3 Minutes with Photographer Trey Ratcliff
If you spend any amount of time online you’re likely to have been exposed to the work of Trey Ratcliff, who is also known as Stuck In Customs. Having developed a unique approach and style of HDR he’s developed a rabid following, resulting in his work being viewed over 16 million times on Flickr. Trey has a wealth of knowledge to share in regard to his well received approach to using HDR and he’s been kind enough to take part in this weeks “3 Minutes with…”
What gear do you use?
I have the sweet lady “Nikon D3x . She completes me. Besides that, I use several pieces of software, the particulars of which are outlined inside my HDR Tutorial. These include but are not limited to Photomatix, LucisArt, and, of course, Photoshop.
Describe your photography in 100 words or less
I have my own interpretation of HDR photography, as you might detect from my work. My history is a strange combination of growing up blind in one eye and then majoring in computer science. I’ve always thought about the brain, the eye, and the manipulation of light in terms of algorithms. I give deep thought into how we store scenes and emotions in our mind’s eye, and I seek to achieve, photographically, a palpaple sense to the world around us.
What’s one quick tip that you’d give people getting into photography to help them improve?
The best tip is perhaps the one that I hit hard in my tutorial: Although existing HDR algorithms are good and getting better, they must be re-mixed with an original RAW to ensure that proper balance is returned to the scene.
What 3 Photography Sites or Photoblogs do you Recommend?
1) Flickr’s Explore page – That Explore function is pretty good. I can always find unique shots from accomplished and up-and-coming photographers by just constantly refreshing
2) Abduzeedo – This is a great site for artistic inspiration. If you are the kind of photographer that finds inspiration in things outside of traditional photography, I recommend
3) Smashing Magazine – This is another unexpected source of inspiration – a very nice collection of art and other great work that is going on across the web
Read more about Trey ’s work on his blog
18 Responses to “3 Minutes with Photographer Trey Ratcliff” - Add Yours
April 14th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Great article! Trey Ratcliff is one of my favorite photographers, and as I am fascinated by HDR, I look to his work for inspiration.
April 14th, 2009 at 5:50 am
gimmicky
April 14th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Thanks for the time and the tutorial link as well.
April 14th, 2009 at 6:58 am
I want to just vouch for Trey’s work, I frequent his photo stream and this guy has some major talent, if reading this didn’t get you over to his photo stream, DO IT. I think I will be linking his HDR tutorial to my blog, because there is just no way I can write a better one, I learned how to do it from him and you should to.
Thanks Darren and Trey!
April 14th, 2009 at 9:10 am
The question has been asked in the forum do you like HDR? Trey is really is the epitome of “yes – HDR can be great”.
His photographs are inspirational and shows HDR can be done well. His site is well worth a look not only for the graphic content but also his quirky writing style.
Thanks for showing us that HDR can be great.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Anytime someone comes to me for help I first point to Trey’s tut, if they still need help in understanding certain things I try to help to the best of my ability. But to be honest it was his tut that I learned from and probably one of the best out there. If anyone has any doubts on wanting to try HDR then I highly recommend checking out Trey’s blog because it will hold many awesome and unique HDR images that will surely inspire you to get out there into the world of HDR.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Thanks for the interview. Trey’s work just keeps getting better and better.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Thank you all very much. I am humbled to be on such an excellent site as DPS. Also – I am glad you guys like the HDR Tutorial. I will continue to improve it every few months!
April 17th, 2009 at 1:33 am
It’s great to see Trey featured here. He does great work, and he’s very giving with information on his technique. I still want to know how he manages to trot the globe as much as he does. Aside from his photographic technique, that’s one thing I’d love to learn from the guy!
April 17th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Maybe I’m the only one, but I don’t like it. Technically speaking, these images aren’t even HDR, they are an LDR rendition of HDR images, through tone-mapping.
My opinion: this kind of HDR is to photography what Britney Spears is to music. Many people like it, but I wouldn’t call it “art”.
April 17th, 2009 at 3:47 am
I’ve been doing HDR before I seen any of Trey’s work. After visiting his site and reading his HDR Tutorial I was able to move my photography processing skills up a notch. The masking techniques he demonstrates has really help me to polish out the final image. I’ve always known about this technique, being a graphic designer, but never though much about applying it to HDR. Thanks Trey, U Da Man!
April 17th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@bigmouth – You are certainly not the only one who dislikes HDR, but I feel your analogy is somewhat flawed. Regardless of that, your wrong on two fronts: These ARE HDR images because they have a High Dynamic Range, tonemapped or not, and if you really read through, Trey does many different methods including what you would call “true” HDR. And secondly, I would most definitely call this art.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Truly wonderful. This is what i would call lighting and depth of field, achieved through HDR. Photography is all about light and depth. If you can master that, you can master anything and Trey seems to be a master of that. Wish he could now write in DPS on how he masters light and depth in an indepth article rather than just a small interview that doesn’t say much except promote his blog and website. Hope I am not asking for too much.
Z
April 17th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
These image can’t be “true HDR”, since you can’t see HDR on a computer display. HDR is simply a part of the process, but the final images are plain JPG (that is: 8 bit per channel, or simply LDR).
What I see on this page (and on most HDR sites, flickr groups) are over-saturated images, with little global contrast, no shadows, no depth, some halos and other problems (banding and so on). These are more like cartoons than photos.
A good article on HDR (author: Erik Reinhard) is here:
http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/home/reinhard/tm_comp/flickr_hdr/The%20Problem.html
Anyway, if you like it, good for you. I don’t.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:09 am
I’m a big fan of HDR but I agree with @bigmouth in some of his points. What you see in ANY HDR image here, on Flickr or elsewhere on the web is not an HDR but an 8 bit (low dynamic range) reduction of a high dynamic range image. The operation that derives an LDR output image from an HDR source image is called “tone mapping” and this is where most perceived problems lie since there are many, many variables that can be tweaked in this mapping resulting in a huge diversity of different output images.
If you are a believer that photography should be used purely to record a scene and reproduce it as faithfully as a single exposure and your equipment will allow, you may find some mappings not to your taste since they can change the overall tonality of an image to a point where it looks unreal. On the other hand, if you view photography as an art where what matters is the final output and whether or not it creates a pleasing effect (regardless of how “realistic” it may be), then tone mapping is a very flexible tool that offers great artistic opportunities.
Personally, I find Trey’s work to be extremely artistic and effective but I do understand that people of the “Cartier-Bresson” school may feel otherwise, as they do about a lot of my photography.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I should clarify my comments on this:
Bigmouth – First I want to apologize for making an assumption regarding your definition of “true” “HDR”. In many “less informed” circles, folks refer to “HDR’s” made with 3 or more actual exposures as “true” “HDR” and tone mapping a single RAW is …well NOT true or fake “HDR.” I completely understand your definition and have for some time, I just gave up on semantic arguments long ago…. You are correct that these are technically LDR images…..Thanks for the great read about “the real HDR”. A very good explanation indeed.
Unfortunately I think this is lost on many people as I believe most folks are not purist’s like yourself, and care mostly for results. I also disagree firmly with two of his major points…
” High dynamic range imaging is NOT a creative process.”
” Tone reproduction is NOT a creative process.”
I believe that using any tool, to create anything, is a creative process. That’s the definition no? Even though I agree with you that way to many “HDR/LDR” images are poorly done and result in images that in my opinion are less interesting than the original would have been, I still think that its the artists discretion and its part of a creative process, which results in art. Like it or not. To each their own. One mans trash is another mans treasure. And I still stand behind my recommendation of Trey’s work as I believe he’s got it right and I enjoy his images. No matter what you want to call them. And isn’t it the “unreal” quality of these images that draw people in? That’s what I like about them….
BTW, Dave Wilson has some great images as well. Nice site Dave.
April 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am
Where did you take the top picture of the mountains? and how much did you edit it? I think i have the original at home. haha
May 16th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The thing that struck me the most from Trey’s site was when he talked about your photos never doing your memory justice. I feel like his work portrays the emotions you feel when you are actually there. Life as you’re living it is full-blown colour in high contrast and this is one way to make your photos show that. I think you have to like high contrast and colour saturation to appreciate what he’s doing, but it is of course, art. It comes from inside him and inspires so many others. And a bunch of people think it’s crap. If that’s not art, then what is?
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