First Try At HDR

[JasonLambert]

Ok, so the images that I see on the web fascinate me. This one that I did doesn't. Here are the steps that I took to get this (blah) image.

1. Set cam on M (tripod mounted) and took a photo to set the WB.
2. Took 5 pictures starting at 1stop over and ending at 1 stop under 18mm f8.
3. Used Lightroom to correct the tone of the images.
4. Used Photomatix to merge the images.
5. Played with the Tone Mapping for 30 min
6. Ended up with crap!

Guess I will have to try again... Any pointers?

 

[ghpham]

Hmm...do you have the original (properly expose)? not sure if the scene requires HDR?

 

[pbelarge]

Jason
I cannot help with the technical portion of your question, my skillset is not there yet.

But I can thank you for posting this. Hopefully we can see some good responses and us new PP guys can learn something.
Thanks

 

[JasonLambert]

Hmm...do you have the original (properly expose)? not sure if the scene requires HDR?

The image you see is made up of 5 images like the one you can see here.

 

[SushiWarrior]

You did not expose high enough for the sky. I have a feeling all your shots were overexposed. I am not quite sure why the colours are so bad though - care to post one of the original images?

And what sort of settings did you use in Photomatix? Did you PP one photo more than another? I have a feeling adjusting the curves messed it all up.

 

[JasonLambert]

I didn't think about the sky till I was in pp. But the rest of the image is what I was looking at.

Here are the images I used...

 

[Chris Stegner]

I would have under exposed way more for the under exposed versions. Unless there was nothing in the sky to begin with. If you had a crapy grey day then this image really doesn't warrant "HDR".

 

[burstintoflame81]

I would have bracketed more as stated. I think the reds are way too dark. Also, there is Lens Flare I believe. Try shooting with a lens hood.

 

[KmH]

Put your camera in aperture priority and set it to the aperture you want to use to set your DOF.

Set the camera metering mode to "Spot".

Point the camera at the brightest part of the scene you want to shoot. Adjust until the viewfinder meter indicates a proper exposure.

Note the shutter speed. As an example the brightest part of the image was the sky and it metered 1/4000.

Then point the camera at the darkest part of the scene you want to shoot and again adjust the shutter speed so the meter in the viewfinder indicates a proper exposure. Say that is 1/100.

Now you know the dynamic range of the scene you want to shoot.

Follow along as we see how many stops (also known as an EV) the scene is

1/100
1/200 (1 stop (1 EV))
1/400 (2 stops (2 EV))
1/800 (3 stops)
1/1600 (4 stops)
1/3200 (5 stops)
1/4000

That is 5 stops plus a tad. 1/3200 to 1/4000 is not a full stop, it's not even a full 1/3 of a stop and it's at the brightest end of the scale and can be ignored.

So you need 5 exposures, each separated by 1 stop. So you want 2.5 exposures that are over exposed and 2.5 exposures that are underexposed to be sure and cover the entire dynamic range of that particular scene.

Then just do one exposure at each of the shutter speeds in the list above if you're not using an auto bracket mode.

If you're using an auto bracket mode you start at 1/800, the middle of the above numbers, and select +1 for each step.

 

[JasonLambert]

Put your camera in aperture priority and set it to the aperture you want to use to set your DOF.

Set the camera metering mode to "Spot".

Point the camera at the brightest part of the scene you want to shoot. Adjust until the viewfinder meter indicates a proper exposure.

Note the shutter speed. As an example the brightest part of the image was the sky and it metered 1/4000.

Then point the camera at the darkest part of the scene you want to shoot and again adjust the shutter speed so the meter in the viewfinder indicates a proper exposure. Say that is 1/100.

Now you know the dynamic range of the scene you want to shoot.

Follow along as we see how many stops (also known as an EV) the scene is

1/100
1/200 (1 stop (1 EV))
1/400 (2 stops (2 EV))
1/800 (3 stops)
1/1600 (4 stops)
1/3200 (5 stops)
1/4000

That is 5 stops plus a tad. 1/3200 to 1/4000 is not a full stop, it's not even a full 1/3 of a stop and it's at the brightest end of the scale and can be ignored.

So you need 5 exposures, each separated by 1 stop. So you want 2.5 exposures that are over exposed and 2.5 exposures that are underexposed to be sure and cover the entire dynamic range of that particular scene.

Then just do one exposure at each of the shutter speeds in the list above if you're not using an auto bracket mode.

If you're using an auto bracket mode you start at 1/800, the middle of the above numbers, and select +1 for each step.

Thank you... It should be a great day to give it another go. I'll make a note out of this post and take it with me. My daughter will be in school so I am not limited to the back yard. I'll post the results in the evening... Thanks again