• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Handling HDR images essay on Outback Photo

E

Erkki Majamaki

New member
In my opinion the most interesting HDR article has been HDR Landscape Photography Tutorial by Royce Howland. You can find this article on home page of Photomatix (www.hdrsoft.com) and also in the archives of NatureScapes.net. Royce Howland compares the hdr workflow of Photomatix Pro and Photoshop CS2 in this article. I think that people have not learned how to use all the controls eg in Photomatix (there are althogether 8 of them) and that is why many pictures look very strange.

Erkki
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
If the job can be done perfectly well in CS2 why buy another program? I really don't get it!

After the article on HDR which says Photomax images look unreal, there's a protest post, quoted below:

http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html

I have to say I disagree with your assessment of Photomatix. My photos photos are all done with Photomatix and come out quite realistically. You're right that many people take HDR to the extreme and their results are cartoony, but with practice and an artistic eye, the results can be great! In my experience with HDR images in Photoshop CS2, the results are much grainier and dull than with Photomatix. Thanks for the post!
By Richie, at 6:39 AM

However, take a look at his Photomax processed HDR images:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richietown/sets/72157594234514295/

Are they surreal or real looking?

Asher
 
J

JohanElzenga

New member
If you go to my site and click the 'Lodges and hotels' button, you'll find several images that were produced with HDR in Photoshop CS2. Not all are HDR though, sometimes blending of two exposures was used. Can you spot which is which?
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Johan,

Based on the small sized JPG files on your web site, it is rather difficult to judge the technicalities of the HDR or exposure combinations. My wild guess is that the following are the HDR images (starting from top): 1, 2 and 6.

Neverheless, I did not find any of the images to be "unnatural" except maybe for image number 6. Very well done indeed :).

Regards,

Cem
 
J

Joseph Ferrari

New member
I've recently began a journey into HDR imaging and I'm hooked!

Photography is a form of expression—HDR imaging is a brush in a growing pallete for modern photographers today.

Here is my first attempt at HDR imaging; it has transformed lifeless images that did nothing for me into "wholly sh@#!"

http://www.josephferrari.com/HDRImages/general.htm

Now guys and gals, be kind to me! :)

Joseph
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
I'm with Photomatix, too, as I rarely got it done 1) good-looking/not overdone and 2) with a nice histogramm, in PS-CS-2.

Photomatix offers much more ways to merge images together; sometimes using "combine" in its variations is all you need.

And don't forget the Photomatix Tone mapping plugin for PS; it squeezes every little microdetail out of your shots. Good lenses required.
 
S

samdring

New member
Joseph Ferrari said:
I've recently began a journey into HDR imaging and I'm hooked!

Photography is a form of expression—HDR imaging is a brush in a growing pallete for modern photographers today.

Here is my first attempt at HDR imaging; it has transformed lifeless images that did nothing for me into "wholly sh@#!"

http://www.josephferrari.com/HDRImages/general.htm

Now guys and gals, be kind to me! :)

Joseph
Click to expand...
Joseph
Very nice - as you say they were 'lifeless' images, are they done from a single exposure from raw or had you already bracketed and, therefore, combined?
 
J

Joseph Ferrari

New member
samdring said:
Joseph
Very nice - as you say they were 'lifeless' images, are they done from a single exposure from raw or had you already bracketed and, therefore, combined?
Click to expand...

Thanks.

3 bracketed exposures and then combined. The shooting session was meant specifically for bringing back images for HDR.

Joseph
 
J

Joseph Ferrari

New member
Thanks guys.

I used 5D with 17-40mm f4, tripod mounted, with manual focuse and manual exposure bracketing (3 shots, typical shutter speeds: 1/100, 1/160, 1/250). Raw images (no post) were brought into Photomatix Pro and combined to HDR and then tone mapped and an 8-bit jpeg was generated. I further processed the jpeg in Digital Photo Professional with a slight amount of sharpening and a slight amount of saturation reduction and final cropping.

I've since gone out and tried auto bracketing without the tripod and the results have been appended to the HDR gallery.

http://www.josephferrari.com/HDRImages/general.htm

I found the images to be reasonably sharp in the center, but registration along the edges become non-existent.

The lack of registration could probably be reduced with an 8.5 fps vs. the 3 fps coming from the 5D.

What do you think?

Joseph
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
Joseph Ferrari said:
The lack of registration could probably be reduced with an 8.5 fps vs. the 3 fps coming from the 5D.
What do you think? Joseph
Click to expand...

No way; I once tried it, and never will do it again, as it was a hell of work to "register" them in PS.
I had been just to lazy to use the tripod, silly me ;-)
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
Thanks, Asher

yes, it would be interesting to see, if CS-3 could fix it perfectly, even at the border (more difficult) or in difficult shots, as architecture, etc. But no time for testing now...

And I took my lesson; its easier to have 'em aligned straight out of the camera, than in soft later; the tripod is alwith with me, anyway.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Michael Fontana said:
Thanks, Asher

yes, it would be interesting to see, if CS-3 could fix it perfectly, even at the border (more difficult) or in difficult shots, as architecture, etc. But no time for testing now...

And I took my lesson; its easier to have 'em aligned straight out of the camera, than in soft later; the tripod is alwith with me, anyway.
Click to expand...
Michael,

Reindeer Graphics has, as part of its lowest cost package, a PS plugin for fractional pixel alignment!

It's their "Nudge" tool I believe!

Asher
 
J

Joseph Ferrari

New member
Asher Kelman said:
Michael,

Try the PS CS3 Beta. It has an auto allign function that I might work.

Asher
Click to expand...

With a wide angle, hand held, registration corner-to-corner is next to impossible. There are too many variables: tilt, rotation, pan.

I'm almost at a point where, if I'm goning to do a "walk-about", I bring along my tripod and remote.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Joseph Ferrari said:
With a wide angle, hand held, registration corner-to-corner is next to impossible. There are too many variables: tilt, rotation, pan.

I'm almost at a point where, if I'm goning to do a "walk-about", I bring along my tripod and remote.
Click to expand...


Joseph,

These issues are not really so important for stitching when you have reasonable fast paced shooting (so new things dont come in the field of view and trees and clouds and sky and lighting don't change. I Just try to keep steady and don't photograph things close up when I also have a high depth of focus!

For landscapes especially software can align pretty well.

For the most accurate work for enlargement, a heavy tripod IS, Mirror Lock-up and a fast speed are needed. Can add weights to tripod. Keep the legs as short as possible and hand on a weight or bottle of water to center column.

I'd still try some hand held pics to increase dynamic range\. You may be surprised at what you can do!

Asher
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
With the camera-internal autobracket, (pers function xy) and a remote cable & MLU on tripod you don't need to touch the cam between the bracket shots, and it's ultra-fast. Works fine, here on the 1 DS-2.
 
J

Joseph Ferrari

New member
Michael Fontana said:
With the camera-internal autobracket, (pers function xy) and a remote cable & MLU on tripod you don't need to touch the cam between the bracket shots, and it's ultra-fast. Works fine, here on the 1 DS-2.
Click to expand...

How much of a difference in sharpness/detail would there be when using mirror lock-up and manual bracketing instead of in-camera autobracket?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top