HDR with the Phantom 3

I have 13.5 hours quad flight time now (and a bit over 500 hours as pilot in command in aircraft that you sit in) so my thumbs have finally stopped shaking. Apparently the apprehension of winging my $1000 quad two miles through the air at about 40mph makes me a bit nervous at first. I recall my first solo of a Cessna 150 in 1971 when I was 16 years old, I felt the same apprehension.  After that, flying becomes a part of you!

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Yesterday, I was working on testing the Point of Interest mode of the Phantom 3. (It works great!) This evening I'm working on HDR's (High Dynamic Range) photography using the AEB or "Automatic Exposure Bracketing" mode.  I shoot on the ground with a Nikon D300 and have shot a good deal of HDR.  I like shooting 3 shot 1 EV raw images to use for HDR processing.  I find that 3 images are sufficient to create a great final image.  I've been using Photomatix for years so that's what I processed these images with.  I'm pleased with the results and will likely continue to shoot 3 shot RAW brackets for everything from now on, even if I don't process the images in HDR.  

3-Shot HDR using AEB and Photomatix

3-Shot HDR using AEB and Photomatix

These are classic HDR images.  I usually like to under emphasize the HDR "look" but I processed these with the default settings of Photomatix to let you see the full effect of High Dynamic Range Photography.  These images took about 3 additional minutes to process before posting to the blog.  It's a nice effect.

3-Shot HDR using AEB and Photomatix

3-Shot HDR using AEB and Photomatix