Tring HDR

[Mitchell]

Well ive been reading alot on HDR and it sounds pretty cool, so i thought i would try it out.
i was wondering if anyone here has done it and how they like it..

[Edd]

Hi Mitchell,

I've been toying with HDR for a couple of months now, and tried to "Fake HDR" in Elements 6.

I take two images and overlay them erasing parts from one to show better exposed areas on the other.

I can't do it right now but hopefully later tonight I'll try and post one. Believe me they are now where near the standard they should be but I'm just trying it all out.

Ideally you do need some software to combine your images on, again I need to spend more time looking into that before I can really talk any more about it.

I like the idea and think some fantansic results can be achieved.

Ed

[Edd]

Hi Mitchell,

Found a bit of time. This is what I have done.

Original



Faked HDR



I took the original shot and used the raw converter to produce two Tiff files. One exposed for the sky the other exposed for the ground.

I the laid the ground exposed shot over the top of the sky exposed shot and deleted the sky in the ground shot. The net result is we see the sky on the bottom image but the ground from the top image.

Ideally you would take two shots of the scene, but seeing that I didn't do that I followed a tip from the "Missing Manuals for Elements 6" and used the raw convert instead.

I'm sure the same could of been achieved with levels alone, but I still need to build up experience in using levels first. If anyone wants to have ago feel free to use the posted images here.

As I explained this is a first try and was pleased, but hope better results can be achieved infuture. One thing I did notice though was that any noise became more apparent in the image after using this technique.

Ed

[Mitchell]

Thats a nice picture, i agree with you aobut the noise when i tryed my first picture there was a bunch of it.
There is this program called Photomatix that i used you can download it for free but it has water marks on it until you buy it, but it works really good.
I would post a picture of it but i just rebuild my computer and cant find my photoshop disc so i cant resize

[Edd]

Hi Mitchell,

Yes I have heard of Photomatix, but didn't realise you could download a free watermarking copy though. Maybe worth a try.

Still looking occassionally for HDR software, but not really top of the list right now.

Ed

[Mitchell]

I found this article about HDR on PCPhoto, thought it might be helpful.

http://www.pcphotomag.com/how-to/shooti ... pr1_021209

[Edd]

Thanks Mitchell,

I've book marked it so I can go back and have a proper read later, just on my lunch break !!!!!!

The OP magazine over here in the UK are doing a 3 series report on HDR and reads quite interesting. Just read Part II this weekend about bracketing the shots ready for production, hopefully next article will be about the processing side.

Thanks

Ed

[Mitchell]

This is my first 'TRUE' HDR image.
I thinks its OK but what do you all think about it?

[colorjunkie]

Well ive been reading alot on HDR and it sounds pretty cool, so i thought i would try it out.
i was wondering if anyone here has done it and how they like it..

Hey Mitchell, I do HDR full time, mainly landscape and objects, but I'm toying with the idea of using it for interiors shooting as a paying gig. I believe HDR is the future of modern photography and I don't subscribe to any rules regarding this medium. From strictly purist photorealism, to Over the Top (OTT) insanity it's all good. Once people see HDR it's all they want. Once I saw Trey Ratcliff's (stuckincustoms) work my life forever changed for the better. I'm not an expert yet but I get along pretty well, I'd consider myself more around the blue belt ranks with just over 400 processes in the can, some are utter crap, and some are not. I leave them all up because I want to help noobies and remind myself of from whence I came. I strongly believe in furthering the craft by helping noobs and spreading the cult of color, you get what you give.
Just saying hi, just found this forum tonight so hopefully I can contribute something worthwhile and learn some more too.

Current digital darkroom is DxO Optics Pro (to convert to tiff) Photomatix, CS3, Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen and Velvia Vision plug ins, Lucis SE, Topaz 3, and Topaz Denoise. This post process is probably more than half of the secret to getting really cranking HDR's. It's way more than just tone mapping.

Cheers
Me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36113180@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36113180@N ... 095424088/

[ront]

Hi All, new guy here . I have really starting getting into HDR. It is pretty cool stuff. I picked up Photomatix and really do like it. HDR in general is getting more press all of the time and seems to be getting very popular.
I hope it is ok if I post a couple of samples of what I have done so far. I general start with Photomatix and finish with Lightroom.

Ron

[Professional]

i love HDR, have plenty HDR shots already.

[Edd]

Ron,

Welcome to the forum !!!

Those are some nice images there.

I need to spend a whole lot more time on HDR, and started by taking some sunset shots from a bedroom window the other night. I seemed to get some noise in darker areas, so I guess my source images need to be better to start with.

Do you just Photomatix and then lightroom your images ????? or are there other processes you use as well.
Thanks

Ed

[ront]

Thanks Ed. I use just Photomatix and Lightroom. I use Photomatix to combine the images and do the HDR thing with them, but then do most of the level adjusting, contrast, saturation etc... in Lightroom.

Ron

[parkerlindsey]

Hi Ront

All Natural pictures looks very nice and i like it.
I think you have to complete all work in photomatrix. If You know more idea then tell me because i want to learn it.
How did you learn photomatrix?

Thanks in advance.

[Bonish Photo]

Ron, that last aerial shot is amazing!!