One of my latest obsessions is HDR photography. High Dynamic Range photos are very vivid and sometimes surealistic. But they always cause the viewer to stop and examine what they are looking at. Here is an example of an HDR photo (below)

As you can see, this vivid shot, by Patrick Smith Photograpy, captures the dynamic range of all the colors and light in the image. Without using HDR, the sky would be too dark and the foreground in view, or the sky would be in view and the foreground would be too dark to see. That is the beauty of HDR images, they give you everything you want.

To that end, I am sharing a great iPhone app called TrueHDR, which works like a charm. I have done some experiments with it and have had stunning results. I have to give my Canon Rebel XTi a shot using photomatix. At any rate, I think that it is interesting to consider that the iPhone 4 and iOS4 is bringing more to the mobile market, allowing us to take this technology with us in our pockets, on our belts, and in our cars, to be able to capture the everyday events that are so relevant to us as people.

While the iPhone 4 will most likely not produce beautiful photos like the one above, it can produce some very astounding images. If you haven’t tried HDR photography, I really suggest you check it out. I think it will be worth your while and it is fairly easy to do.

While digging around trying to find a steadi-cam for my Zi8 I stumbled across this awesome site. As a closet astronaut I thought these photos were crazy great! I wasn’t aware that they were out there. So for this week’s post check out Moonpans and let me know what you think…

Below are a couple of examples for you to check out. They are really done well and I cannot believe how clear they are. It is really amazing how they took these photos, many times not even having a viewfinder to look through due to their helmets being too large.

Here is an interesting story, and photos, about Fabian Bachrach from the Washington Post. Talk about some amazing portraits, wow! The lighting is perfect and such detail and clarity. He has photographed some of the most accomplished figures in recent American history. On top of all that, Fabian did much of this work with little time with the subject. At times having only 2 or 3 minutes with the person in between other appointments. That is just incredible considering that everything had to be ready to go so that the subject could just step in and have the shot done. In the case of the photo of Muhammad Ali, he had 2 minutes with him and got only 3 frames. That is someone that knows what they are doing.

Here is a great article that really explains resolution and how to use it to output your photos to print. De-Mystifying Resolution explains file types, resolution, and formulas for determining the optimum print size based on resolution. Understanding resolution is essential in producing quality prints from your photographs. You go to all the trouble to take these great shots, learn how to get a print that looks just as good as your monitor.