Autumn's First Sunrise...

[JimS]

I guess I haven't seen too many HDR shots. The ones I have seen do have an un-natural look. But, just for arguments sake. Isn't HDR much more realistic in terms of what the human eye can see? What's the range of light that the human eye can see as compared to a digital camera or B&W film?

That IS the goal, I just don't think that 1) the software is there yet and 2) Users go overboard with it...

Examples: http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr
A few work here, most look gaudy, overdone, and unnatural...

[Mike D]

Mike, A straight Neutral density filter, one without graduation, will just slow the camera down, and make it work harder for the right exposure. They do sell round, screw on GND filters, that might work...or new high quality cameras could work as well!

Jim, I don't know anything about filters, but John Mitchell (to others, John Mitchell is a retired professional photographer on staff) is the one who advised me on the purchase (btw, it was a screw on filter).

New cameras it is.

[Mike D]

I prefer Picasa's "I'm feeling Lucky"

[JimS]

Jim, I don't know anything about filters, but John Mitchell (to others, John Mitchell is a retired professional photographer on staff) is the one who advised me on the purchase (btw, it was a screw on filter).

New cameras it is.

To clarify my point, a ND filter does cut the light reaching the sensor, so it is true that it will save the ccd. John is right. However, without adjusting the aperature or 'speed' settings, the camera just works overtime to get the origional light that it desires for a proper exposure. John is right in his thinking to save the sensor though...

My real point though is that a round graduated filter will result in a better overall exposure while saving the ccd.

[Patrad Fischroy]

I just installed Photoshop CS 2 on my old laptop and was wondering what kind of memory does it take to run the HDR process?

There's nothing wrong with photoshopping. If Ansel Adams had Photoshop, he would have used it. They did it all the time back in the dark room through burning, dodging, and many other physical touch-ups.

I am not entirely sure, but on mine, with 2 gig, I have no trouble. As with most in photoshop, the more the merrier. Usually with lower memory you can just bump up the scratch disk and use the hard drive as virtual memory. This does affect the speed.