Not a post about the joys of opera, but HDR digital photography! If you have not heard the term before and you have a digital SLR camera and a tripod, it’s worth spending 30 minutes learning about it because the results are nothing short of spectacular.
HDR has similarities to the analogue darkroom technique (zone system) pioneered and perfected by Ansel Adams, whose stunning Black & White photographs are well known (I’ve been tempted to buy one for a while…).
PhotoShop CS2 has a built-in HDR feature and this article describes its use. [Note: the link was up yesterday when I visited but was down at the time of writing. Hopefully back up soon…]
The Photomatix tool has a downloadable free trial version here. This site has discussion, tools, examples and great resources and links. Some of these examples remind me of 18th Century paintings.
The show’s not over till the fat lady sings, so here’s a parting flickr link to a gallery of really amazing photos that have nothing to do with HDR, but are still worth a visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbprzd/