1. Shoot, Shoot, Shoot. This one cannot be overemphasized.
2. Your camera interprets reality and shows only fragments of what you have seen.
3. Shooting gets more fun when you can control the settings. Then you will be creative.
4. There is no such thing as bad weather.
5. You can find your own style. Be brave enough to do something crazy!
6. Take photographs of your friends and give them prints. This is a very personal gift that no one else can give.
7. Show your work - even if you do not see it as worthy of being purchased. Print it out and show it to potential buyers. No risk - no fun.
8. Shoot what impresses you - then you will impress others.
9. Short Photo trips are good, too. You don’t always have to spend a whole day at it.
10.Try using just a single lens over a long time, then you will become a specialist in shooting with it.
11. Forget your LCD… just forget it. The image will always be more brilliant and sharper that the original really is.
12. Take a good friend on your photo safari - it will lead to great and deep conversations.
13. Digital Photography is a paradox. It seams to be much cheaper but a look into you last receipts might prove otherwise
14. Strobist rocks.
15. If you are shooting in nature - never forget your hiking boots. There is always a chance for a rainy day.
16. Leave your camera in your bag if you are meeting other photographers in a coffee house. Try it.
17. The best photographers fail sometimes. So can you.
18. Convince with images, not with swollen-headed words.
19. But: A good story can give your photograph a very deep meaning.
20. Help others succeed on their photographic journey - that will help you to stay humble.

This guest post was submitted by Martin Gommel from the German Blog KWERFELDEIN (flickr). This post is a followup to his previously posted 100 things I’ve Learned About Photography.

Ever get an invitation to join a Web site in your Inbox? With the increasing popularity of social Web applications, it’s getting hard to find people who have not. So chances are you know the drill. Get invited by a friend via email, then go to the Web site and fill in a registration form so you can join. Here’s an example of that progression on MySpace.

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HDR, or High Dynamic Range Imaging seems to be all the rage these days. HDRI is described as:

In image processing, computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows. (from Wikipedia)

More accurately however, the images that are commonly seen and referred to as HDR or HDRI images are tone-mapped.

Tone mapping is a technique used in image processing and computer graphics to map a set of colours to another; often to approximate the appearance of high dynamic range images in media with a more limited dynamic range. Print-outs, CRT or LCD monitors, and projectors all have a limited dynamic range which is inadequate to reproduce the full range of light intensities present in natural scenes. Essentially, tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reduction from the scene values (radiance) to the displayable range while preserving the image details and color appearance important to appreciate the original scene content. (from Wikipedia)

Definitions and technicalities aside, I decided to look into HDR and tone mapping a bit closer to see if there really was a difference between different processes. I was curious to see if there was noticeable differences between generating HDR/tone-mapped shots from a single RAW, multiple RAWs, multiple JPGs from the camera, and multiple JPGs generated from a single RAW. For the purposes of the rest of this post, I will be referring to my final images as HDR images (even though we all now know that’s not exactly correct). Here is the original, straight out of the camera image shot with my Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D.

Photomatix is a much more robust, and more expensive ($99), program to use but allows for blending of multiple exposures into a single HDR file, as is recommended. I’m going to be up front here. I don’t walk around with my tripod in my back pocket, so taking multiple exposures without getting movement is very difficult. I tried Photomatix ages ago, but for some reason I guess I just wasn’t steady enough. Fortunately, this set of multiple exposures turned out and aligned nicely when I imported them into Photomatix. The three shots were taken at an exposure value of 2, meaning I had a shot that was properly exposed, one that was underexposed by 2 steps and one that was overexposed by 2 steps. Because the Canon Digital Rebel series only allows for 3 photos in AEB mode, that is all I am going to use. Using the .CR2 (RAW) files out of the camera I created the HDR image you see below (note, clicking this image takes you to the Flickr page). I processed it as I normally would process for HDR, tracked the settings and made some final curves and unsharpen mask adjustments in Photoshop.