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 The photography of Trey Ratcliff
A photoblog with three million page views a month. Images in the Smithsonian Institution. Representation by Getty Images. A busy travel schedule with evenings and weekends free for awe inspiring images. Yet the man behind the other-worldy scenes is a modest, self-effacing photographer who simply gets a kick out of creating an outstanding image. He is Trey Ratcliff of Austin, Texas. His high dynamic range (HDR) images are the stuff of internet legend.
As Ratcliff describes on his Web site, HDR is a software technique of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed.
The result is an image that immediately grabs your attention because it simply looks too real to be real. “I’m a huge defender and believer of utilizing HDR as a technique for processing photos because I think it helps to evoke my actual memory of the scene,” Ratcliff said. “When a human eye is actually on location, it is constantly moving, adjusting the pupil size, allowing in more light in some areas, less in others, and the brain actually works to build a patch-like vision of the scene. That is what we remember in our mind’s eye: an idealized super-realistic memory of the scene.”
Ratcliff looks for high contrast situations – dark scenes with bright highlights, backlighting or bright scenes with deep shadows – to perform his magic. He shoots the scene at different shutter speeds, then runs the series of images through Photomatix and Photoshop, layering, combining and masking until the HDR image emerges. Ratcliff is not one to hide the wealth – he published a full tutorial on how to do HDR on his blog Stuck in Customs.
Speaking of being Stuck in Customs, Ratcliff has traveled all over the world in search of interesting subjects and chronicles each adventure on his blog.
What about gear? Ratcliff primarily uses a Nikon D2x but admits that many of his earlier pictures were taken with a Nikon D70. He confesses that even though he can do basically the same type of work no matter what gear he packs, the high-end equipment allows him to see subtleties in his shots that lesser equipment just can’t provide.
“If you’re going out to shoot beautiful pictures, you better get serious,” Ratcliff says. “I have 3 main lenses: Nikkor 28-70mm 2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8, and a Sigma 10-20mm 4.5. I have a big tripod (Bogen/Manfrotto) with a silky smooth rotating fat Giotto with Quick Release head.”
For Ratcliff, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what makes his images so unique. One could point to the software that combines the images, but then, without high quality images from high-end gear, the images would suffer. And Radcliff’s ability to evaluate a scene for its HDR potential based on his many years of experience also comes into play.
“The software, equipment, and process all work together to create the finished product,” says Ratcliff.
Ratcliff recommends the following set of digital cameras for HDR photography to photographers in any level; Recommended Low End Camera:
Nikon D40 with 18-55mm Lens
Here is a note by Ratcliff though; I don’t recommend this entry level camera because it does not do autobracketing. It DOES take shots in RAW format, and you can use that for making HDRs, but I believe it is better to have a camera that does have autobracketing built in.
Recommended Mid Range Camera:
D80 with 18-55mm VR Lens
This is a great camera. It will treat you well and it will last you a lifetime of great shots.
Recommended High End Camera:
Nikon D3
This camera is the ultimate. I can say no more.
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