Attempt at HDR

negative · Nov 10, 2006

Took a drive downtown this evening and took this by taking three of the same shots at different exposures. I had the aperture at f9 but it was pretty windy and I was using a mini tripod so it came out a little fuzzy.

W.Smith · Nov 10, 2006

negative said:
Took a drive downtown this evening and took this by taking three of the same shots at different exposures. I had the aperture at f9 but it was pretty windy and I was using a mini tripod so it came out a little fuzzy.

Looks like a bonafide HDR image to me, neg. What were those different exposures' shutter speeds?

negative · Nov 10, 2006

Shutter speeds were 4, 8 and 15 seconds. I just sorta guessed how much over and under i should be shooting. Should I be exposing at a certain amount of stops over and under to get the best result with hdr?

W.Smith · Nov 10, 2006

negative said:
Shutter speeds were 4, 8 and 15 seconds. I just sorta guessed how much over and under i should be shooting. Should I be exposing at a certain amount of stops over and under to get the best result with hdr?

Depends on the image. That's why one should really actually meter specific parts of the image (sky, foreground, subject) and expose for them, instead of simply taking an average reading of the whole image and then bracket around it. That is effectively guesswork, of course. And you want to avoid guesswork.
The problem is to take those readings of specific parts of the scene, yet expose the whole scene, the whole composition. Because that involves moving the camera to (spot)meter, then move it back (and zoom out) to recompose before every exposure. And those recompositions all need to be exactly overlapping....

shareefy · Nov 10, 2006

i really know nothing about photography techniques so i wont pretend to, but i still know what just happens to look good and that does to me! i really like this picture. it kinda looks like a very advanced metropolitan (kinda space age) city, but so close to the country that the contrast is just very interesting...and i can't explain all that well, but i got this nuclear holocaust vibe from it too. i think it came from the toning of the picture.

really well done

W.Smith · Nov 10, 2006

[snip]

Arch · Nov 10, 2006

good use of HDR... well done negative, nicely composed too :thumbup:

negative · Nov 10, 2006

The problem is to take those readings of specific parts of the scene, yet expose the whole scene, the whole composition. Because that involves moving the camera to (spot)meter, then move it back (and zoom out) to recompose before every exposure.

I wonder if spot metering before setting up for the shot and inputting the values after setting up would work?

danherz · Nov 10, 2006

nice shot man! J/W what does HDR stand for?

W.Smith · Nov 10, 2006

negative said:
I wonder if spot metering before setting up for the shot and inputting the values after setting up would work?

Yes it would. You'll probably need to write down the values. But keeping the cam absolutely still is essential.

And danherz: looky here HDRI.

danherz · Nov 10, 2006

W.Smith said:
Yes it would. You'll probably need to write down the values. But keeping the cam absolutely still is essential.

And danherz: looky here HDRI.

good link, thanks for the info!

negative · Nov 10, 2006

shareefy said:
i really know nothing about photography techniques so i wont pretend to, but i still know what just happens to look good and that does to me! i really like this picture. it kinda looks like a very advanced metropolitan (kinda space age) city, but so close to the country that the contrast is just very interesting...and i can't explain all that well, but i got this nuclear holocaust vibe from it too. i think it came from the toning of the picture.

Thanks for the positive feedback. I think i know what you are trying to say with the space age comment. I was sorta going for an Oz feel with the stream curving towards the city and the grass on the right like this: