I've joined the world of HDR

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 11:29 AM

I've always been sceptical about HDR but I've joined the club, bought Photomatix and produced some HDR shots.

When I went to New York about this time last year I took some shots of NYC sunrises. I used exposure bracketting to take a range of shots. Last year I tried to use PS to blend the images together with limited success. Here is the best one:

But the same (or similar scenes) processed by Photomatix makes the scene come alive:

View it large here

View it large here

And the best one (IMO):

View it large here

Comment welcome!

Holowlegs · 18-03-2007, 11:52 AM

Hi ya

Great work.

Just one thing in the last one is it me or are the building leaning to the left a little bit.

One quick question if you don't mind.

Can you do HDR with just one jpeg picture if you made 3 layers of it and blured one a bit, and sharped the other up?

Would like to give HDR a go myslef one day.

Cheers Holo

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holowlegs

Just one thing in the last one is it me or are the building leaning to the left a little bit?

They do seem to be, hadn't noticed that TBH. Will have to straighten them up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holowlegs

One quick question if you don't mind.

Can you do HDR with just one jpeg picture if you made 3 layers of it and blured one a bit, and sharped the other up?

Um, not sure. I thought HDR worked best if you had three or more different exposures of one scene (eg +2, 0 and -2 etc). Not sure if it would work with a jpeg as you describe. You can try out the Photomatix software for free so give it a go.

stevegreen · 18-03-2007, 12:17 PM

Great stuff Si. I have a bracketed RAW shot of a nice landscape in Cornwall, but I have yet to give it the HDR treatment. I took it bracketed as it was difficult to expose correctly so hopefully the action in CS2 will sort it.

vulkan75 · 18-03-2007, 12:19 PM

Nice shots simon.
The last one looks proper Hdr,Really strong but not to fake.

The others are great to especialy the first one.

Holo,I think you misunderstand Hdr,You dont want to Blur anything.In fact your want it as sharp as you can get.In fact this is another reason why shooting in Raw is beneficial.You can create different exposed shots from the one digital negative eg Underexposed,correctly exposed,overexposed.What your essentialy doing is combining different exposures so that the image shows all detail usually lost in the dark parts and revealing all the detail usually lost in the bright parts.

As far as Jpgs go it can be done but ive personally not had very pleasing results.

Ignore the filters and editing buut see the texture come out on the pots in the second shot.

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stevegreen · 18-03-2007, 12:23 PM

Thats Tenby that is.......

Loving the conversion on the original, very atmospheric!

ash · 18-03-2007, 12:28 PM

NICE! Going New York in a view days, hopefully will see some of those sites.

Just some questions, do you need a DSLR camera that can take RAW pics to use this software? I have a P&S camera, will that work?
And does it do it for you, the HDRing, bit of a n00b.

So basically I take three exact same pics, but change exposure each time? Should the exposures be extreme differences. Mine goes from -3 to +3 in 1/3 steps.

vulkan75 · 18-03-2007, 12:36 PM

Yes thats pretty much it mate,Id recommend a tripod so as to ensure good alignment.

You can do with Jpgs on photomatixCheck out Thier FAQ

The software will align the images and you can tweak with a simple slider system.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ash

NICE! Going New York in a view days, hopefully will see some of those sites.

Just some questions, do you need a DSLR camera that can take RAW pics to use this software? I have a P&S camera, will that work?
And does it do it for you, the HDRing, bit of a n00b.

So basically I take three exact same pics, but change exposure each time? Should the exposures be extreme differences. Mine goes from -3 to +3 in 1/3 steps.

Are you going to NY? You should have said

You can do HDR perfectly well with jpegs. All of my HDR shots were composed of three individual jpeg exposures taken by the camera - +2, 0, -2. When I went to NY I didn't know about RAW so all my shots were taken in jpeg. So your camera should be fine as you can manually change the exposure. Yes, the exposures should be extreme differences. You should try to cover all parts of the image so that they are exposed correctly in one of exposure bracketed shots.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevegreen

Great stuff Si. I have a bracketed RAW shot of a nice landscape in Cornwall, but I have yet to give it the HDR treatment. I took it bracketed as it was difficult to expose correctly so hopefully the action in CS2 will sort it.

Cool - I'll look forward to seeing it.

wabbitt · 18-03-2007, 3:33 PM

wow at both electrolyte and vulkan75.

Love the NY shots and the one of the bay,

I'm a big HDR fan too and these are just great.

*Trev2971* · 18-03-2007, 3:49 PM

Superb shot....

all this HDR made me get photomatix pro.....

cant say its done anything to the pics ive tried with Ive done the -2 0 +2 cant say its 'happened' for me (yet!)....althought i think im running before I can walk

It was wabbits London shot that started me off but seeing Tenby as Vulkans shot shows got me trying again....I would love it someone could give me 3 shots and the way in which they managed the conversion.....maybe another thread

Nice HDR guys

Trev

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 4:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wabbitt

wow at both electrolyte and vulkan75.

Love the NY shots and the one of the bay,

I'm a big HDR fan too and these are just great.

Thanks wabbitt - it was seeing how good your HDR shots were that persuaded me to download the demo of Photomatix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trev2971

Superb shot....

all this HDR made me get photomatix pro.....

cant say its done anything to the pics ive tried with Ive done the -2 0 +2 cant say its 'happened' for me (yet!)....althought i think im running before I can walk

It was wabbits London shot that started me off but seeing Tenby as Vulkans shot shows got me trying again....I would love it someone could give me 3 shots and the way in which they managed the conversion.....maybe another thread

Nice HDR guys

Trev

Thanks Trev. Am working on a tutorial now. Will post one soon!

Radiohead · 18-03-2007, 5:47 PM

Great shots both of you - the bottom NYC one and the Tenby one are crying out to be canvas printed and wall-mounted.

vulkan75 · 18-03-2007, 5:55 PM

Sorry simon I seem to have cashed in on your glory here.That wasnt my intention.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

Liquid101 · 18-03-2007, 6:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electrolyte

And the best one (IMO):

Comment welcome!

Some nice shots here, but I think this one needs some manual work. The halos around the 3 tallest building are just a little too distracting. It seems that the software uses some kind of gaussain blur to blend the layers, and the dark sky scarapers have given it some problems.

Without the halos it woudl be a blinder.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 7:07 PM

I've written a tutorial here for anyone interested.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 7:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Some nice shots here, but I think this one needs some manual work. The halos around the 3 tallest building are just a little too distracting. It seems that the software uses some kind of gaussain blur to blend the layers, and the dark sky scarapers have given it some problems.

Without the halos it woudl be a blinder.

Thanks mate - I know what you mean. Any idea how I could remove them in PS? My PS skills aren't good enough to do it.

vulkan75 · 18-03-2007, 7:17 PM

Simon.

You can overcome this in the software itself.Either drag the strength slider down or set the smoothing to high.

Alternatively Lower the white clip and increase luminosity to suit.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 7:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vulkan75

Simon.

You can overcome this in the software itself.Either drag the strength slider down or set the smoothing to high.

Alternatively Lower the white clip and increase luminosity to suit.

Thanks mate. I'll have to give it a try.

Liquid101 · 18-03-2007, 7:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electrolyte

Thanks mate - I know what you mean. Any idea how I could remove them in PS? My PS skills aren't good enough to do it.

There are a couple of ways to do this, probably the easiest is this:

Make a copy of the image onto a new layer. On this layer, clone across the offending halos with darker sky, use the clone tool at about 75%, don't worry about painting over the buildings. When you have even tone, reduce the opacity to 75% so you can see the buildings shining though from the layer behind. Now using the eraser, carefully erase the outline of the building from the new layer, allowing the originals to shine though.

I gave it 5 mins, and came up with this, a little more care and you should be able to make a better job.

Oh, while I was about it, I straightened the buildings up as well.

electrolyte · 18-03-2007, 8:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid101

There are a couple of ways to do this, probably the easiest is this:

Make a copy of the image onto a new layer. On this layer, clone across the offending halos with darker sky, use the clone tool at about 75%, don't worry about painting over the buildings. When you have even tone, reduce the opacity to 75% so you can see the buildings shining though from the layer behind. Now using the eraser, carefully erase the outline of the building from the new layer, allowing the originals to shine though.

I gave it 5 mins, and came up with this, a little more care and you should be able to make a better job.

Oh, while I was about it, I straightened the buildings up as well.

That is fantastic, thanks mate. You are da man when it comes to PS!