A trek through an Arizona desert.

Gavjenks · Mar 6, 2014

In all the reading I've done I've NEVER heard of anybody using +/- 5 no matter what the scene is so I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one.

Key word highlighted...

Also your statement is incorrect anyway. You just did read about somebody using +/- 5 right now. I have in fact used SEVEN +/- and had it not be enough before.

It's simple math. Let's say your camera at its current ISO blah blah gives 14 stops of dynamic range. And let's say the scene has 25 stops of dynamic range in it. The 14 comes out of the middle, leaving us with the remainder on either side - 5.5 stops each left over. So you'd want to do +/- 5 or 6 in that case.

The instance when I tried 7 and it wasn't enough was when I was in a very dark, unlit (no lightbulbs, windows) little pagoda-y thing on top of a hill with a really cool landscape outside, and I wanted to capture it through the small doorway without the inside being pure black and the sunny outside being pure white. The actual scene turned out to have some obscene like 30 stops of dynamic range or something.

2WheelPhoto · Mar 6, 2014

Pics have reached the cartoonish phase, which is about like "selective coloring". Which they both may or may not be digitally hip for most

Trblmkr · Mar 6, 2014

Gavjenks said:
In all the reading I've done I've NEVER heard of anybody using +/- 5 no matter what the scene is so I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one.

Click to expand...

Key word highlighted...

Also your statement is incorrect anyway. You just did read about somebody using +/- 5 right now. I have in fact used SEVEN +/- and had it not be enough before.

It's simple math. Let's say your camera at its current ISO blah blah gives 14 stops of dynamic range. And let's say the scene has 25 stops of dynamic range in it. The 14 comes out of the middle, leaving us with the remainder on either side - 5.5 stops each left over. So you'd want to do +/- 5 or 6 in that case.

The instance when I tried 7 and it wasn't enough was when I was in a very dark, unlit (no lightbulbs, windows) little pagoda-y thing on top of a hill with a really cool landscape outside, and I wanted to capture it through the small doorway without the inside being pure black and the sunny outside being pure white. The actual scene turned out to have some obscene like 30 stops of dynamic range or something.

Thanks... that's why I come here, to learn.. Guess I need to stop and take a look at my exposures for my HDR because I just do the basic bracket and that's it.

bryguy_ASU · Mar 10, 2014

Okay... went to two places over the weekend. Shot more bracketed photos but kept it in JPEG. However, I took extra exposure stops in exposure. This time went with -3 / -2 / 0 / +2 / +3. I think the result came out much better.

The first two are of Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ (close to the Grand Canyon). First is of the original shot. Second is of the fused HDR shot.

This next two were taken at a place in Sedona, AZ called Cathedral Rock. First is original, second is HDR processed.

Talk to me... anything crazy going on in these, this time?

molested_cow · Mar 10, 2014

When I was at Sedona, I got similar colors as you did. It was weird and the photos just couldn't be toned down enough to be more natural looking. I think the colors of the landscape are a bit unreal to begin with.

Now, it seems that you didn't venture "far" enough to take the horseshoe bend shot.
I mounted the camera on the tripod, and I laid on the ground at the edge of the cliff(I am terrified of height). I then stuck the camera out, tried to set the composition by guestimation and took the shots with a cable trigger.
20mm lens on a FF camera.

Sunset

Morning

bryguy_ASU · Mar 10, 2014

Wow... amazing shots! Makes mine look terrible. Haha... yeah, I was too scared to get too close to the ledge. I'm terrified of heights, too. But seeing your pics, I wish I can redo my shots. Just too far of a drive.

You also had better shooting conditions. Beautifully clouds and a sunset.

MOREGONE · Mar 11, 2014

Don't think I saw anyone point out that you don't want to use Aperture adjustments for HDR images. But as I was typing this I think I figured out you used exposure compensation in Aperture priority mode which would adjust the shutter speed, so all is well. Might as well just use Manual mode at that point ;-)

Love seeing all these pics of AZ. Still cannot believe I haven't got out to Page yet.

There are a lot of active local Photography groups in AZ. LMK if you are interested and I have a couple I could recommend.
~Morgan