Recently, I’ve been playing around with HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, using a Canon Rebel T3i and Photoshop, with marginal success. Last month, Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income put out a post on what he felt were the ten best smart phone apps. This past week, I got around to the article and was intrigued by one of his suggestions.
Snapseed is a free app that is a great overall image editor. However, it’s the HDR effect that really stands out. I had been trying out another app with that was just for the HDR effect. That one worked quite well but images could not be saved in hi-res with the free version. Snapseed is free and actually a much higher quality editor.
Below are four examples of images I took with the camera on my Samsung S2 (I’m a little behind the times). I then edited these images using Snapseed. These were quick edits that took no more than a minute or two, in the back of a boat on a bright sunny day. I basically just used the ‘Tune Image’ function to adjust the images then moved on to the ‘HDR Scape’ function to give the surreal feel.
I’ve always loved the look and feel of a boat wake from any boat. The symmetry is quite beautiful. The constant motion is relaxing and hypnotic somewhat like staring into a campfire. With the HDR Scape effect, it’s just that much cooler.
If you’re looking for Snapseed, just search the name in Google’s Play Store or whatever way you download apps on to your smart phone. They are also on Facebook and Twitter.
Eels Creek is accessed off Pigeon Lake in the Kawarthas, near Bobcaygeon, Ontario, via the tiny bridge in the background. This is a wide, weedy and shallow section of water that might not be so great for swimming but is excellent for fishing and photography. The above image straight out of the camera is decent but, enhanced with Snapseed, the scene is much brighter and colourful. I need to tone down the brightness and saturation just a tad…
The images with Snapseed are edited and saved in high resolution. However, for our purposes here, the editor will mostly be used for our images that end up on Instagram. These enhanced images, dropped down to the size of a smart phone screen, look pretty outstanding.
The HDR Scape effect is not for every image. This cityscape of downtown London, Ontario seems to work to a point. A cloudy sky would have made a big difference. Once again, the colour saturation is a little much.
Other effects included in the Snapseed package are Black and White, Vintage, Drama, Grunge, Center Focus, Tilt-Shift, Retrolux and Frames. I haven’t had a chance to play around with any of these but the word is that they work quite well and produce a very professional looking image.
HDR Scape, and any form of HDR photography, really shines at sunset – especially with some cloud formations in the sky. Once again, we’re on Pigeon Lake, just as the sun had dropped below the horizon.
