after the “content/” so it would be named “pool_patio_108” (leaving off the “large.html” at the end.

If you want to send me your top picks, then email me at digital coast image AT gmail.com (no spaces between words).

Thanks to whomever can help!

Click Image to View Larger Version

I’ve been using multiple applications to achieve the results I am getting with just PhotoEngine.  However, I’ve only run a few brackets through it so far and I’ve only tested landscapes, no architectural interiors.  I will report back what my results are for those much higher dynamic range scenes once I’ve had time to do so.  Here’s the biggest win using this app…

The slider to crush the dynamic range down does so WITHOUT introducing unwanted detail enhancement. So… You get to pull up shadows and bring down highlights with that slider and it has NO IMPACT on detail or sharpening.  Yipppeeeeeeee!!!!!

The slider just below the tonemapping strength slider is the one that seperately controls detail strength. Finally an application that gives you the results of Enfuse/Enblend without introducing unwanted detail cranking.  Oh, and did I mention halos?  No.  Because I’ve been unable to create any halos thusfar!!! Crazy!

I’m just addressing the default setting here which is the local tonemapper. There is also a drop down that allows you to switch to a global tonemapper or you could use the more detailed Advanced Local Tonemapper which has more controls surrounding how detail is enhanced.

Also, Oloneo PhotoEngine also has a very effective HDR DeNoise feature that reduces noise WITHOUT blurring/smoothing the image details.  Another major feature of PhotoEngine is that it is a very capable RAW processor.

And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the Relighting module allows you to take separate frames (that you took from a tripod) of a scene that was shot with different lights turned on/off for each frame.  On the merge PhotoEngine recognizes the different light sources and then get this…

… it allows you to control each light seperately for both white balance, hue and luminance controls.  FRIGGIN’ AMAZING!!!  It actually creates separate controls in the user interface for each light source so that you can control them all separately for lighting.  Its easier to watch it in action then explain so watch the YouTube video on their landing page for that Relighting module.

OK… so the app has some pitfals.  No mac version (that’s going to upset a ton of folks).  I don’t see any way to save recipes/settings and I don’t think it has any kind of batch processing.  I know it doesn’t have any ghosting controls either.  That said, there’s a lot to like.

Here’s the link again which has a gallery showing you various controls of the user interface and some sample images:

http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/photoengine/index.html

Oloneo’s Home Page:  http://www.oloneo.com/

Oloneo on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oloneo

HDR Video – Eden Gardens 2008 from Michael James on Vimeo.

I shot it with a Nikon D3 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens.  It sat on top of a fluid head tripod I use for video work. I also had a shutter release cable attached to the D3. I set the camera to automatic bracketing and once I determined the mid point I switched from aperture priority to full manual so that each of the AEB sequences I was about to fire would be EXACTLY the same.  I determined I would not need to go a full 9aeb and set the D3 to fire off 7 shots with 1EV steps between.  I lowered the settings of the camera to shoot JPEG in a size that is larger than HD.

Also of critical importance is locking down white balance.  I chose Daylight here (an obvious choice), but will often dial in an exact Kelvin setting for other lighting situations (although Kelvin WB selection is generally not available in lower end DSLRs).

If I wanted to shoot RAW I would not have been able to have captured the entire tilt move in just over 60 seconds due to the buffer issues, but the lower JPEG setting meant I would never tap out the buffer and could shoot burst after burst easily.  Also, because the steps were only 1EV jumps between each of the 7aeb captures, I was comfortable only shooting JPEG.  I would NOT attempt shooting JPEG for anything larger than 1EV jumps between each shot for this type of approach.  Time was critical here to capture the entire tilt move in a short period of time.  (I shoot RAW for all my other typical HDR workflows, including HDR Timelapse)

The shutter release of the camera was set to continuous so that I could hold down the shutter release cable button with one hand to fire off a full 7 shots at 9fps while keeping my other hand on the tripod handle to make small incremental movements to tilt up after each 7aeb capture.  I do it this way to be quick enough to capture the entire tilt move seen in the video in a little over 60 seconds.

To repeat myself slightly now…, I have the camera ready to capture the brackets in continuous shutter release mode and then prepared for the first AEB capture by aiming the camera slightly below the horizon into the deep shadows.  I then fired off a burst by holding down the shutter release cable button and quickly moved the tripod a very small (unmeasured and done by eye) amount; slightly tilted up for the next capture.  Then again held the shutter release cable button to fire off another 7aeb and repeated this process until the tilt to the sky was complete.  This took all of about one minute to capture.

Back home I dump the images to a folder on the computer and then I launched photoshop to begin the merge to HDR process.  You don’t have to use photoshop as the program to merge to HDR, but back in 2008 when I put this together that was the process I used.  I had a few scripts that I had created that had photoshop merge to HDR and then use custom settings to tonemap out to 16 bit TIFFs.

I employ two alternative workflows these days.  One of which is where I merge to HDR in applications that batch merge and have them save .EXR files for each merge.  Those .EXR files are then imported into either Adobe After Effects or Eyeon Fusion and then I use open source plugins to do the tonemapping in those compositing programs as well as the ensuing optical flow.

But in 2008 those plugins did not exist yet and this process I’m still describing was the workflow I used for the Eden Gardens sequence.

What you see below in the screen shot (click to enlarge or right click and open in a new window) is one of those 7aeb sequences in the merge to HDR dialogue. I’m just showing you that to show you that the dynamic range of the scene was pretty large for an outdoor shot and the sky was blown out when you could see the leaves straight ahead and the leaves were pitch black when the sky was properly exposed.

Like I said, there are several programs out there that can automate the process of merging and tonemapping your brackets and I plan to cover how to use them in this capacity in some future posts and training, but the process I employed here was a home grown merge to HDR and tonemapping recipe I used for Photoshop CS3.  In the end I had 30+ Tiffs from that automated process to then use as the skeleton for an image sequence.  I then take those Tiffs to the next step for optical flow treatment.

Before I move to that next step, here is a larger view (click for larger image) of a single tonemapped frame, along with the 7 shots above the top of it showing you the dynamic range covered for that one image.

The next step I did then was to take the TIFFs into Apple Shake which treats the group of single images like a sequence.  I then used custom settings (see image below; click to enlarge) to expand the number of frames to be created BETWEEN each of the frames I was importing into it.  In other words, Apple Shake was now going to create the frames and guess at the pixel movement between the frames I shot in the garden.  There are other programs such as After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Fusion, etc that can accomplish the same thing with optical flow, but I used Shake in this instance.

I also recropped the image in Shake to match the ratio of HD footage and had it export the sequence as 1080p ProRes footage which I planned to send to Final Cut Pro to add audio and titles (see image below; click to enlarge).

Then I imported the 1080p footage into Final Cut Pro (see image below; click to enlarge) and added sound and some titles to export to various formats (including a web version which exists on Vimeo).

HDR Expose by Unified Color - www.UnifiedColor.com

HDR Expose was just announced this morning over at http://www.unifiedcolor.com/ and is available for purchase on July 12th.

HDR Expose is a new application with a different user interface than HDR PhotoStudio 2 with some new workflows as well.  In addition to batch processing it also now plays nicely with Adobe LightRoom and Apple Aperture.

I was already impressed with HDR PhotoStudio 2 and I’m even happier now with their HDR Expose offering.

More to come later this week…

From Unified Color’s troops…

Check this video out!!!  Amazing results!

I’ve toyed with pseudo HDR Video myself, but nothing real time.  This was created with a Nikon D3 shooting brackets one after another, then tonemapped and tweaked in post to create a video like tilt.

HDR Video – Eden Gardens 2008 from Michael James on Vimeo.

Again, I shoot rather large and tightly spaced brackets using the promote control.

Seaside Community – Seaside, Florida
http://digitalcoastimage.com/30a/seaside/index.html

Watersound Community – Panama City Beach, Florida
http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/proofs/ws/index.html

Offices of Ocean Reef Resorts – Destin & Seacrest, Florida
http://digitalcoastimage.com/or/index.html

Adaggio Condos – Grayton Beach, Florida
http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/proofs/adaggio/index.html

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This BP Oil Spill is still dumping the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill every few days. BP has run out of options to cap it now.  Only the relief well they are drilling which is scheduled to be complete in late August will stop the oil leak (possibly).  Currently it is still spewing 35,000 to 60,000 BARRELS of oil a day into the gulf of mexico.  The grand total is north of 150,000,000 gallons of oil so far in the last 60 days.

I can’t believe it has ‘only’ been 60 days.  It feels like 6 months to me.

Nearly all my clients are in real estate and most of them are in the beach vacation rental business.  They are getting decimated right now.  And in turn so am I for business.  So is my family which is in real estate rentals.  My parents rent an investment home they had bought years ago and the income they get from those rentals is a part of their retirement income.  Since the BP Spill disaster began in April they have  had 10 out of 13 weeks cancelled which started May 1st.  BP has paid them nothing thusfar. BP has a great PR campaign saying they are doing the right thing, but I’m hearing and seeing otherwise right here in Florida from family and clients I’ve shot for who have also submitted claims to BP.

This BP Oil Spill is like a hurricane that won’t go away.

Several weeks ago I naively said I’d have more time and would be updating this blog and on twitter more frequently, but that has not been the case at all.  No end in sight either I’m afraid.

In fact I just got a call minutes ago.  A new client wants to begin shooting a day sooner, so now I have to turn gear and pack to leave this afternoon when I wasn’t supposed to do so until tomorrow afternoon.  Time to kick it in high gear and make some more coffee.  I just got home (literally) from shooting a mansion at night (shot sunset, then night exterior, then interior shots through the night).  So I’m running on 3 hrs of sleep and not a day off in months and now gotta get ready to head out of town this afternoon for this multi-day shoot.

And I am thankful.

I’m grateful that I’ve been able to find work at all even though I’ve had to compromise health and to some extent, fair compensation. With so many out of work and hurting throughout the country and the world, I’m thankful and grateful to at least have gigs to shoot.

I’m not sure when this will all settle down or if at all, but wanted to update that the reviews of gear and applications (HDR apps) I had mentioned in past posts have been put on hold until time permits.