Sean M. Leahy Photography

What is tone mapping you ask?  Well in short, tone mapping is taking the color information from a digital image and using that to layer, or alter the way in which the colors are represented to achieve a certain desired look for an image.  (longer tone map explanation)  This technique can be used to do a variety of different effects to an image, mostly you will see this type of processing with HDR (High Dynamic Range) images in which multiple layers of color information is used to produce an image that contains all the highlights and lowlights combined into a single image.  This can be really neat, you might be surprised as to how cool some boring images can become once they have been tonemapped.

Below is an example of a tone mapped image.  The original image is courtesy of my good friend Brandon (you can see more of his images on his Flickr page).  Bran was kind enough to let me wreck havoc on his photograph! Thanks buddy!

Here is the tone mapped version of the bird, I really like the level of detail that is brought out in the birds feathers, as well as the deepening of the clouds in the background.  Contrary to what alot of people might think, clouds can be a photographers BEST friend, I mean who wants to see a plain blue sky…yawn…

Tone mapped bird

Now for the original, this image as shot is a great picture, but compare the original to the tone mapped version above, see the amount of detail that is brought out in the tone mapped version?

Original Bird Image

Although the process alters the “feel” of the image it can be a very powerful tool when used right.  So when would you use this type of process?  Well…when ever you want!  There really is no ryhme or reason to choosing when to use it other than if you are specifically trying to get “that look”.  This process is fairly time consuming as there are several parts to it (I’m thinking I might to make a video on this) so it takes longer and it does distort the original image some.  So depending on what type of subjects you have shot, it may or may not work out well.  I personally would encourage as much experimentation as possible you never know what you might get until you try.

Sometimes it takes more than one picture to make an image.  This image, is composition of 2 primary pictures, a picture of a guy in a gas mask, and an image of a skull.  By putting the two images together and using Photoshop CS3 you can get some pretty interesting results.  (click image for a larger view)

Born to Kill

Overall, the composite contains about 20 layers or so in Photoshop, utilizing layer masks and smart-filters to tweak and pull through the various components at each stage of completion.

Here you can see the original image, to get the skull inside the mask I used a portion of a skull image and masked it out so only the eye socket portion was visible.  Then using other brushes and adjusting the transparancey of the main image I was able to bring back most of the eye lens, creating the illusion that the skull really is behind the glass.

Original Image (click to see larger view)

Original Gas Mask Picture

Using gels, can really help set the “mood” of your image.  To show an example of how you can tone an image right from your strobe is to look at your shot and think, what do you want to convey?  When you have an idea of what message or feeling or mood you want your image to portray and the available light does not do it justice you can alter that light by using gels.  Gels are an industry term for a thin piece of colored plastic or film that you place over your light source to alter the color.  Gels are normally inexpensive and are a great tool to keep in your bag.  Gels can come in all sorts of colors and sizes, from nearly clear to dark dark blue, red and even green.  Gels can also be used to balance lighting in a given scene, you can use an CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel for example to balance out the effect of tungsten light.

At any rate here is a image where I used a blue gel on my Nikon SB-600 Speedlight to add a darker tone to the image.  I really like that I get a mixture of the cool dark blue tint with the warm light peeking through the doorway behind the subject.

For this image I wanted to convey a sense of confusion, haste, and uneasyness, similar to that you might have in a bad dream.  So going with the whole “dream like quality” I chose to add a blue gel to my light, to better set the tone of the image.  Below is the lighting diagram I used for this image.  The setup is really straight forward and simple, just a single off camera speedlight as my key light, then using the warm tungsten light from the room on the side as backlight and finally a small squirt of light coming form the camer as a fill.

4th of July: Great weather, and a great opportunity to get some cool images.  Fireworks present a wonderful opportunity to grab some neat images of the exploding shell bursts and the sparkling light trails they leave behind in the night sky.

Now anyone who has attempted to shoot fireworks might have been disappointed with the results either being too blurry or just a snapshot of the burst with little to no light trials.  This is where I will let you in on a little secret…(pssst! come in closer….shooting fireworks, with a camera that is, is super easy you just need to know how to set your camera up!)

So how do you get great images of fireworks? Well first lets start with the gear.

• Camera: DSLR with manual mode
• Lens: Zoom lens (70-300mm or so) to get in tight with the bursts, alternatively you can use a wide angle to capture the burst plus some object in the foreground like trees, buildings (think Disney) etc.
• Tripod: This item is absolutely essential.  Without a secure tripod you can forget shooting fireworks, all your images will be blurry and contain little to no detail.
• Cable release: If you have a cable release for your camera’s shutter this will help tremendously but it is not required, but will make life a lot easier if you have one.

Now lets look at the camera settings:

• First, put the camera into manual mode so you can control both the aperture and shutter speed independently of each other.
• Aperture: Set the cameras aperture to f11 to capture the right depth of field.
• Shutter: Start with your shutter speed set to 4 seconds (this is why you need the tripod)
• ISO: You can adjust this later, but you may want to start at an ISO of 400 or higher depending on how much noise your camera will produce at higher ISO’s.
• Attach your cable release if you have one.

My camera is set up, now what?

To begin shooting you will have to wait until the fireworks start going off, frame the shot where the bursts keep happening in the sky (this will change as the fireworks are shot to different heights etc) but get camera lined up and in positioned on the tripod.  Then as the fireworks go off try and time the shutter release when the shell first explodes and the shutter will stay open hopefully long enough to capture the sparkling trails to your satisfaction.  This is where the cable release really comes into play, as you do not need to have your head buried behind your cameras view finder you can sit back and watch the show and just hit the release as the burst goes off.

After you grab a few frames check the exposures, if they are too bright or blown out adjust the shutter speed, if you started at 4 seconds drop to 3 seconds and keep shooting, repeat this as needed.  you can also adjust the ISO to a lower value to darken the image if it is blowing out in your viewfinder.  Alot of this will be simply trial and error…some shots will be out of your frame some will be in, just keep shooting and keep adjusting as needed to get the most of the fireworks.

Another way to get good firework images is if you have the “bulb” shutter setting on your camera.  This option allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you have the shutter pressed (with a cable release).  If you choose to try this option, all you need to do is time the shutter to press when the shell explodes and release the shutter as the light trails start to dwindle off.

That’s it!  Pretty easy huh?  All you need to do is set your camera up for this type of shot and you are all set.  Now go out and get some cool firework images of your own.

Above Image Specifications:

• Camera: Nikon D300
• Lens: 105 mm
• Aperture: f11
• Shutter: 2.5 sec
• ISO: 800

TIP: When the weather turns bad, get your camera!

Everyday objects take on a new life when they are surrounded by foreboding and threatening weather.  What once looked ordinary and unimpressive can quickly become very intriguing to the human eye

When the weather turns fowl, often there arises many an opportunity to search out and find great little detail shots.  For whatever the reason, things look better in bad weather when looking through the photography lens [pun intended].  This image was taken this afternoon during a torrential downpour, it is one of the exterior light fixtures on the front of my office.  I was waiting for the rain to let up so I could make a run to my car when I spotted this lamp, what drew me to it was the moody frame of the yellow cast bulb fixture and the dark peeling painted iron fixture with the trails of rain behind it.  This same image on a normal day would be so boring I would never have given it another thought.

Image Specs:

• Camera: Nikon D300
• Lens: 105mm VRII
• Aperture: f3
• Shutter: 1/30 sec
• ISO: 800

Had I more time to setup for the shot, I would have gone with a tripod to allow me to shoot at a much lower ISO level to get a much clearer image with less noise.  The shot above was taken hand held using a ladder as a make shift monopod.  Alternatively it would also have been nice to grab my little SB-600 with a 1/2 CTO gel on it [adds a warm color] and aim that right at the bulb fixture.  Well I suppose the next time it pours like this at the office I will know what I need to get “the Shot!”.

Just in case you were wondering, no the light is not on.  I looked all over for the switch to turn the light on, would have made an interesting shot but given the fact that the light was covered in water maybe it was a good thing I did not find the switch afterall.