Controlling Dynamic Range

I have a love hate relationship with the term hdr. While I like to use it when the scene demands it, I hate talking about it because it has built up such a negative reaction that’s mostly associated with the images, in my opinion only, are over processed and often silly looking. At the same time, the realistic hdr images go unnoticed as a regular photograph. This alone gives the term hdr an unfair review as all being cartoony.

I realize this topic has been abused to no end but for those not familiar, the original purpose of hdr (or high dynamic range) was to deal with the range of light that the eye can see but the camera can not. Our eyes can adjust for high contrast scenes from the very bright to the very dark. The technology in today’s cameras can’t do that yet forcing us to make a creative decision to either silhouette the shadows or over expose and blow out the highlights. In these high contrast scenes, the camera can not physically record what the eye sees.

Today’s Image – South Rim of the Grand Canyon

In late October, I went on a trip through the American Southwest to experience first hand the landscape that has become so famous among photographers. My first night at the Grand Canyon was a good example of the vast range of light. With bright white snow at my feet, a dark and deep canyon in the distance and a bright setting sun behind a bank of clouds, the scene was simply more then a camera could handle in a single exposure without compromises.

Before and After

The technical difficulties are apparent. As a photographer with today’s limitations, you are forced to make an exposure decision. Make one area too dark or one area too bright. To record as much details as I could, I made 3 images from this location with the intention of using the best from each.

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The Guiding Light

I need to be careful or this blog could easily turn into a save the lighthouse campaign. Last week I made a post about the upcoming deadline when several island lighthouses will be shut down. I followed that up with a post about Saving of the Brighton Beach Range Light. At that time, it was very unclear to me which ones and how many of these structures were in danger.

With the permission of Carol Livingstone (President of the PEI Lighthouse Society ⁽¹⁾), I am making available The Guiding Light Newsletter (PDF). This semiannual publication that is available only to members provides a full list of updates and the current status of our 63 lighthouses and ranges. If you refer to page 20, you’ll see the list of lighthouses currently not being petitioned.

“Any lighthouses not claimed by community groups or municipalities by May 31 will either be put up for sale to the public or torn down.” CBC

Download the January 2012 issue of The Guiding Light. (PDF)

Today’s Image – Cape Tryon Lighthouse

With access only through private property, this light is located on the north shore west of Cavendish in the French River and Park Corner area. The still active Cape Tryon Lighthouse is a bit of a staple in Island marketing and an often photographed location. I had a chance to visit early this morning under some very chilly conditions. The regular high coastal winds did not help. The Cape Tryon Lighthouse is located on land currently trying to be protected from development by the L.M. Montgomery Land Trust.

This lighthouse is one of the many listed on page 20. What will be it’s fate on June 1st 2012?

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Annual Photoblog Awards

First inspired by Noah Grey, Sam Javanrouh and David Nightingale, I retired my weblog and jumped on the photoblog bandwagon back in late 2005 and challenged myself to post a new photo every single day. The concept of a photoblog was simple. It was about the image and any text was secondary and often hidden behind a link. Click on the photo, see the next one.

I was relatively successful with regular posts and by 2009 had generated a small audience. To start 2012, Focused on Light was listed for the 3rd year in row as a finalist in the yearly Photoblog Awards – a fun competition voted on by the photoblog community.

2011: Best North American Photoblog
2011: Best Landscape Photoblog
2010: Best North American Photoblog
2009: Best North American Photoblog

This year I am unintentionally challenging myself by flipping this website upside down and back to a more traditional weblog. The process broke any and all subscription feeds which will surely hurt traffic. I will also not be updating daily but attempting to provide much more context and stories to the images I post. We’ll soon see if this change was for better or worse.

If you own a photoblog or weblog of your own, feel free to link to it in the comments so I can learn more about you.

Today’s Image – A New Beginning

One more from the archives before I set out tomorrow to create new work. Some of the best sunrises are when the sky is completely overcast. If you’re lucky, there may be a small opening for the sun to light everything up from below. This early morning in June 2010 offered just that for only a minute or two. It still remains as one of my favorites.

Subscribing to Software

The most important tool I have to do my job is Photoshop. Both in terms of photography but as well as illustrations, graphics and page layouts. Along with Lightroom and occasional use of Illustrator, InDesign, Bridge and Acrobat, Adobe plays a big role in my daily life.

With CS6 on the doorstep for a release in the very near future, Adobe has announced a pricing change starting Jan 1st 2013 that will drop the 3 version old upgrade rule to 1 qualifying only the most recent version to be upgraded. All other users would go to a subscription model (or pay full price again).

I currently subscribe to a licenses for InDesign and it works great. I pay for it when I need it. Photoshop on the other hand is daily. It’s a $200 upgrade every 18 months which averages out to roughly $12 a month. Pretty good considering my full salary is based on what I can do with it. However, this pricing model does not force you to upgrade. For the casual user, you may only want to pay the $200 upgrade every 3 versions (or approximately every 4.5 years).

While it’s kind of implied that subscription rates will drop for CS6 (it’s currently $50/month per app), it’s not for certain and while I’m currently more then willing to pay $10-$15 per app each month to always have the latest, once we commit to a subscription arrangement with Adobe, there is no going back. What happens in 2 or 3 years when the monthly rates triple? Skipping an upgrade will no longer be an option and we must upgrade regardless of what Adobe releases.

Imagine a world where all commercial software was subscription based similar to how many web services work.

It’s coming.

Today’s Image – Waters Edge

It has been a week of desk work so today’s image comes from the 2010 archives. A 3.2 second exposure of the tide coming in and minutes away from disturbing a resting shell in the sand. The idea feels appropriate for the topic. We are on that edge where traditional desktop software is changing.

Predicting Weather

Today was interesting. What started with very high wind warnings mixed with rain and snow fall followed by a night without electricity, the sky was looking dark and dull at 6 am. I made the mistake to stay home and watch what could have been the most dramatic sunrise of the year to date. Snooze you lose.

It ended up being a very nice day but by mid afternoon it looked like those heavy clouds were rolling in again and the sun would be gone well before sunset. I decided for the second time to stay home. Another mistake as the sun once again proved me wrong. Trying not to write off the complete day and only 30 minutes before sunset, I quickly made my way downtown to Victoria Park to make 6 images before days end.

I have pretty much accepted that I can’t predict how the light will be.

Today’s Image – Brighton Beach Range Front

Ice breaking away into the North (Yorke) River at the west end of Victoria Park and the start of the community of Brighton. In the distance is the range light that shines directly out to the entrance of the Charlottetown Harbour. Charlottetown City Councillor Rob Lantz wrote a blog post earlier this week titled “Saving the Brighton Beach Range Light” which relates to the post I made yesterday.

An Island of Lighthouses

…or should I say without lighthouses because that could be a very real possibility after May 31st. This deadline is the day the federal government will stop maintaining the majority of the lighthouses that currently surround our coast. We were reminded again this week that communities must step up to support the maintenance if we wish for these buildings to remain standing. Some very prominent and iconic lighthouses are on the demolition chopping block.

The Lighthouse map issued by the Prince Edward Island Lighthouse Society has 63 listed in total making it the highest concentration of lighthouses in any province or state in North America. 21 are already decommissioned, 13 are listed as private and only 3 not accessible by car. 9 are opened to the public.

Today’s Image – St. Peter’s Harbour Lighthouse

With upwards of 60 lighthouses and ranges around our small coastline – not all of them are still in great shape. Particularly the one just west of Greenwich. It has for sure seen better days. Nested in the dunes, this lighthouse is accessible by an unpaved road or a long walk on the beach.

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PEI National Park

2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the National Park System on Prince Edward Island and park officials are preparing for a year of celebrations. I believe the actual anniversary is in April so keep an eye on Parks and People for updates and events as we get closer to summer.

Parks Canada has also has recently announced that entrance fees will remain the same. However, a summer never goes by where locals do not complain about paying for beach access. (Possibly the same people who believe the Confederation Bridge should be free). While I don’t know how the money is spent or what the operating costs are compared to a provincial park – this “fortune” that we’re always complaining about is only a $20 annual pass.

Today’s Image – A Frozen Bowley Pond

Bowley Pond is in Greenwich and became part of the National Park in 1998.

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Photography is Priceless

While good photography may be subjective – all photography is important. Every now and then a story is shared that touches on how important photography is. Please read and consider this powerful story.

While I tend to shy away from portraits or weddings, most types of photography can relate to this. My primary interest is documenting the natural world and it’s surprising how fast that changes. With today’s development demands for more land, our environmental problems with climate change and the natural progression of mother nature, the world we live in changes at a very rapid pace.

What is today was not what it was 10 years ago and is not what it will be 10 years from now.

Today’s Image – Erosion

If you ever visit the coast of Prince Edward Island, you’ll quickly find that no matter where you go, platforms of sandstone rock stand freely in the open waters. It’s hard to imagine that the coastline actually extended out that far at one time. In a few short years, these final remains will also be forever lost – but new ones will form as the process continues to shape this province.

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Welcome to 2012

The older we get, the faster time starts to move and here we are already looking at a 2012 calendar. Best wishes in what ever adventures the new year will bring you. I know the list of tasks I want to accomplish this year is already fairly long.

Today started as a very grey and rainy day with no signs of any chance of sunlight through the thick overcast. With a few hours to kill before a meeting, I started driving out of town with the intentions of looking for locations when the weather was not so dull. What I was not expecting was the sky to completely open up after about 30 minutes of driving west of Summerside and by sunset – having 60 minutes of clear skies.

Today’s Image – Cape Egmont Lighthouse

This evening to kick start 2012 was particularly challenge with cold temperatures and wind gusts almost reaching 50km/h. Wind is for sure more difficult to shoot in then freezing temperatures. Add the salt water spray from the sea to a 25 second exposure in the wind and you get this oddly foggy image from a dirty lens. I still think it’s a keeper. The Lighthouse in Cape Egmont is located at N 46 24.107 W 64 08.002 and relatively easy to access via a single lane gravel road.