HDR questions.

[AUZambo]

I don't know if this belongs here or in the beginner's place, so if a mod feels like moving it that's fine with me.

Anyway, I have a few quick question regarding HDR. I know it involves multiple exposures merged into one...but know nothing other than that. I've seen in the galleries peopl will recommend using HDR with certain shots.

1. How do you decide when HDR is a good idea and when not to attempt it? Does it help if there's alot of contrast in the shot?

2. Can it be done in Photoshop Elements (I currently have this) or CS2 (I might get CS2...hoping that the release of CS3 will drive CS2's price down)?

3. Is it hard to do, or does the software pretty much do it for you?

4. Does it work best with bracketing...or does it not matter?


Thanks!

 

[gmarquez]

2. Can it be done in Photoshop Elements (I currently have this) or CS2 (I might get CS2...hoping that the release of CS3 will drive CS2's price down)?

I have PSE 5, and I've haven't found a menu item for it. (So I think the answer is "no" for PSE.)

You might want to try out Photomatix (do a google search for it). It's free for the first 30 days or so, so you can try it out.

3. Is it hard to do, or does the software pretty much do it for you?

There is some artistry involved, so in a sense it *is* hard to do. As you fiddle with different settings, you should get better. Then you can save those settings and use them as a base for your next projects.

 

[zioneffect564]

1. How do you decide when HDR is a good idea and when not to attempt it? Does it help if there's alot of contrast in the shot?

Usually you use hdr for sunsets and sunrises and other shots where your camera doesnt have enough dynamic range.

2. Can it be done in Photoshop Elements (I currently have this) or CS2 (I might get CS2...hoping that the release of CS3 will drive CS2's price down)?

No Photoshop Elements doesnt have the feature cs2 and cs3 do and photomatix is a popular hdr program.

3. Is it hard to do, or does the software pretty much do it for you?

Well its not hard you have to not move your camera at all and just bracket the shots. The tone mapping is usually whats hardest for people to do.

4. Does it work best with bracketing...or does it not matter?

Bracketing is how you take the shots you have to take multiple shots at different exposure values.

You can find a lot more about it and many tutorials at http://www.hdrphotos.net

 

[RVsForFun]

...just take bracketing photos (I recommend -2, 0 +2 stops). It's the software that combines the photos' shadow and highlight areas. I don't think you can do anywhere near as good a job as HDR software does by using layers.

 

[Garbz]

I'm the opposite. I have yet to get as realistic photos with HDR as I have faking an ND-grad filter in photoshop using bracketed exposures. Mind you realistic HDR is very hard to do in my opinion. Either that or I am just not very good at it.

 

[RedDevilUK]

Garbz, i agree with you.

some of the HDR i see look very cartoon.... unrealistic. having said that when its done subtle... it looks great.
the problem is people end up going over the top and the end result is a scene from Toy Story

its the age old argument... but heres my 2 peneth

a good photograph is just that....
if you take a photograph and it looks crap, and you have to spend hours in photoshop to make it look half decent.... then your not a photographer, your a graphic designer!!
in that case, your on the wrong forum

 

[Mike_E]

Try here.

http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/rh0706_2.htm

mike

 

[Irminsul]

You might also want to try the following site. It contains a tutorial and other useful info for your purpose.

http://hdrphotos.net/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

 

[RacePhoto]

"Qtpfsgui project is a graphical user interface that enables users to work on hdr images.

Supported operations include:

· creations of a HDR file from a set of images of a scene taken at different exposure settings
· tonemapping an HDR image into a common LDR image format (e.g jpeg or png)
loading, saving and rotating existing HDR images

In some ways the program is a opensource clone of Photomatix."

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphics/Qtpfsgui-21394.shtml

And of course considering the source... FREE!

I haven't tried it yet and it's supposed to run under Ubuntu. I have to find someone who understands Linux to get this installed. But when I do, it's HDR and it's free. Good way to play with it and see if I really need HDR or at least have it, if the need arrives.

Some people have used one photo, made three adjusted images, and then used HDR to bring up the shadows and reduce the burned out parts.