The City of Brotherly Love

I was recently asked how do photo trips get planned? What consideration goes into what lenses to bring, where to go, what time of day? My answer was of course spend as much time as you can planning, go early, and as far as lenses bring as much as you can. The trip that Corey and I took on November 29^th was anything but one of those trips but still turned out brilliantly. Sitting in my house one night Corey and I both realized that we had the upcoming Monday off. At the same time we were watching Man vs. Food on the Food Network and he was in Philadelphia. At the same time both Corey and I found that this would be the perfect opportunity for a photo trip to the City of Brotherly love. We departed rather early our eyes set on the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall. The trip to Philadelphia was uneventful but the day was filled with so many prospects and of course Cheese steaks.

We found parking fairly easily and started into the Liberty Bell museum. The place is nothing but Top Notch and was very informative. The entire complex in the center of downtown Philadelphia was phenomenal.  The light was fairly harsh and getting a picture without twenty other tourists in it was not easy, but I was able to snatch a few courtesy of a zoom and getting in front of little kids to take a picture.  I really liked the way they did the Liberty Bell, lots of natural light from all different angles really gives the bell a very different look from different sides.  Maybe its because I am a guy but I really enjoyed the “blue” side which was a result of the skylight behind us.

The outside of the building where the Liberty Bell is

Shortly after we headed over for our guided tour of Independence Hall. If you are Philadelphia you really should consider the tour it’s a free tour but you do need to get tickets. It was breath taking knowing that some of my family were in Philadelphia, when the Constitution was being signed. They were consequently hanged for assisting the British, but neat nonetheless. Its a really neat piece of my families history.  Apparently there was an Act passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1783 that stated the Doans were "robbers, felons, burglars, and traitors". Its an interesting story that ends up with Abraham and Levi being hanged. I would recommend looking into the story. 

Finally we decided to walk (which was in retrospect a bad idea as I did not wear a coat) to get Cheese-Steaks. Only 14 blocks and about half the city away we arrived at our destination.  If you have ever been to Geno’s or Pat’s for a Cheese-Steak you I am sure have your opinion about which is better. This is exactly what Corey and I were here to find out. The two competing restaurants are located literally across the street from each other and work in direct competition. We started with Geno’s where we ordered a “Provi-Wit” and then ordered the same at Pat’s. Needless to say we both felt that Pat’s was the better of the two.

We walked back to the car and began the two and a half hour drive home, having enjoyed another photo trip. The sunset over Philadelphia was breath taking and Corey and I discussed how crazy it was that we drove from Baltimore to Philadelphia for some cheese steaks. Just goes to show how fun photography days happen.

HDR - High Dynamic Fun in Washington DC

I read quite a few photography blogs and the more I do the more I find photographic techniques that I would really appreciate being able to try. Having seen HDR photography years ago I have always been fascinated by the idea that you can take three independent photos shot at very different EV compositions and combine them into one incredible photo. Being that we live about 40 minutes from our nations capitol I figured that a trip into DC would be the perfect chance to take some HDR photographs. Taking them can vary from camera to camera but I was able to find an excellent guide on how to configure the Rebels to automatically change the exposure in between shots. This allows you to take the three shots quickly, and reduces the risk that the camera will move in between shots (which ruins the photo). That being said, I would not recommend attempting this without a tripod, seriously you need one.

Tina agreed to accompany me down to DC for the day with the explicit understand that this was a photography trip. We started the day out with almost no plan, we went to the Washington Monument and got alot of really great shots there and then continued to wander about the city setting up some fine HDR shots. Tina and I were engaged at the base of the Capital building so DC has a special fondness for us.

So let me start by showing you my favorite of the bunch, I am going to upload all three of the original images and then upload the changed. This image is perhaps the best of the bunch at showing the power of HDR.

 

So as you can see from the top three image we have an underexposed, a properly exposed, and an over exposed. What this allows you to get the best of all images, in the underexposed image you get great quality of image in the Lincoln Memorial. In addition you get great blues. In the properly exposed image you get the green of the grass and the color of the dirt path that you would expect. Finally in the over exposed image the detail of the tree is incredible. This is unseen in the previous two images and it leaves you with a wonderful image. To my luck the woman in the right third of the image was not posing for me, she was trying to take a picture of the Washington Monument and was holding really still, I set this up and just snapped away.

Final Product:

HDR Image of the Lincoln Memorial

As you can the see the end result is quite pleasing as every single part of the image is properly exposed. This is information that the human eye cannot physically see. This is why I love it. The sky is so blue and all of the colors just pop! Its HDR baby!

So the next information that people typically ask is how do you do HDR? I would recommend the HDRsoft suite, its simple to use, elegant and interfaces beautifully with Aperture. A great walkthrough can be found here.

Looking from the Lincoln Memorial.

Let me show you a few more I took, the first is a view from the Lincoln Memorial looking down at the Washington Monument. The funny part about this picture is your not allowed to use a tripod on the Lincoln Memorial without getting a permit to do professional shooting. Yes, we were told by a department of Park Services employee that my $19.99 Dynex tripod from Best Buy (classy I know) was considered professional photography equipment. Being that I am one that always gets what I want I harassed the guard a little more and he finally told me that if the tripod touches the ground I can get arrested. So using my two feet and one of my wives I ensured that the tripod was not touching the ground, it was touching my feet and we took the pictures. The guard was none too happy but I feel in the deepest part of my heard that he enjoyed the loophole.

Next we have one of my personal favorites of all time, this one is the of the WWII Memorial's the cost of freedom. Personally, I love the WWII memorial, it has everything, but this wall is perhaps the moment where you remember that WWII claimed over 300,000 American Lives and this wall goes on and on and on. I love was HDR was able to do to the reflection of the pool, the depth of the stars, and not to get too sentimental it represents all that these brave young men were willing to put on the line for the cost of freedom. And while future generations have taken their sacrifice fore granted I hope that this image shows those brave souls that their cause was meaningful.

So that is HDR, I would recommend that anyone try it and see what results you get. 

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