HDR Photo of the Week

"Autumn Color"

2011-10-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

"Autumn Color 14"

If you would like to purchase prints, framed prints, stretched canvas prints, or even greeting cards of this image, please click here to go to my website.

If you have any other inquiries, please email me.

"Under the Stairs" by David Patterson

2011-06-12T12:44:00.000-07:00


"Under the Stairs"

If you would like to purchase prints, framed prints, stretched canvas prints, or even greeting cards of this image, please click here to go to my website.

If you have any other inquiries, please email me.

"Beached tree Stump" Fine rt Photography by David Patterson

2011-03-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

If you would like to purchase prints, framed prints, stretched canvas prints, or even greeting cards of this image, please click here to go to my website.

If you have any other inquiries, please email me.

Chambers Bay Golf Course

2011-02-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

If you would like to purchase prints, framed prints, stretched canvas prints, or even greeting cards of this photograph, please click here to go to my website.

If you have any other inquiries, please email me.

Bouquet of Lupin

2010-10-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

I took this photo at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington...hope you enjoy it!

Post Alley Musician

2010-08-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

I saw this musician on Post Alley in the Pike Place Market area in Seattle, and couldn't resist capturing the moment. Hope you enjoy the image!

The Discovery Park Lighthouse

2010-07-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to get a photo of the Discovery Park lighthouse in Seattle, Washington. The lighthouse has been under renovation the past couple of years...so the tarps and scaffolding were removed recently, and this is what I captured. I had the added benefit of showing up at low tide, so getting reflections in the tide pools was wonderful! Make sure you click on the photo for a larger image.

The Ferguson Tractor

2010-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

This HDR shot was taken on the former property of my early mentor - Artist Victor Moore

Vic's Barn and Outbuilding

2010-07-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

This old barn and outbuilding are located near Pullman, Washington. They were built by artist/sculptor Victor Moore on his former property - Vic was my early mentor in the Pullman School District, and inspired me to become an artist.

Make sure you click on the photos to enjoy a larger view!

Alley Stroll

2010-06-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Taken in Pioneer Square - Seattle, Washington

Post Alley - A Hidden Treasure

2010-06-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

Located in Seattle, Washington, and hidden under the Pike Place Market area , is an area called Post Alley.

I was intrigued by the rustic brick, and low light...and just had to capture this moment. Hope you enjoy the view!

Cadillacs all in a row...

2010-06-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

I took this wide angle shot at the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington. The following is from the Museum Website:

Harold and Nancy LeMay amassed the largest privately owned collection of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, other vehicles and related memorabilia in the world.

At its peak, the LeMay Collection numbered in excess of 3,000 vehicles and thousands of artifacts and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest privately owned collection in the world; impressive if accomplished by a King, but jaw dropping, awesome when accomplished by a local businessman from Tacoma, Washington.

In 1998, Harold and Nancy LeMay formed the 501c3 charitable organization, The Harold E. LeMay Museum, and committed themselves to donating the vast LeMay Collection to the Museum for the benefit of the public. The LeMay Museum was chartered to secure, preserve and interpret the valuable LeMay Collection, along with additional vehicles and artifacts that it may acquire, in order to explore the broad themes of American mobility and lifestyle in an instructive and entertaining manner.

The magnitude of the LeMay Collection, and its power to relate the story of the American experience with the automobile, demands a new paradigm in transportation museums. The museum will be an inviting place, eliciting memories and stories from those who visit. It will provide a venue to explore history, design, technology and restoration. In short, the museum will create “America's Auto Experience” and become a world-class tourist destination in its own right.

A Welcomed Touch

2010-05-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Taken at Emerald Downs race track in Auburn, Washington. Make sure you click on the photo for a larger view!

The Paddock at Emerald Downs

2010-05-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

A paddock is an enclosure in which horses scheduled to compete in a contest are saddled prior to racing. This is an HDR photo of the paddock at the Emerald Downs race track in Auburn, Washington. I just love all the lines and texture that the HDR technique brought out in the capture. Make sure you click on the image for a larger view.

Retired Semi Truck

2010-05-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

I found this old semi truck at Camp 18 in Elsie, Oregon

Make sure you click on the photo for a larger view!

Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast

2010-05-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here are two more images from one of my favorite locations - Cannon Beach, Oregon. The first capture is looking South at Haystack Rock...the second is from the same location, looking North toward the beautiful Ecola State Park.

Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach

2010-05-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

My first "3 image" HDR captures of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon
Make sure you click on the photos for a larger view.

Orting Barn and House

2010-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

I captured these shots last weekend while looking for old barns in the small town of Orting, Washington. I found it interesting that the old house, which was on the same property as the barn, had peeling paint, but also a new satellite dish on the side of the house :) I'm not sure if the barn will be around much longer!

Enjoy the views...and be sure to click on the photos for a larger image!

Haystack Rock and the Needles

2010-04-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Located near Cannon Beach on the North coast of Oregon, Haystack Rock is a unique monolith that attracts wildlife and tourists alike. Towering 235 feet over the beach, the Rock is home to nesting seabirds in the summer and marine invertebrates all year long. It is one of the largest "sea stacks" on America's Pacific coast, and is the third largest monolith in the world. The smaller sea stacks next to it are called the "needles".

I'm using a new technique to produce some of my black and whites...hope you like it!

Make sure you click on the photos for a larger view.

Northwest Railway Museum - Retired!

2010-04-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

This old passenger car is located at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington.

The Northwest Railway Museum Collection contains representative examples of Northwest railway history including steam and diesel locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, maintenance of way equipment (used to maintain the right of way), a five mile segment of historic railroad, a nineteenth century train station and thousands of publications. All of these "artifacts" offer some insight into the significance railroads played in the development of the Northwest.

The Cigar Store

2010-04-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Located in Pioneer Square - Seattle, Washington. The wonderful shadows, colors and neon lights in the windows, made for a great HDR shot. I'd love here what you think by commenting below. You can click on the photo for a larger image.

What is HDR Photography?

2010-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

The following information is from USACanon.com:

What is this talk about HDR all about?

High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is something you hear digital photography enthusiasts speaking about a lot these days. Basically, it means combining two or more images — of the exact same scene — taken at different exposure levels into one finished image. One dark exposure can capture detail in bright areas of the scene, while a second, lighter exposure can give details in mid-tones and shadows. Combined, the two can give a finished image with far more overall tonal detail than is sometimes possible to capture with even the finest digital SLRs on the market today. This is especially true in very high-contrast scenes, such as scenics in bright sunlight, and indoor shots taken in the daytime with bright windows in the scene.

As old as photography is the search for the ideal light. Part of this search for light is related to the fact that some scenes just look better in certain (often warmer) light. But even more it is related to the fact that film and now modern digital DSLRs can only capture a certain dynamic range.
The Dynamic Range (DR) of a DSLR or film is measured by the ratio of the brightest detail in the highlights and the darkest detail in the shadows. The detail in the highlights is limited by pure highlight clipping and the detail in the shadows is limited in modern DSLRs by the noise level (or film grain).
It is common to measure the DR of cameras in the range of Exposure Values (E.V.) spanned, E.V. being often expressed as f-stops (even though photographers usually vary the exposure time rather than the aperture. Some data can illustrate this:

Black & White Negative Film
10-11 f-stops, or a DR ratio of about 1,000:1 – 2,000:1
Slide Film
6-7 f-stops, or a ratio of about 100:1
DSLRs (in 2008)
8-10 f-stops, or a ratio of about 250:1 to 1000:1
Daylight Scene (with full sun)
12-15 f-stops, or a ratio of 5,000:1 to 50,000:1 (depending on preferred amount of shadow detail)
Room Interior, with outside view from window into full daylight
At least 17 f-stops, or a ratio greater than 100,000:1

We have the following options:

Control the light (only practical in the studio via flash or lights)
Shoot only in low-contrast situations
Overcome the limitation of a single exposure

Exposure Merge

Of course all three options are valid. This article concentrates on the last option. How can we overcome the limitations of our cameras. Because the problem is as old as photography we also had solutions for as long. We capture two or more separate photographs (from underexposed to overexposed) of the same scene and combine the images into a new photo. The classic solution is called Exposure Blending. Master photographers did this manually in the darkroom with enlargers, and today the same is done in the digital world in Photoshop™. Seamless manual blending is hard work because of the issue of:

Aligning the source images
Masking the images to get seamless blended results

Most digital photography enthusiasts’ first efforts at combining separate images into one finished HDR image is done in an image-editing software program such as Adobe Photoshop™. Using features such as layers and various masking techniques, it’s possible to get excellent results, if the user’s technique from the camera to the computer has been sound.

However, today there are quite a few specialized software applications (one that I’ve had excellent results with is Photomatix Pro) that can are designed primarily for the single task of merging two or more exposures into a single image, which is LDR (Low Dynamic Range), but containing the details in highlights and shadows of the exposures from the sources images. There are different merging algorithms with different strengths and weaknesses.

Capturing multiple images with your camera and combining them into finished tonemapped HDR images is quite simple today. Getting the right artistic results will as always take some time practice and experimentation.

Notes of caution:
Movement is the enemy of HDR. This means that you have to watch for everything that moves. Here is a list of common ghosting* candidates:

People
Cars, bicycles, and other vehicles
Larger animals (dogs, cats,...)
Small animals (birds, butterflies,..)
Clouds
Water
Flags
Trees and plants in wind