Grandview Idaho

Photos near Grandview Idaho

HDR Photographs taken from Idaho Highway 78, Owhyee County, departing Murphy, ID, driving towards Grandview, ID.  August, 2013. 

"Desert Landscape"

This HDR image was taken with a polarizer, facing NNW.  Notice the color fall-off in the sky, to the left (West).  This is typical of a polarizer when facing directly East or West.  Especially when using a wide-angle lens, there is almost always a color-fall-off on one edge or the other.  Additionally auto-focus cameras use circular polarizers, which are not as effective as traditional filters.

In the distance is the Snake River canyon.  Click the image for a larger view.

Click for larger view

The final image has soft edges, partly because of the breeze (HDR does not like it when the subject moves), and partly because of my color manipulations.  This is not a printable image.

"Fence Posts"

Two miles East, along the same highway, facing South.  The Owhyee Mountains are in the distance.  The dirt road you see is a ranch service road, and is not the highway.  This is a 5-exposure HDR, taken with a wide-angle, which captured the foreground fence post and the background's vanishing point:

Click for larger view

Here are the five exposures used to assemble the HDR. 

The final HDR image is similar to the EV-0 exposure - this was a well-lit scene, with high contrasts, so it is no surprise the grey-card-metered EV-0 picture was close to the proper exposure. 

These were taken mid-afternoon, with the sun directly overhead. This is not the best time to take a photograph.  It was a fun challenge to see if the images could be saved. 


HDR took some of the contrast out of the picture, filled-in harsh shadows, and gave some color to the washed-out sky.  The corner vignettes are caused by the polarizer filter stacked on top of a UV filter, and is pronounced because of the wide-angle lens.  I did not notice this while taking the pictures.  These were cropped out of the final HDR.


Owhyee County

For those of you not familiar with Idaho, the Southern half of the State is dry, high-desert, with sage and cheat-grass.  Owhyee County is a large, particularly desolate area, with 7,700 square miles, and a population of 11,000 souls.  The county was named for 3 Hawaiian trappers, who in 1819, traveled in this region and disappeared.  The anglicized name stuck.  The famed Silver City ghost town can be found about 30 miles SW of Murphy, on an unimproved road.

Along the Snake River, within pumping distance, you will find alfalfa, some grains, and dry-desert cattle grazing.  Google-maps shows how important the Snake River is to the local economy.  The red-x is approximately where the photographs were taken and the town of Grandview (population 440) is marked at the "A".

Related Imageliner links:

Jump Creek, Idaho
The Pillars of Rome, Oregon
Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho
Stanley, Idaho Forest Burn
Bruneau Hotsprings and Resort, Idaho

Newport Bay Bridge

Newport Bay, Oregon Bridge - Various HDR pictures

Newport Bay bridge (Yaquina Bay Bridge), just before dusk.  There was a boat arriving in a few minutes and the boat's movement and wake would ruin the final HDR shot, generating artifacts and pixellation.  Since it takes a moment to adjust for each exposure I worked quickly. 

Images on this page are large 5MB jpg and take time to download, once clicked. 

For each scene, five exposures were made, ranging from -2 stops to +2 stops EV.  Paintshop Pro was used to combine the images into a final HDR.  HDR techniques are covered in this article: HDR Technique - Stanley Forest Burn.  The lens is a kit zoom lens set at 22mm ACPS, mounted on a tripod. 
 

HDR Set #1
This is a five-exposure sequence using moderately-enhanced coloring. 
(EV +/-2 stops)

Click for larger view; click "X" to return

HDR Set #2
The second version, using the same five exposures, has more aggressive color enhancements.  I like this version even though it looks more artificial.  I wished the cloud contrast from the first picture made it over.  Some day, I will bring over the clouds from the first picture.    

Click for larger view, click "X" to return

Unedited - Non HDR Straight Photo
This is a non HDR reference photo, EV +0, taken to illustrate this article.  Being near sunset, I was hoping for a warmer light, but as you can see, it was unremarkable and was soft and diffuse.  

Click for larger view, click "X" to return

Compare this un-edited image, with the final two sets and you can see the 16:9 crop removed some clutter in the foreground and gave the picture a more horizontal look.  I cropped after all of the HDR work.

From the HDR series (5 exposures, not illustrated), the center exposure (EV+0) was taken at [f9/180], ISO 250.  White-balance was manually-set.  I did not use a grey-card, and it shows, being off by +2/3 stop on the center exposure.  With HDR, a poorly-exposed meter reading is of less concern because the blended photos will merge into a near-perfect exposure. 


I like how HDR maintains a good exposure in the sky and the bridge.  This photograph would have been challenging with traditional film.  I would have had to use graduated filters, and extra work in the dark-room, to salvage this otherwise bland photo -- or wait for better lighting.   


Interior HDR views:

Mistakes

Earlier in the day I was shooting JPG and forgot to return the camera to RAW.  Because of this, the HDR exposures were in high-quality JPG, and I think that adds softness to the edges and this would not have been a problem if I would have used my checklist.

Secondly, in the top-photos, in my haste, I forgot to lock-down the tripod's head and it moved ever-so-slightly as I manipulated the controls.  When I first merged the pictures, it was a pixellated train-wreck.  Fortunately, the software (PSP) has an option to "align" the pictures before merging, otherwise the exposures would have been lost.  

Related Articles:

White Balancing
Using an 18% Grey Card

HDR Techniques for Stanley Forest Burn
NewPort Bay (Yaquina Bay Bridge)
Highway 21 HDR