HDR Photos

[Finz Up]

Is anybody creating any HDR images? I don't shoot good pics and I only have an 8mp p&s camera. If I see a pic that I have took that might look good as an HDR image I try it out. I only use single exposure images as opposed to bracketing. I do think the bracketing looks better than any single exposure though. Here are a few I have "converted" over along with the original image.

Epcot World Showcase (France) in June of this year

HDR Version


Magic Kingdom (City Hall) in June of this year

HDR Version


Myrtle Beach several years back

HDR Version



And I forgot to take the dang date stamp off of my pics to Disney World this year. That is aggravating.

[Sneezy Beltran]

You really need at least three images taken at different exposures in a RAW or NEF format in order to get a true HDR.

It looks like the images you posted are JPEG files, that have been adjusted via tone-mapping, highlight/shadow compensation, and or gamma correction.

It has no doubt made your photos look better, but there's only so much you can do with single JPEG image since it's such a compressed file.

If your camera can shoot in NEF/RAW format, you'll get much better results.

As an example I shot 7 images of this car 1/3 of a stop apart, so from -3 to +3, and blended them in Photomatix.



Here's the original image.

[Sneezy Beltran]

In this bridge photo, I could only take one shot because I was in my boat, if I would bracketed this shot, I would've lost a lot of sharpness once blended due to movement between each frame.



But, since I shot in RAW, I was able to make 9 duplicate copies in iPhoto (I have a Mac). Then I imported 8 of those into Photoshop CS4, and adjusted the exposure 4 stops down, and 4 stops up in 1/2 stop increments, so -4 to +4.

Then I took those 8, plus my original file and blended them in Photomatix and came up with the below result.

It still would've came out better had the original shots been bracketed, but I could still get away with some post processing since I had an NEF fiile to work with.

[Finz Up]

No doubt bracketing looks better and is the only true HDR. I used the term HDR loosely since it is used for tone mapping as well these days.I am a casual/civilian when it comes to photographs. Like I said, I only have a small point and shoot. Eventually I will upgrade to a DSLR and shoot RAW. I just happened across some of these HDR/tone mapped images a while back and thought I would see what it looks like.

That's a great image (car). How do you like Photomatix? I have been thinking about purchasing it since it does tone mapping. I have CS5 and it is a beast. I was wondering how it holds up to Photomatix's tone mapping features though.

I'm a Photoshop junkie. I was a Forensic Media Analyst for years and I don't think I could live without Photoshop anymore. One day I will learn more about taking good photographs but for now I'll just use Photoshop to clean them up the best I can. I know that is probably sacrilege on this forum so don't stone me to death. But if you guys do, I know there will be some great photos of it. I don't think Al will create a Photochopped Forum so hopefully you guys will let me play in here.

[Finz Up]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Sneezy Beltran &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">

But, since I shot in RAW, I was able to make 9 duplicate copies in iPhoto (I have a Mac). Then I imported 8 of those into Photoshop CS4, and adjusted the exposure 4 stops down, and 4 stops up in 1/2 stop increments, so -4 to +4.
</td></tr></table>

I wish my camera would shoot in RAW for that simple reason. Honestly I will probably not ever take the time to bracket shots. I would like to have the RAW option for better post processing in Photoshop.

That is nice what you can do with one RAW image of the bridge.

[Finz Up]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Sneezy Beltran &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">(I have a Mac). </td></tr></table>

I am looking at running OS X in Virtual Box on my PC. I don't have the funds for a Mac right now and I don't want to mess with a Hackintosh. There are always too many issues that pop up with those things. The main reason I want OS X is for iMovie and iPhoto. There are plenty of windows based alternatives, but it is just really nice to have my toys sync up without workarounds. &lt;--oh, by toys I meant my iPhone and eventual iPad.

[sgt93]

Amazing pics. I'm going to pick up a nice tri-pod for my HDR program I just received (thanks Sneezy)

[Finz Up]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by sgt93 &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Amazing pics. I'm going to pick up a nice tri-pod for my HDR program I just received (thanks Sneezy) </td></tr></table>

No doubt. If I keep looking at Sneezy's photos I'm going to have to go buy a better camera and take some classes.

[Sneezy Beltran]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Finz Up &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">No doubt bracketing looks better and is the only true HDR. I used the term HDR loosely since it is used for tone mapping as well these days.I am a casual/civilian when it comes to photographs. Like I said, I only have a small point and shoot. Eventually I will upgrade to a DSLR and shoot RAW. I just happened across some of these HDR/tone mapped images a while back and thought I would see what it looks like.

That's a great image (car). How do you like Photomatix? I have been thinking about purchasing it since it does tone mapping. I have CS5 and it is a beast. I was wondering how it holds up to Photomatix's tone mapping features though.

I'm a Photoshop junkie. I was a Forensic Media Analyst for years and I don't think I could live without Photoshop anymore. One day I will learn more about taking good photographs but for now I'll just use Photoshop to clean them up the best I can. I know that is probably sacrilege on this forum so don't stone me to death. But if you guys do, I know there will be some great photos of it. I don't think Al will create a Photochopped Forum so hopefully you guys will let me play in here. </td></tr></table>

Photomatix seems to be the industry standard as far as HDR work goes, it's cheap ($100.00), and it's super easy to use. I highly recommend it.

Here's a link to download a free version of it.

http://www.hdrsoft.com/download.html

It's the full program, and it never expires, so you can play with it all you want. It just watermarks the final processed image.

If you decide you like it, just click on register, enter your c.c. info, and no more watermarks.