Product Details

• Actors: Tony Sweet
• Directors: Gregory McKean
• Format: Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Master Photo Workshops
• DVD Release Date: January 2, 2009
• Run Time: 126 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001KZAP2C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,803 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!, March 6, 2010

By 

Jeffrey A. Campbell (Lemoore, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: High Dynamic Range: Photography Made Easy (DVD)

To begin with, if you're interested in HDR photography I would recommend this DVD tutorial from Mr. Sweet.

Understand that in order to use the Photomatix software (abt $100) discussed , recommend capturing your images in RAW or Tiff format, I have not tried Jpeg's with the software. Additionally, though one single image can be used (which creates a false HDR), it's best to use a minimum of two or more photos for processing. Though Photoshop alone can merge multiple photos together to create an HDR picture, my experience with Photomatix has been extremely positive. Mr. Sweet does not provide a technical "tour-de-force" about the software, but he does walk us through each individual processing setting capable of being utilized in the software.

Mr. Sweet provides instruction on the way he chooses to process his HDR photos (which may differ from others), and I learned quite a bit from watching the DVD. He teaches how to read the histogram of our camera (assuming you have a histogram) and that is the single most important feature required to produce the best images. Simple point and shoot camera owners I believe will have a difficult time. You'll need some sort of pro-level camera. My Nikon D40 works fine.

Photoshop is not required software (as one review suggested), however, some sort of post processing software is - Mr. Sweet chooses Photomatix. He simply utilizes Photoshop for specific targeted adjustments after the fact.

He provides step by step instruction for processing the first image (total of ten image processing segments are provided) and circumvents the other nine images to save time. In my opinion, once you process your first image you'll have an understanding how the software faders work.

Shot on location at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Mr. Sweet tours the prison and selects some fantastic prison cells, hallways, etc. which offer high contrast scenes and are perfect for this type of photography. Please understand that he is a professional photographer with professional equipment.

I would not recommend this DVD to the novice photographer who lacks the proper equipment. But to those of you with a basic understanding how your DSLR camera works, has a tripod, computer, and is willing to purchase Photomatix software (at a minimum) I think you'll enjoy Mr. Sweet's instruction. I have watched the DVD multiple times, and each time I pick up on something new.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best photography DVD I have ever seen, January 9, 2009

By 

George Brown (Mount Airy, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Dynamic Range: Photography Made Easy (DVD)

Tony got me started in HDR at his St. Michaels, Maryland, workshop last summer and, since then, I have felt pretty comfortable working HDR with most images. However, when I was in West Virginia last year I got access to an old mill that was being restored. There were no lights inside so it was very dark in most area, and bright sun was flowing through the few windows that were there. Most of my image sequences were 9 shots (8 stops...wow). So when I ran then through HDR software they just were not doing anything for me. Then a friend of min bought this DVD for me for my Birthday. It absolutely takes HDR processing up to a whole new level. After watching the DVD I realized that I did have a chance with some of these shots that I had given up on. Tony shows HDR techniques that I never thought of. I HIGHLY recommend this DVD.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HDR Made Easy, February 21, 2009

By 

M. J. Skelton (Troy , NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Dynamic Range: Photography Made Easy (DVD)

Opening the CD the first thing that caught my eye was the, "Portfolio "selection within the menu. Of course like a little kid I just had to have dessert before dinner. There are 3 portfolios, Eastern State Penitentiary, The Best of HDR and the Ellis Island Project. Examining each photo in the portfolios I was able to see what I like, what I didn't and what direction I want to go with HDR.

There are ten lessons on the CD . You can click on the" Program" link to start watching from the beginning or click on the "Chapter "link to select one of the individual photographs used for each lesson. What I found interesting and useful is that at the list of chapters you have your choice of selecting either "Capture " , which is Tony taking the photographs for the HDR or "Process " to jump to the actually processing of the photographs. I have to admit after chapter one I skipped the Captured sections and went right to the "Process "sections for each chapter.

The last part of the DVD is the " Reference Page " containing info for websites, a DVD and other books on the subject. Not included with the links but I would like to include is the User galleries at Photomatix [..]. You will find some amazing work here.

We are still a few years away at having an affordable HDR camera in our hands but we at the cutting edge, heading into the High Dynamic Range of the future. This DVD will get you up and started now. It is very well put together and meant to get you started straight from the box.

Best of Light !!!