Curious Robin...An HDR by NJ

NJMAN · Sep 10, 2007

Tried to get a unique effect with this HDR. C&C always welcome as usual. Thanks for looking!

Thanks for looking!

NJ

LokiZ · Sep 10, 2007

I like this one a lot NJ colors really pop and also like the angle the image was taken from as well. Really nice detail and low noise.

Chris of Arabia · Sep 10, 2007

Nice result, though I do feel that the bird's head is blending into the backgound a little too much. It's eye needs lifting a little to make it stand out more.

NJMAN · Sep 10, 2007

LokiZ said:
I like this one a lot NJ colors really pop and also like the angle the image was taken from as well. Really nice detail and low noise.

Thanks LokiZ. I appreciate the nice reply!

Chris of Arabia said:
Nice result, though I do feel that the bird's head is blending into the backgound a little too much. It's eye needs lifting a little to make it stand out more.

Thanks very much Chris for the good critique! Thats what I need.

D-50 · Sep 10, 2007

NIce composition, nly thing that sbothers me is the blown out part of the birds back, good natural looking HDR

LokiZ · Sep 10, 2007

I have seen a lot of your HDR's, all amazing works. This one stands out for the fact that while the colors are so vivid you did keep the image more realistic. (HDR wise) I enjoyed the uniqueness and didn't see any exposure problems at this end. (monitor at work used for number crunching) Could be the makings for a real nice post card in my opinion... But then the robin is our state bird LOL so I may be biased.

What are you using to do your HDRs? I am using DPHDR, as soon as I have one I am happy with I ask for some pointers from you if you don't mind. Also are you using AEB, some other for of bracketing, or just spitting raws into 3 later? Also if I may ask what kind of range are you putting betwen your images and how many images? Do you see benefits for more then three images 5 or 7?

Just thought I would pick your brain if I may.

NJMAN · Sep 11, 2007

D-50 said:
NIce composition, nly thing that sbothers me is the blown out part of the birds back, good natural looking HDR

Thanks for the critique and the nice comments D-50!

AbelR74 · Sep 11, 2007

Wow, the grass looks like it is glowing! Very nice work!

xfloggingkylex · Sep 11, 2007

made with a single raw?

NJMAN · Sep 11, 2007

LokiZ said:
I have seen a lot of your HDR's, all amazing works. This one stands out for the fact that while the colors are so vivid you did keep the image more realistic. (HDR wise) I enjoyed the uniqueness and didn't see any exposure problems at this end. (monitor at work used for number crunching) Could be the makings for a real nice post card in my opinion... But then the robin is our state bird LOL so I may be biased.

What are you using to do your HDRs? I am using DPHDR, as soon as I have one I am happy with I ask for some pointers from you if you don't mind. Also are you using AEB, some other for of bracketing, or just spitting raws into 3 later? Also if I may ask what kind of range are you putting betwen your images and how many images? Do you see benefits for more then three images 5 or 7?

Just thought I would pick your brain if I may.

Hi LokiZ,
No problem at all. I use Photomatix to do the merge and tone mapping. I've never heard of DPHDR. If you have any specific questions while you are doing it, please ask away. I will try to help in any way I can. Yes, I use AEB on my Canon 30D. I always take 3 different exposures and space them apart by 2 stops. So, its -2, 0, and +2. I have not tried using more than 3 exposures, but I would like to experiment with 5, 6, or 7 some day and see how it turns out. For me right now, 3 exposures seem like plenty of tonal range and information to work with. The only way I am able to see any benefits from more than 3 exposures is to see the work of others that use that many. I'm sure it helps some, I just don't know how much though. One thing that helps a lot is to convert the raws to TIFs in your raw program first before merging to hdr and tone mapping. This allows you to keep as much of the information in the image as possible. Then, after you do the merge and tone mapping, save the merged image in TIF format as well, then take it into PS and do some more tweaking. It gives you larger files, but I feel its worth it for the quality that you get in the final product. Then resize as a JPEG for web viewing only as the very last step. But for heaven's sake, make a backup of the original size as well. ;-) Hope this helps.

NJMAN · Sep 11, 2007

AbelR74 said:
Wow, the grass looks like it is glowing! Very nice work!

Thanks Abel! I appreciate your comments very much.

xfloggingkylex said:
made with a single raw?

Hi Kyle,

No, its made from 3 raws.

Ender · Sep 11, 2007

Very nice picture, I love the colors and the way the bird looks. I just wish that the bird head was a bit sharpen, but it may be due to the compression and/or the size of the picture.
Great Job!