MetaChat - In the mood for a new desktop image?

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26 February 2006

In the mood for a new desktop image? Check out Flickr's HDR ("High Dynamic Range"; explanation at bottom of page) pool. I'm using this one right now. I find this one incredibly touching for some reason. This one of Mann's Chinese on Hollywood Blvd. and this one of Ess-a-Bagel on the East Side in NYC are both fantastic, and this one from Tokyo is very cool. Here's a split photo that shows the difference between an HDR and a standard shot.

post by: taz at: 03:49 | 23 comments

Obviously, I prefer urban scenes for the most part, but there are really a lot more landscapes than anything else. Also, in reading the comments on one image, I find that this has been posted at Boing-Boing, evidently - so apologies if this is old news.

posted by taz 26 February | 03:51

The 'touching' one has nice color drama.

HDR images parallel acid vision in some ways.

posted by Gyan 26 February | 04:06

It sort of brings up a very "Anne Tyler" feeling for me. There seems to be a whole story in that photo... the "aging neighborhood" tenor of the image, the carefully tended foliage, the party balloons on the steps, the winterish twilight, the cosy warmth evident inside the house. I love it.

posted by taz 26 February | 04:13

Oh! Guess what - it is apparently in Seattle. Nice.

posted by taz 26 February | 04:16

Gorgeous. This is the kind of stuff that makes me wish I understood cameras better than I do...

posted by BoringPostcards 26 February | 04:16

oh wow, that Mann's Chinese shot is really stunning. Nice!

posted by scody 26 February | 04:19

Oh wow: check this out in opriognal size (which is too big even on my 24 inch widescreen monitor):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverwood/104422051/in/pool-hdr/

posted by orthogonality 26 February | 04:31

So is HDR the new Lomography?

posted by Skrik 26 February | 05:14

Some of this stuff is incredible.

posted by grouse 26 February | 05:41

These are teh rox0rZ.

Too bad half of my faves, like the ghost train, don't seem to be available in hi-res.

posted by drpynchon 26 February | 05:59

This is very cool indeed. I love the artificiality of these pictures.

So is HDR the new Lomography?

I can see where you're coming from but I wouldn't say so. Part of the charm of the Lomo and similar cameras is that they're lo-fi and often just a few steps up from a pinhole camera. By comparisson this is all rather high-tech stuff.

posted by dodgygeezer 26 February | 09:42

My favorite one that I'm currently using as my desktop is this one because it could almost be a French impressionistic painting.

posted by TrishaLynn 26 February | 10:20

I caught myself going "ooh" aloud when that loaded TrishaLynn.

posted by Capn 26 February | 11:25

I would love to try this. I believe this technique is putting together several differently exposed images of the same scene. A tripod and a camera that allows manual settings (and the software - which looks free) is all that is necessary. At one of the sites for this, it was mentioned that the halo effect (the band of light that commonly occurs where the sky touches land or object) can be minimized by taking more bracketed pictures.

http://www.debevec.org/Research/HDR/

posted by Feisty 26 February | 11:51

Huh. I'll have to try this later.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 26 February | 13:40

fuckin' Ess-a-Bagel doesn't toast bagels. WTF?

posted by mullacc 26 February | 13:54

I'm normally not into camera-tech at all, but these pics are awesome. They remind me a lot of the Surrealists from the 20's doing their thing on canvas. Awesome, piercingly bright humanity.

If my personality could be caught on film, it would look like these pictures.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 26 February | 14:36

I need to take the time to try this out for real, but this is the result of three exposures of the fire in my fireplace. Would work better with something that was not moving and with a broad range of color to use. I will probably find something tomorrow if nothing comes to mind tonight. Still, interesting concept.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 26 February | 20:42

≡ Click to see image ≡
1 of 4 Bracketed images

≡ Click to see image ≡
4 of 4 Bracketed images

≡ Click to see image ≡
Photoshop's "Enhanced" feature, no HDR.

≡ Click to see image ≡
HDR and Tonal Mapping, much more detail in the wood grain.

posted by Feisty 26 February | 23:47

≡ Click to see image ≡

Bad lighting in here but I took three exposures, combined them and this was the result. It is more impressive if you compare the before and after shots, I need to make a little half and half image or something.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 27 February | 00:41

Try number two at an HDR image.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 27 February | 00:54

Weretable, that looks great! I love the effect of the phone wires... They seem to be vibrating.

posted by taz 27 February | 01:10

Rocks/Stones is impressive and really utilizes the HDR thing well. Lots of rich detail in the dark and the light areas. Won't it be great when camera's sensors do this automatically?

posted by Feisty 27 February | 13:30

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