[This post is the "TECH TALK" extension of the article "Punchy sunsets with HDR" from the blog]

Background

You might have seen this: When taking pictures pointing at the sun, or even when it is a bright day, only parts of the photo are exposed correctly. Either the sky is white and the foreground is correctly exposed, or the foreground is black and the sky is correctly exposed. The image sensor of your camera can only display a limited brightness range, which is much lower of that of the human eye.

For example: While the sun is setting, the sky is still decently lit but the foreground is much darker. To correctly capture the foreground you need to use a longer exposure time, which leads to an overexposed sky. You can fixed this issue by shooting images with varying exposures and combining them with a computer software.

Technical Details

The images of the article “Punchy Sunsets with HDR” where shot with as a 3 picture exposure sequence called “bracketing” or “exposure bracketing”. One image over-, one under- and one is correctly exposed.

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In the past, we have posted posted a couple HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. With this method, you can increase the dynamic range (brightness range) of your digital photos and create dramatic looking images. You don’t necessarily need a big DSLR but you can use your compact camera, too (read more below).

Sunsets at the waterfront have their own charm. Nice colors, reflections in the water, the beach… fiew! Because you are pointing the camera directly towards the sun (high brightness range), HDR imaging is perfect for capturing the mood.

Read over at “TECH TALK” how HDR images are made

We have created a small collection of wallpapers from our photos for your mobile. The following pictures are all optimized for the iPhone 4 high res retina display but can be used for all other iPhone versions or even other mobiles of course (although the layout might be different because of varying display sizes and resolutions).

There are two ways how you can set our photos as wallpaper:

1. iPhone Users: Navigate onto our website with your iPhone. Once you have chosen an image, touch the respective link below (not the gallery). The image will pop up in a new window. Once you see the desired image, touch it and hold for a second. A dialog will appear that will let you “save the image”. The photo will be saved under photos. Open it in “photos”, touch the symbol on the bottom left and choose “set as background”.

2. All others: Download the zip-archive below containing all wallpapers and use your mobile-to-pc cable to get the images on your phone. (iPhone users can use iTunes)

<< Download wallpaper zip-archive >>

Here are the links to the wallpapers:

1. Xmas candle
2. Small shack in snowy mountains
3. Las Vegas @ night
4. Boat on the beach (Sylt)
5. Lighthouse (Sylt)
6. Sunny beach (Sylt)
7. Red chillies

For your enjoyment, Yannick added some wallpapers as well that can be used e.g. for your home screen. Here are the links:

1. Pink Waterdrop
2. Dark Waterspray
3. Blue Bubbles
4. Red Smoke
5. Swimming Lemon
6. Sparkling Fireworks

I recently expanded my equipment by a small but fun item. A neutral density filter for my wideangle lens. Depending on the density of the filter, light hitting the sensor is reduced, allowing longer exposures. You can use this effect to modify motion blur e.g. get nice & smooth waterfalls or to create “dooms day” pictures e.g. streets without people.

Technical Details

The first neutral density (ND) filter was the Hoya ND8 Pro 1 Digital 72 mm. However I realized that stopping down for 3 apertures isn’t sufficient to create the blurred out water effect I intended, so I bought the B+W 110 ND3.0 which lets me stop down 10 apertures.

The images where shot with my Canon EOS 500D using primarily the Canon EF-s 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and the significantly older Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6 L USM lens. Since I was shooting at exposures up to 80 seconds, I needed a solid tripod. I used the Manfrotto 055XproB with the Manfrotto 322RC2 head.