2nd attempt, a little better ?

[Phantomht]

ok.
kept in mind some of the things you guys told me in my last post, or tried too. I get out in the field, get caught up in the surroundings and forget everything else.
Also, after downloading the pics to my PC and running the first batch of 5 exposure shots thru Photomatic... damnit. freakin clouds and trees moving like a bastard, PLUS i was taking pictures of moared boats and i guess they were moving ever so slightly also, which, to be honest, was a good thing because after seeing what a failure that first and 2nd set came out to be, i picked up my camera, took about 5 mins, but figured out how to not only set my Nikon to take 3 bracketed shots on its own, with a 2.0 difference, but also found out how to switch the camera to those 3 frames in rapid succession with the press of the shutter just once.
Previously i was taking a shot, adjusting the exposure, take another shot, adjust exposure, take a shot.... 5 times.
So, the only real question i have is, ... i am limited to ONLY 3 bracketed shots if i do it using the cameras auto-bracketing settings, right? there is no way to set my Nikon D90 to take 5 bracketed shots? Since i can only take 3, thats why i set it to take those shots with a difference of 2.0 stops each.
Here is the ONE, halfway decent HDR shot i got while i was out today. If it wasnt for the damn clouds moving so damn fast, i think this could have been a really good shot.
curses.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

ghosting and noise in the clouds, colors are unnatural to the eye.

my thread about the limit of 3 AEB bracketing was locked.

 

[pathoulihan1]

I really like the composition here, but the clouds are pretty ghosted. I like the processing of everything besides the sky, if you get the sky fixed up, you've got a winner here.

 

[Trever1t]

definitely a good composition and subject is interesting too. Clouds are a little distracting but overall i really like it!

 

[MichaelH]

I like it, and agree with you on the clouds. You just got a spot of bad luck. Great picture overall, though.

 

[photobykelly]

Yes the clouds are a little distracting, however I think photo is great.

 

[Phantomht]

ghosting and noise in the clouds, colors are unnatural to the eye.

my thread about the limit of 3 AEB bracketing was locked.

yeh, that RED really got away from me
and what do you mean with "my thread about the limit of 3 AEB bracketing was locked." ? does locked mean it cant be viewed?

 

[Phantomht]

Went to Hollywood Forever Cemetery today.
Using my Nikons auto-bracketing and 3 FPS i took maybe 5 different sets of shots through out the day but have only processed one good image for right now, im pretty damn tired and got a pretty good sunburn while i was at it.
When i was using Photomatix, to be honest, i didnt futz around all that much with the sliders it had already postioned. i pretty much just used the program to blend the 3 images together then opened the .tiff up in CS5.
This time around, NO moving trees or clouds.
and... if ANYONE tells me they see ghosting, tell me how to get rid of it, or tell me what causes "ghosting" so i can correct it.
i think the REDs are still getting away from me also?

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Selective deghosting in Photomatix is the trick. google 'er. Bring down the red a tad, clean up the sky and try hugging the crop to exclude and include the jetty and see which you prefer. That's what I'd do.

 

[ann]

If you didn't reset Photomatix it applied the same information used on the last image processed.

 

[jedensuscg]

While rotanimod says the colors are unnatural to the eye, I actually kind of like the red. If you are going for a more natural or realistic look, ya bring the red down a bit , but natural or not...it is kinda pleasing in its own semi-surreal way. But the best thing you can do if you hate the reds is just edit it a bit out of the RAW file. In your second image though, definitely need to pull down that red some. Some of the, what looks like ribbon, around the flowers almost looks like it was added in MS paint with the red paintbrush tool However, the reflection on the floor and walls, very nice.

As just an amateur who is trying to work my mind out a little, I think that composition would look nice with a little lower f-stop and your focus put on the window to put the surrounding walls a little out of focus, if your into that sorta look, though that would probably look better if there was a person standing there. Like I said, I am fairly new and just working things in my head and talking out loud.

 

[itBurns]

if ANYONE tells me they see ghosting, tell me how to get rid of it, or tell me what causes "ghosting" so i can correct it.

Ghosting is when you overly multiple images, it is the parts of each image which have moved. In your first shot, take your clouds for example. They were moving fast enough that between all of your shots, from point A to point B, they were in different positions. When you load the bracketed photos in photomatix, it tries to align the image, but they are simply in different locations, so it can't do that.

To de-ghost, there is an option for you to go into the de-ghosting option after you load the images. (Selective De-Ghosting Tool) With your first picture, you'd pretty much have to deghost the whole sky (You outline the area, right click in the middle and "Mark Selection") You can preview how it will look deghosted before you proceed.

Deghosting simply takes 1 image out of the bunch in that selected area .. so technically it won't be HDR'd, it'll just be tone-mapped.

Hope that clarifies some of it for you

Here is a processed image that I did not de-ghost to give you an example. As you can see, between a few images, the flag moved, and since photomatic couldn't overlay it correctly (of course), it turns out to be ghosted:

and here is that same image de-ghosted:

 

[D-B-J]

There is some really spotty lighting on the boat, which seems awkward, and as stated, the sky is very unnatural. I like the composition, but those things ruin the photo for me.

 

[Phantomht]

thank you all very much for your comments and suggestions.
i do agree with you that in my first image the clouds look like crap and i have corrected that for the most part by using my cameras auto 3 burst FPS, ... or whatever you call it technically.
I have also started using auto-bracketing so i can use the 3 fps without manually changing my exposure settings individually between each and every shot.

im thankful someone clarified for me what "ghosting" was because i was trying to guess what it meant and what i was GUESSING was when you change this or that in Photomatix, i can see something that looks like a halo? around parts of the image sometimes and i was thinking thats bad, so thats what i thought ghosting was, but now i know for sure what it is.

[trying to type and eat my Animal Fries at the same time.]

i also agree that, i love the composition of my boat above, but yeh, the colors really took off on me, but i was honestly so excited that it came out as good as it did, PLUS, given the fact that i reallt dont know how to futz around with the sliders in Photomatix that much, i just left it the way it was and posted it. I cant even remember if i toyed with it in CS5 at all or not other than adding my watermark.

I took the MetroRail for the first time today down into Los Angeles train station, if im going to post anymore "are these looking better?" pics, should i just extend this thread? or start a new one? im not sure what the standard protocol is and i dont want to get yelled at for starting too many threads

 

[Phantomht]

ok, i have been using v3.2 Photomatix.
As of today im using v4.1.2, and im also using the Fusion route.
But reading about "ghosting" and how to avoid it from the tips above ^^, thank you, i re-did my fireboats pic and here is what i got.
i could prolly still work on it to get more out of the colors like the first attempt, but my main focus was jsut to work on the ghosting and learning how to avoid that problem now that i know what it is and what too look for.
thanks guys for all your tips/suggestions