So I stumbled across “Photographic Impressionism” early this morning, and spent the bulk of the work day with a few things I read about it running through my head. Naturally, I had to try it out, but not on pretty landscapes or flowers, on something mundane and controllable and within the safety of my apartment.

This shot ended up being something akin to HDR, but all done entirely within the camera.

How? With multiple exposures, of course…

The first 60 or so attempts were all handheld. I liked the blur that was possible, but couldn’t seem to control it very well, so I pulled out the tripod.

The next 20 or so seemed sort of flat.

Then it hit me: don’t just shoot ISO100, 1/160th, f/1.4! Vary the exposures!

Cha-Ching.

The D7000 is limited to three exposures in its multiple exposure mode… I would like to try many many more, several dozens of exposures, but that will have to wait for a different camera. Ended up, 3 exposures were plenty.

I’m not entirely happy with this shot, but it was about the best of the lot, and did everything (almost) that I was trying to do: oversaturate the colors slightly; get multiple areas in focus; capture the orange tungsten and the blue of the overcast afternoon and expose properly for both. Good times, but still kinda Meh.

The first exposure, focused on the tree in the middle background: ISO100, 2 seconds, f/11.

The second exposure, focused on the same spot and also ISO100, 1 second, f/8.

The final exposure, focused on the coffee cup, ISO100, 1/200th sec., f/1.4, with the SB-700 on the camera, aimed down slightly, with its tungsten filter and diffusion dome in place, at 1/4 power.

And *poof!* an in-camera HDR with three exposures and only one photo…

This is something to play around with, for sure, and I have hundreds of ideas running through my head. Time to put some on paper before I forget…

Any thoughts/suggestions/jeers you have will be appreciated!

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