You’ve heard me rave about my Canon PowerShot S90 and, more recently, its successor – the new PowerShot S95.
Today, Canon has announced the PowerShot G12 – the upgrade to the G11 that was the S90’s “big brother”. Like the S95, the G12 also includes HDR built-in to the camera.
Take a look at the details here – the Canon G12
Maybe it’s the visit to the Ansel Adams show with Chris on Saturday that has sent me over the edge, but I’m continually intrigued by how one can take a color photo and turn it into a much more powerful black and white image.
See the photo below – it’s #3 from my initial Canon S95 HDR post earlier this morning.
Frankly, I didn’t spend much time on this photo – the point was to provide it (a traditional HDR post-processed shot) as a point of comparison with the new in-camera HDR feature built-in to the S95.
As I was looking at it, I wondered how a conversion to black and white might look – now that I’ve become acquainted and familiar with Lightroom 3’s excellent Black and White Mix controls.
So, I gave it a shot – here’s the result – after about 10 minutes of tweaking in Lightroom:
Obviously, it’s the same subject as the original photo – Rodin’s Gates of Hell – but it’s been transformed into a more powerful photograph through the conversion to black and white.
I also experimented for the first time using the new Lens Correction features in Lightroom 3 – to remove the distortion in terms of angle, etc. that I had in the original image. It now looks very close to a direct, head-on shot at the scuplture.
Finally, I tweaked it in Flickr – using Picnik to add a museum frame around it – dressing it up a bit.
I like the result. What do you think?
You may also want to view my Flickr set of Canon S95 HDRs taken this morning at Stanford.
[Update: These same techniques apply to the Canon PowerShot S100
One of the new Scene mode options in the new Canon PowerShot S95
When the S95 was announced, I was curious how well the HDR Scene mode in the S95 would do – compared to both basic auto shots plus also versus the traditional approach I’ve been using for a while.
So, this morning – tripod in hand – I headed over to Stanford University to give the S95 a while. I’ve just completed post-processing the first photos – below you’ll see the result. These photos were taken at the Rodin Sculpture Garden at the Cantor Center – of Rodin’s Gates of Hell.
1. Here’s the first photo – this is the middle exposure of my HDR autobracket sequence on the S95.
2. Here’s the second photo – this is shot using the in-camera HDR setting in Scene mode. In my opinion, it’s a definite improvement!
3. And, here’s the final photo – processed the traditional way using three autobracket shots, Photomatix Pro, etc.
What do you think? I certainly prefer #3 – the traditional HDR shot – but the in-camera one isn’t bad. With a bit of additional tweaking to warm it up a bit, bring up the saturation, etc. it’d be a very good image.
For some more of my traditional HDR from this morning’s Stanford shoot, see this set on Flickr.
I went out walking with Lily early this morning at Sharon Park – and took my new Canon PowerShot S95
On my S90, I almost never shot using these modes – thinking that I wanted to have better control over the camera. On the S90, most of my shooting has been in Aperture priority (both for HDR shots and for those great bokeh shots at f/2.0) or in Program AE (P on the mode dial).
I’ve posted my initial Canon S95 photos in this set on Flickr. In the description, I’ve noted the particular Scene mode that the photo was shot in. Note that these Sharon Park photos have NOT have any additional processing. They were imported into Lightroom 3.2 and uploaded directly to Flickr.
After Sharon Park, we went to the Menlo Park Farmers Market for veggies and stuff – that’s where the two flower photos were taken – including the one below.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to get out and try some HDR on this new jewel of a camera. Perhaps head over to Stanford mid-morning and see what we can get. Anyone want to join me for a Stanford Labor Day Photowalk? Let me know.
Here’s a new Flickr set with some quick shots taken after lunch today with my good friend Doug Kaye out near the Warming Hut in the Presidio of San Francisco.
These are the first pictures taken with my new Canon PowerShot S95
Here’s Doug with his Nikon D90 angling for a great shot:
[Update: Sep 3, 2010 – see the first shots taken with my new Canon PowerShot S95
My new Canon PowerShot S95
While I was away for the last couple of days, Amazon.com emailed me that the Canon PowerShot S95
The S95 is the successor to the outstanding S90 – my favorite camera for the last year (see my S90-related posts here on the blog). Improvements over the S90 include: a new case coating to make the S95 less slippery, new hybrid image stabilization system and 720p HD video with stereo sound. In addition, the S95 is the first Canon camera to feature an in-camera, HDR scene mode – enabling HDR processing in-camera. I suspect the HDR feature will be very 1.0 – we’ll know shortly! The actual image sensor, on-board processor, and lens are the same as on the S90 – and they’re great! I’ve also read that the S95 stiffens up the read control wheel a bit so that it isn’t easily bumped – a complaint for some but one that has never been an issuer in my shooting.
Although I also own the Canon EOS 5D Mark II
The 5D Mark II, on the other hand, is superb for serious photography – including some great HDR work that I’ve done with it. For me, the two cameras are complementary. The only other camera – that’s literally with me all the time – is my iPhone 4 – another excellent camera but not quite a real “photographer’s camera.” That said, it’s easy to miss a shot when camera stuff is getting in the way – and the quick capture of the iPhone helps avoid missing anything (see some of my iPhone photos here)!
While in New York City earlier this year, I had great fun with the S90 in my hand shooting street scenes. With such a tiny camera, you just don’t look like a photographer!
I’ll have a more in-depth review of the S95 coming up after I’ve had a chance to get better acquainted with it!
(Note: Amazon affiliate links included above.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.