Here are the three steps I used to make my final product. It’s a method I came up with my self, involving Photoshop, Photoshop plug-ins, and the wonderful Photo matrix. Here are some High(er) res photos in the steps. By the way, click on the photos to make them bigger.
This is my first HDR photo ever. I used Photomatrix Pro 3.2. Clearly there are some things I need to work on. First off, I need to use a tripod. While the software aligns the photos, it does not do a super job. Also, the biggest flaw is the photo is the depth of field. The right side is clear and in focus, however, the left is not. I shot this at 2.8f. If i shot it at 7f or 9f not only would it be slightly sharper, but everything would be in focus. This, I feel is one area where a shallow depth of field is not a good thing. Anyways, I just got my T2i today and it’s been awesome so far. I am very impressed with the photo and video capabilities.
It’ been about two weeks since I sold my Canon Xsi to buy a T2i. According to UPS tracking information, my camera shall arrive tomorrow morning (of course, ill be at school). Anyways, here are two photos my friend Lucas took with my Xsi this past winter. This is a comparison of the noise reduction in two different programs. 
This photo was taken at 1600 ISO, 5.6f and 105mm. 
The noise was relatively bad so I plopped it into Lightroom 3 beta two and fixed that noise problem. The top photo without a watermark is the photo that I used noise reduction from Windows Live Photo Gallery and the bottom photo with the Oliver Sholder watermark is edited with lightroom to remove noise. Viewing the larger photos will show a major difference between the two. The conclusion: lightroom is significantly better in terms of noise reduction. This, however, did not come as a surprise since the program costs more than the other free program, plus it has a much more complex algorithm.
My dad has a film professor from Boston University staying over at my house. He stayed for two days. During his stay at my house, he brought with him, his Canon 5D Mark II. This is a $2800 camera. He uses it to shoot video only, but he let me try it out. When I tried it, it was late in the night, around 11PM. I put on my 50mm at 1.8f and at 5000 ISO, the picture looked good. Keep in mind, this is super dark. I messed with the ISO settings and was surprised at the noise. The biggest difference between my cameras and this expensive one was the feel – this felt so high quality. It was much bigger too, giving it a nice feel. The magnesium alloy and grip felt like it was made for my hand. It was nothing short of what I expected. I took some nice shots with it – like my dad and the professor and his wife and then just random things around my house.
In the mean time, waiting for my camera has been painful. I am dyeing for my T2i. I am having dreams of taking out my camera and shooting video at 6400 ISO. Anyways, I have also been editing some of my older shots taken with my XSi. There are plenty of good shots and here is one that I liked especially. It was an interesting shot to begin with. After turning the saturation down all the way except for certain areas in Lightroom, it gave it a look i felt satisfactory to upload online. It’s currently on my facebook fan page as well as my Flickr account. Here is a link to my Facebook fan page – please become a fan and “like” me if you do in fact, like my work.
May 6th (or before) is the when my new T2i will arrive. I am pumped for this and really can’t wait. It’s a solid upgrade from my Xsi. The biggest reason is the HD video, but I will talk more about that once I get the camera and try it out. For now, I have been looking back at my best photos from older shoots – specifically, the one where I took my nifty 50 (50mm 1.8f lens) downtown and took some great photos.
PS: if you want to see the video in all it's glory, click the little vimeo text on the bottom right of the video and watch it full screen in full HD on the site.
