Regarding the lens flare, that is a definite problem. If you see lens flare in the image, all the HDR in the world won’t really remove it. Only time consuming digital work. So you want to try to avoid lens flare. Here’s what I do; If the light source is not in the image, I just shade the lens with my hand to remove the flare. If the light source is in the image, I use a tricky little multiple exposure technique. I can use this same technique to shoot an exterior with the sun IN the shot. First shoot a sequence of shots with a finger or pencil or something hanging down in the frame blocking the light source. This removes the lens flare. These are your main images. Then I shoot a sequence without blocking anything. And after I’ve processed the main images, I use a shot of the unblocked view (balanced to match the main set) to stack behind and erase just enough to bring in the light source(removing my finger!) without the lens flare into the shot. Voila! Beautiful image with no lens flare! Hopefully I’ve made this understandable!

As far as the halos, unfortunately they do occasionally show up in shots. This is a case when I will let the light source start to wash out a little in the image, which usually minimizes the halos. Additionally you can try using the color replacement tool to bring colors in the halos to white light. Again, this is another issue that you’ll have to experiment with. Have fun! If I was easy, we’d be out of a job!

To go further on the long exposures in an apartment/condo setting with tungsten bulbs throughout, I’m getting lens flare when merging , and being able to see it on the shoot , when looking at one image replay, or through the lens.. have you had similar problems ?

Thanks, Dn

Thanks for the teaching.. on your long exposures , specifically in an apartment with tungsten light bulbs, the long exposures are giving me halos , to the extent that they’re unusable when merged.. how do you deal with interiors with light bulbs and the effect of long exposures on the lighting..

Thanks, Dan

Since shooting interiors is a slow and fussy process, I always shoot in Manual at 100 ISO. Typically I’m shooting at the higher f-stops for increased depth of field, F13 or F16. Of course that also creates another problem that many portrait or wedding photographers don’t consider; dust on the sensor! Shooting at the higher F-stops, particularly when you have a smooth surface in the shot like a wall or something, will really show how much dust is on your sensor. So to eliminate a ton of extra digital re-touching, you’ll have to make sure you have a clean sensor.

Happy Shooting,

Jeff

Do you shoot in Apeture Priority or Manual Mode when shooting interiors? I typically shoot in AP Mode (F11 for interiors, F8 for exterior) and keep my ISO at 100. Do you mind sharing your methods?

Yes, I occasionally use a light meter, and I also shoot with the AWB mode set on my camera. However, the only reason that I use the AWB mode in my camera is because I shoot my images as RAW files. The beauty of shooting RAW files is that it dosent matter what your color balance is set at while shooting because the color balance of the image is set in Photoshop AFTER the image is taken. So if you’ve shot the images as a RAW file, you can manipulate the color balance of the image any way that you want without affecting the quality of the image. If you are shooting JPEG’s, unfortunately you can’t change the color balance of the image without ruining the quality of the image.

A digital image, just like a piece of film, it is very sensitive to the color balance of light. Tungsten(incandecent), flourescent, daylight, overcast all burn at a different color. And unfortunately the AWB setting in the camera is usually not totally accurate. And a JPEG image, although fine for delivering a completed image electronically, is abosolutley terrible if you have to change or manipulate the image in any way. So to get control of your images, you’ll either have to start using a color balancing tool/meter, or set to AWB and start shooting in RAW format!

Good Luck,

Jeff

Your photos are amazing. Do you use a white balance tool (such as ColorRight) or a light meter (such as Sekonic)? I shoot in Aperature Priority and usually AWB, but find I get a yellow/orange hue in my photos.

Happy Shooting!

I checked out your portfolio. Looking good! And you’ll continue to improve it the more you work with this HDR process. I need to get some of my newer photography on mine as well.
Funny thing, but I am 50 as well! I know the feeling with focusing. I’m glad I don’t have to try to focus the view camera anymore! I basically use the hyper focal rule. Or just focus on something mid-way in the image and that works great. More important is to stop down enough. And more important than that is to make sure that the camera doesn’t move the slightest bit between exposures. I find that I have to be very careful if I want perfect exposure.

As far as composition is concerned, I tend to like a lower camera angle. The viewer of the image is more involved in the space as opposed to a higher camera where the viewer is more “detached”, kind of overlooking the space as in an aerial view. Also, what is in the edges of the frame are really important. Avoid cropping your building too tight in exteriors views or having elements such as chairs or thing just barely sticking into the frame with interior views. If something is not intelligently framing the image I will try to change my composition or digitally remove it. Basically, I want the composition to “feel” good before I shoot it, or I try to rearrange my position until it does.

Happy shooting,

Jeff