Here is a look at my first HDR image in Photoshop, shot with a Nikon D40. This was “commisioned” for Caz of Callouscomics who requested photos of the comic he graciously sent to guest artists around the world. I used this as an opportunity to show where the “magic is made”, and my knowledge is lifted from this HDR tutorial.

Key differences from your point-and-click digital camera process:

• Get out of Auto mode
  They key to doing this is “bracketing” , taking different exposures at different shutter speeds to acquire the source images to combine. I used three  at f1/30,f 1/125, and f1/250, but would probably use five if presented with a phenomenal subject. If this makes you squeamish, you won’t be able to experience high dynamic range photography.

• Use your camera’s RAW format. Check to see if your camera supports the capture of uncompressed data – the JPEG settings introduce compression and discard detail.
• From there, the basics of getting into HDR are as simple as running Automated tasks in Adobe Bridge.

As with anything else – it’s the mastery that is difficult and beyond the scope of this post.

For the more advanced photographers, the title that springs to mind is The World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff. Lavishly illustrated with fantastic and almost surreal images, it contains a tutorial which seems to be geared at professional photographers using Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture.

I hope something here has helped whet your appetite. Please feel free to comment if you have a great resource you’d like to share.

Regards,

-T.A.D.

Lonnie Easterling, the creator of one of my favorites – the consistently funny one-panel, color Spud Comics –  has clearly lost his mind. He is creating 100 comics in 100 days and my hat is off to him. The single panel approach and sensibility brings to mind Gary Larsen’s Far Side; I’ll even go as far as to call Lonnie’s great writing and spot-on art the heir apparent.

What are you still doing here? Go on, check out Spud Comics for a guaranteed laugh. If you are into the whole Facebook thing, you should “Like” Spud Comics on Facebook. I know I do.

Til next time,
-T.A.D.

A big thanks has to go out to Scott Kurtz of the great PvP Online strip for naming his new project with the Penny Arcade guys a lot like my strip. I’m enjoying the spike in traffic. If you are one of these new visitors I hope you’ll stay around and take an archive dive and maybe see that my comic doesn’t suck.

Kurtz –  along with the other Halfpixel guys – wrote the book “How To Make Webcomics” which pretty much changed my life. This doesn’t say much about me, and like a lot of fans I’m looking forward to what he does with “The Trenches”. But does the net really need another video gamer webcomic? Just saying.

Till next time.

– T.A.D.

Always on the lookout for new, relevant blogs from thought leaders, I stumbled upon the 52 Weeks of UX blog today.

I had high hopes for discovering this blog that were quickly dashed by – of all things – difficulty in navigation. Talk about the cobbler’s kids needing new shoes!

1. “Pointing hand” graphics that are not navigation elements:
   It was the first thing I tried to navigate to the previous and next posts. I was angered when they were merely decorative.
2. Dark gray on black, even darker gray for unpublished links:
   When viewed on an LCD screen, these become difficult to read. Contrast in font colors relative to background colors is key to legibility
3. The biggest problem: Comments disabled?
   What possible justification could the authors have for not fostering community by enabling comments? Even a quick dive into the posts touts its importance for social media. Don’t agree? Well, ahem, leave me a comment below.

I’m optimistic that in spite of these issues, there is a lot of content that will prove thought-provoking and I have added a subscription to my Google Reader where the posts display nicely. One of the authors has written “Designing for Social Web“, which is on my short list of summer reading.

Finally, I suggest “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug, because 52 Weeks of UX did make me think, only not the way I wanted.

You could always achieve this effect (in theory) using Rotate Canvas at arbitrary angles; the difference now is that the task is as easy as twisting traditional paper, and about as interactive.

Why would you do this? If you draw, you are fully aware of the habit of twisting your work support (i.e. paper) to position your work area for comfortable access. This becomes difficult with larger scale supports – although I have seen some incredible easels – muralists are flat out of luck. I’ll defy artists that do this to pinpoint the moment when this was taught or learned. It is an intuitive solution as reflexive as scratching an itch.

It becomes especially powerful in combination with the shift-draw technique. Most graphics programs that let you draw a line traditionally support constraint to perfect horizontal, vertical and forty-five degree angles. Combine this with twisting your canvas and perfect lines can be drawn at any angle. It takes a little hit-or-miss to master.

Thank you Adobe, for clearly listening to an artist. However, this one wants to know why your product is still so expensive.

GIMP developers – are you listening?