USVI-On-Line

Check out great shots from:

fiftypercentchanceofrain.com

Hit the link "St.John" under the first picture. Great stuff!

Vickie H, I think we maybe zeroing in on your photo secrets!

JT is right... fantastic photos.

www.fiftypercentchanceofrain.com for the blog

and

http://www.mjsphotographyonline.com/Lan ... 6506_Wgbps

for Virgin Islands photos by Jason St Peter

Thanks JT!

Those photos are amazing! Almost surreal in a way. I'm likin' 'em big time!

Thanks JT!

Hey all I was pointed back to this forum from my blog links! Thanks for the kind words, I m glad you guys like the photos. Believe it or not I still have more to post. There are some others from the BVIs as well. Stay in touch and let me know if you all have any questions.

Jason, great job on the HDR. Most look so unreal or as some might say, surreal but yours definitely are not.

Very enjoyable pix. All of them.

Jason, I left a comment on one of your photos yesterday morning. Stunning!!! Christmas gifts for sure....

Gorgeous! HDR photos are something I am fascinated by and hope to venture out and learn more about one day! The results are phenomenal.

To my eye, there is a fine line with HDR, and if you go too far over that line, the images start to look too unreal and too much like those cheesy Hawaiian paintings like this:



That said, if your intent and tastes lean more towards those enhanced images than the photo-real images, the effect can be stunning like those linked to above and like those done by this flickr member who lives in the Scottish highlands:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babsphotosecosse/

jmq, I agree 100 pct and that is a great example of being unreal. Jason's photos don't quite have that feel. It's that thin line as you say.

@vickieh-I'm also going to give it a try. Takes much more setting up and a tripod is almost a necessity.

What I have started to do is shoot in RAW. That's a big upgrade for me and seems to give me more control. I blame MARGO or CAL GIRL for all this new photo mania on my part.

Somebody fill in Mr Dummy here (me). How do those pictures look so incredible? Are you going in and doing more than just tweaking the colors?

They look amazing, but I know that my little PHD camera can't do that!

pip, do a google for HDR and Bracketing. Lots of information. Most able to do this with the new dslr's.

Pipanale,

promoguy is correct 90% of these shots are all done in camera. It is through a process called auto bracketing which shoots multiple exposures. The multiple exposures in camera really helps when you have such a high contrast between lights and darks for example bright white sand and a deep blue sky or during a sunset. I then take the photos and blend them together using a program called photomatix and then fine tune in Photoshop by cleaning up dust spots fine tuning the tones and using a process called layermasking which helps tone down what photomatix has done by bringing more of the original files into play on top of the tonemapped image. So my HDRs are a combination HDR digital blend. The post work varies by shot but can sometimes take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

Also as others have pointed out my tripod goes with me everywhere! It reduces any camera shake and is a must for good HDR or blended photographs. Thanks again for everyone’s comments and keep the questions coming.

Some of the pictures remind me of Thomas Kincaid pictures. Very nice!

jmq wrote:That said, if your intent and tastes lean more towards those enhanced images than the photo-real images, the effect can be stunning like those linked to above and like those done by this flickr member who lives in the Scottish highlands:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babsphotosecosse/

These are great. I just got back from the Highlands and the Isle of Skye and had thought to do an off topic trip review, but my pictures aren't that good. Going through her pictures was a treat.

Lovermont

Lovermont wrote:

jmq wrote:That said, if your intent and tastes lean more towards those enhanced images than the photo-real images, the effect can be stunning like those linked to above and like those done by this flickr member who lives in the Scottish highlands:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babsphotosecosse/

These are great. I just got back from the Highlands and the Isle of Skye and had thought to do an off topic trip review, but my pictures aren't that good. Going through her pictures was a treat.

Lovermont

Oh, please do a report and add your pics. I saw babsphotosecosse's too and thought the same as you. We were both places at least ten years ago - I would love to see what you saw (photos and text) and revisit places and see how they have changed.
Hope your trip was wonderful.

As much as I am admiring these incredible photos by Jason, regular tourist shots are good to enjoy too.