HDR Photography

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Mike Conley

Re: HDR Photography

Postby Mike Conley » Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:01 pm

Frankie wrote:Nice work, Mike, and your website is very easy to navigate. Thanks for sharing the HDR's. Did you use any tutorials when you first started?

Frankie


Thanks Frankie, The Photomatix site has a few basic tutorials but I learned the most from a DVD Ben Willmore created: HDR Mastery.

Mike

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Re: HDR Photography

Postby Frankie » Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:00 pm

I tried the Photomatix tutorial and found it somewhat limiting (or me somewhat dense - not sure which or maybe both). I looked at Ben Willmore's site. Thanks for the lead. It looks interesting. I noticed he also offers online HDR training. I wonder if it's the same as the DVD or more. Do you know?

Frankie

dnmilikan

Re: HDR Photography

Postby dnmilikan » Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:46 am

For those who may be interested, this is a link to what I consider some excellent HDR photography.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/cambridge-gallery.htm

It is very easy to achieve unrealistic renderings in HDR. This is a site that seems to have not fallen into that genre. There are also some basic tutorials on HDR and other matters photographic on the site that while using CS2 all should be applicable to all later versions of PS.

An earlier version of this site indicated that the photographer used Photomatix for HDR however I did not notice the same mention on this site.

Best wishes,
Donald Miller

Mike Conley

Re: HDR Photography

Postby Mike Conley » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:52 am

dnmilikan wrote:For those who may be interested, this is a link to what I consider some excellent HDR photography.

What you consider is the key phrase in that sentence.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/cambridge-gallery.htm

It is very easy to achieve unrealistic renderings in HDR. This is a site that seems to have not fallen into that genre. There are also some basic tutorials on HDR and other matters photographic on the site that while using CS2 all should be applicable to all later versions of PS.

An earlier version of this site indicated that the photographer used Photomatix for HDR however I did not notice the same mention on this site.

Best wishes,
Donald Miller


As I mentioned in my earlier post, I prefer the illustrated look when doing HDR. However, the images on my site were not as easy as processing them in Photomatix. In fact, when the images left Photomatix, other than the greater dynamic range, they did not look processed at all. I spent a lot of time in PS working with layer mask to achieve the final look. Over the years and prior to digital, I have shot many traditional landscape images. I still enjoy doing so from time to time but quite honestly, I find them boring compared to the digital art I can create. As I also said earlier, many people do not like the over prcoessed look, that’s fine. In my experience, these are the people that have been shooting for many years and do not believe this look is actually photography. Photographers have been retouching for years, at what point in post processing does one cross the line? If I have over reacted to your comment regarding how easy it is to achieve unrealistic results, I apologize. I take offense to the comment as I spent a significant amount of time in post working with these images. I can assure you my images are not posssible in Photomatix only.

Mike

dnmilikan

Re: HDR Photography

Postby dnmilikan » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:01 am

Hello Mike,

I am sorry that you took offense to my post. I posted in an attempt to convey another possible result with HDR. My post was not directed to you or at you. So perhaps it might help you to evaluate your response to me for future reference . You are correct that I have photographed for more years than you would probably believe. I have done a lot of PM and PS since I got into digital (both still and HD video) as an adjunct to my sheet film black and white so I do understand the work that can go into an image.

Best regards,
Donald Miller

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Re: HDR Photography

Postby rkligman » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:37 pm

Most of the information in this thread is good. My 2 cents worth.

First, Topaz Adjust does not equal HDR as MC pointed out. Adjust is an image manipulation tool for Contrast. The reason people equate it with HDR is because more people than not make their HDR images look very contrasty (aka cartoony).

I use Photomatix mostly and a tad of Dynamic Photo HDR. Photomatix gives the cleanest, sharpest output and DPHDR gives you lots of interesting easy to use looks/options.

A couple posters said, too hard to setup and make an HDR. Not really. I've taken many handheld HDRs and it's so much easier than you think, especially with Photomatix. That's one of the strong points of PM vs. DPHDR, the aligning of images. I'll expand on this in a second.

Some chatter about books and tutorials in this thread. I've seen some and they really didn't seem to add much to what there is to do. HDR is so simple that it can almost be summed up in one (long) sentence. Take your camera, set it for a 3 shot bracketed exposure, Normal, 2 stops over and 2 stops under, hold still (or better use a tripod), fire off the 3 shots and import into Photomatix. Now your done. The rest is all slider adjustments. There really is no other magic. 3 shots will take care of 90% or more of anything you shoot.

Getting back to aligning. I usually have the Highlight blinkies mode turned on in my LCD back. If you find yourself with a scene where the blinkies are flashing then it might be time for HDR. All you need to do is hold very steady and rapid fire the 3 bracketed shots. You'll need some good light to ensure the dark shot has a shutter speed that is hand holdable. If that's the case, Photomatix aligns the images really well if you are steady and the subject has some good contrasty lines that the software can use for alignment. More often than not that is the case.

Using a single file? No problem. You have to shoot RAW otherwise it won't work. Why? Because the RAW file has 2 stops of latitude on either side of the exposure. Is it as good as 3 shots? Sometimes. There are some downsides and given a choice, you should go with 3 or more shots but when you are shooting moving objects that can be impossible.

I currently have 112 images in my HDR gallery so have a look. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rkligman/sets/72157604878820873/
Rick Insane Diego...

dnmilikan

Re: HDR Photography

Postby dnmilikan » Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:06 pm

Another option or rather an adjunct to HDR for those that want the grungy look is to take the blended and tone mapped image and run it through Lucis using the "exposure setting on the third or fourth level at a setting of 40-45. If the noise after Lucis is objectionable run the finished image through Noise Ninja to clean it up.

This addition of Lucis amplifies texture while holding the broad tonal pallete of HDR. Milder settings or other filters within Lucis can be softer than the grungy look or offer different looks entirely.

Sometimes running Lucis on separate layers (with mulitple filters) can be nice since it allows blending alternatives and adjustments not possible with direct applications.

TidalPoolExplorer

Re: HDR Photography

Postby TidalPoolExplorer » Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:44 am

Donald,

I can't thank you enough for your post explaining the dynamics of capturing a scene using HDR techniques. Your short post was much more informative and useful than all the other articles I have read on this subject combined, and helps me to understand why some of my HDR shots turn out really impressive while the dynamics of others prove to be lacking.


Take Care
Dan

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