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We all take pictures, but let’s face it: they don’t always turn out the way we might have hoped. Sometimes the sun is in the wrong place or the camera’s on-board flash doesn’t properly expose the scene. The more common problem though — and one many beginning photographers are unaware of — is that scenes can’t be properly captured with a single exposure. That’s because standard photography isn’t capable of capturing a scene as vividly as the human eye.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy fix for such a complex problem. But there is equipment and software out there that can save or enhance that shot you thought got away. There are also techniques you can use with your current camera that will help. And it’s getting easier to do every day. First, let me give you a very simplified description of HDRI and tone mapping.

HDRI 
HDRI stands for High Dynamic Range Image, which is a method for capturing and editing a greater range of luminance than is possible with a standard image. The purpose of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from the brightest light to the deepest shadows. Our eyes can detect a very wide range of luminance, but much of it is lost with standard photography. However, if multiple images of a scene are shot at multiple exposure levels and then combined, you can achieve something closer to what the human eye perceives. The image set below shows exposures for highlights, mid-tones and shadows.



Tone mapping
Tone mapping is a technique used to combine bracketed exposures together to create an HDRI. Using this technique, a photographer can eliminate the loss of detail in a photo’s deep shadows and bright lights while preserving the image details and colors of the original scene. Tone mapping applications like Photomatix can be used either as a standalone or as a plugin to Photoshop. While there is some free software available (such as qtpfsgui — and no, that’s not a typo), Photomatix is a lot easier to use and produces better results. And when used properly, the results can be dazzling.  Remember those pictures of the Eiffel Tower?  Below is a tone-mapped image created from the 3 above. 

Layer masking 
One alternative to tone mapping is painting between layer masks within Photoshop. When I want a more dramatic effect, I use this method. Again, I begin with a set of bracketed exposures, which I’ll compile to create the final image. The images below (left to right) were shot only for the mid-tones and highlights. The 3rd image from the left is a tone-mapped version of the first 2 photos.  



By compiling them and painting between the Layer Masks in Photoshop I can achieve a more dramatic effect (as seen above on the far right), one that in many ways simulates the old dodge & burn techniques from back in my days in an actual darkroom. Of course, painting between layer masks requires some practice. Fortunately, there are several tutorials available throughout the web. Here’s a good one to get started with.

In order to get good results with tone mapping or layer masking, the images need to be in registration with one another. This can be tricky.  Two of the problems associated with shooting bracketed exposures are the movement of objects or people within the scene between exposures and registration of the images if using a tripod is not an option. This is where it comes in handy to shoot in Raw mode.

Shooting raw 
Many digital cameras today can shoot in Raw mode in addition to the standard jpeg or tiff formats. One great thing about Raw is that it usually gives you a 9-stop range within a single shot, making it fairly effective for creating HDR images. The following shot was taken in Raw mode. The set of images below shows the exposure range; the center image is the normal exposure.



Tone-mapping applications usually include quite a few adjustment controls so the results are almost endless. Here is a tone-mapped image created from the above set.



Until only recently, you could only shoot in Raw Mode if you had a pro or prosumer level camera. Most people prefer a point shoot camera for convenience sake, and now there are several very good ones on the market that offer Raw Mode. One of my favorites is the Canon G10. You get a 14.7 megapixel camera that shoots in Raw mode and even has image stabilization for just under $500.

If you want something even cheaper I suggest something like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2. You can pick up this 10 megapixel camera for about $200. It shoots in Raw mode and also shoots great video in multiple formats, including 16:9. I bought one recently for a trip I took to Florida. I wanted something with decent resolution, but I also wanted something cheap that I could use worry-free while snapping pictures on the beach or from boats. 

The image below is from the trip. On the left, you see the normal exposure in Raw mode. I processed 9 exposures from the Raw file and then imported them into Photomatix Pro to tone map the image. The result is on the right.



But I just want to point and shoot!
Obviously, many people don’t want to hassle with tone mapping every shot that they take. I know I wouldn’t. But for those who take their photography seriously and want to get more from their images, Raw mode images and tone mapping give you the ability to stretch the limits.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you are either in the process of programmatically migrating your web content or daydreaming about the day you finish a successful content migration. It’s a daunting job, and not for the faint of heart. Moving content from one content management system (CMS) to another takes lots of planning and collaboration, so pack a lot of patience.  

Content migrations typically begin with simply identifying the content that needs to move to the new system. If you’re lucky, this content is clean and ready for the trip, as is.  Otherwise, you might need time allotted to rewrite, format and create new content as well as update links and add meta data, which can be a major undertaking in itself.

Just like books in a library, content and meta data have to be mapped to their respective locations in the new CMS for automated migration. Each content and data field will be mapped from the current system to the new system, and if everything goes correctly the first time, oh wait — you can count on several content import/export iterations for your migration to be a success. But don’t worry! The dust will settle.

During each iteration, content and migration scripts will need to be tweaked and the new system cleansed, as it’s likely that some content will be less than willing to cooperate and/or will have formatting and display issues.

Be prepared to deal with stubborn content that just won’t play nice with any migration script, period. And schedule it for manual entry into the new system, post final migration.

With all of the focus on the content migration, don’t forget about any newly created content that is still being posted to the old system. This is usually a challenge for larger companies that have continual content updates. Consider instituting a change management process, so that new content is posted to both systems and nothing is lost.  This will require maintaining both systems until the new CMS is ready to take the lead and single-handedly run the show.

Automated content migration successful and completed. Dream realized.

About two years ago, certain people began throwing number signs in front of certain words in their tweets. The uninitiated were more than a little put off by the use of these seemingly meaningless symbols, but for some reason the twitterati were drawn like moths to a flame. And once the rest of the twit-o-sphere wrapped its mind around how hashtags work, they quickly became the preferred way to find, create and promote trending topics on Twitter.

These days, hashtags are everywhere — Facebook statuses, NPR…you name it. Some are meant for a select few (recently spotted: #whydovectorshapesremainclickablewithdirectselect). Others are clearly designed to grab everyone's attention. While organizations like #hashtags figure out cool ways to show the effects of this powerful little symbol, marketers keep trying (and, judging from efforts like MTV’s #thephone campaign, failing) to capitalize on it. Don’t even get me started on the MLM issue. 

All of this begs the question: how relevant are hashtags these days? Twitter Search now does much of the work hashtags used to do, and misguided (or malignant) efforts to use them just make people look the other way. While I’m a fan of hashtags in theory, in practice I find myself using them less and less every day.

I’d love to hear your take on the state of hashtags. Are they relevant? Annoying? Marketable? Endangered? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

We’ve all been there: It’s late at night. You can’t sleep. You flip on the TV. It’s one of those annoying infomercials.

Then the unthinkable happens: You think about reaching for your credit card. 4 easy payments of $19.95 makes a lot of sense.

Turns out, it’s the same case with online ads. Timing’s everything.

The U.K. Internet Advertising Bureau with Lightspeed Research reported that online audiences of all ages are more receptive to marketing messages from the early evening hours onward. Here’s Ad Age’s recap of the survey’s findings:

• Just 4.6% of those surveyed pay attention to ads before 9 am
• 11% of people pay attention to ads between noon and 2 pm
• 55% paid attention to ads after 6pm

Pretty simple: don’t bother people when they’re waking up or eating lunch — and sell when people are in a buying mood, which is apparently in the evening.

On the heels of Google’s announcement that display ads are just as effective as search, it’s time for marketers and agencies to look at how they’re handling online ads. If time of day isn’t part of your online media buys, it probably should be.

The clock is ticking.

Welcome to (your non-English speaking country here), where the weather’s great and the tourism flourishes. Speaking of tourism, are you preparing to drive traffic to your international website? If it’s not going like you thought, check a few things on the technical side to help improve your visibility with international SEO.  

Put the Language in the Meta. ID your language in the global meta tag. This is an easy way to specify the main language of your content:

<META Name=”content-language” Content=”FR”>

Don’t Just Translate. Performing an exact translation of your website through Google or other tools isn’t always the way to go. Most people go this route to get ranked on international SERPs, but try to avoid making these tools your solution: exact English translations of other languages don’t make sense in many instances.

Link Up with Your Region. Common SEO knowledge will tell you the more hyperlinks coming to your site, the better the ranking, so apply the same science with your region and ensure other international domains are linking to your site.

Host Is Where the Heart Is. If possible, keep your hosting inside the country you’re localizing for. Search engines recognize IP addresses automatically — it never hurts to have those addresses defining the proper location.

Define Your Domain. For example: when I build out my Austrian/German site is it www.premiereglobal.com/de or www.premiereglobal.at/de/? I linked off to the second in this case. If you’re a big brand or corporation with enough presence in the country, you’ll want to use it in your TLD (top-level domain). For smaller companies, it’s more practical to use the subfolder in your domain and geo-target the respective pages.

Take these pointers and run with them for visibility. Soon folks will be linking, sharing and talking about your brand’s site in more languages than you can think of.