First HDR!

RMThompson · Mar 21, 2007

Any thoughts here... not as 3d as I wanted, in fact, sort of flat. Any way to improve this?

shorty6049 · Mar 21, 2007

looks ok, but (maybe someone can back me up on this one) HDR is usually not supposed to have anything too dark or too light in it, and it seems that you have both extremes. I think the tree should be exposed more and possibly the clouds as well, but the sun less... thats MY thoughts, but i havent really been doing HDR for too long, so someone else could possibly give a better answer for you. I would suggest playing with brightness and contrast , or curves to "fix" it

a5i736 · Mar 21, 2007

shorty6049 said:
looks ok, but (maybe someone can back me up on this one) HDR is usually not supposed to have anything too dark or too light in it, and it seems that you have both extremes.

He's right everything in HDR should be exposed properly

RMThompson · Mar 21, 2007

I did play with it in tuning to darken it back some, because I didnt like the other way.

Ill try again.

EDIT:

Round 2. Still not happy. I'll do some more over the weekend:

Sw1tchFX · Mar 21, 2007

in the first one, it just looks like you exposed for the sun.

shorty6049 · Mar 21, 2007

i like the second one more, but yeah, it still could use a little more work, i look forward to seeing what you come up with over the weekend!

xfloggingkylex · Mar 22, 2007

Bad subject for HDR, simple as that. The blue sky looks great, but HDR is supposed to show a wider range of exposure (everything doesnt have to be properly exposed in HDR, in fact no shadows or highlights would look odd). You're better off trying this technique with some ground in the shot.

RMThompson · Mar 22, 2007

xfloggingkylex said:
Bad subject for HDR, simple as that. The blue sky looks great, but HDR is supposed to show a wider range of exposure (everything doesnt have to be properly exposed in HDR, in fact no shadows or highlights would look odd). You're better off trying this technique with some ground in the shot.

You are correct. On two parts.

1. This is a terrible subject for HDR, but I had a steady shot and took a couple with different settings for exposure and gave it a shot.

2. HDR doesn't mean properly exposed, in fact the best HDR's I've seen are of angry clouds with amazing highlights. If anything it's both OVER and UNDER exposed, just in the right places!:thumbup:

Efergoh · Mar 22, 2007

Okay, someone help me out here...
How is this done?

I get that it should be at least 3 frame of the same shot, one over one under and one spot on, but how are the images merged? I've been trying to do this in Photoshop. I put all three images into different layers, but all I see is the top layer...

RMThompson · Mar 22, 2007

Efergoh said:
Okay, someone help me out here...
How is this done?

I get that it should be at least 3 frame of the same shot, one over one under and one spot on, but how are the images merged? I've been trying to do this in Photoshop. I put all three images into different layers, but all I see is the top layer...

I dont know how to do it in Photoshop... I use Photomatix, which is a program used specifically for HDR. I know there is a WAY to combine the pics in Photo Shop, there are some tutorials on the web.

shorty6049 · Mar 22, 2007

in photoshop you go to file->automate->merge to HDR, and then select your images, , that gives you a 32bit image, wish you cant really do much with, so you have to go into mode i think, and convert it to 8 or 16 bit, and before you do , it'll give you options where you can adjust curves , adjust them the way you like them, and then convert, i can never get it to look the same as it does in photomatix though, so i just use photomatix

xfloggingkylex · Mar 22, 2007

RMT - EXACTLY. HDR isn't about everything being exposed as much as it is about having more, well, dynamic range.

Efergoh - You need to add a layer mask to the new layers, and either paint in or paint off what you want or dont want from the new layer. Just right click the layer you just added and add layer mask. If this shot is the + or - exposure, make it a black fill (transparent) and as soon as you do, the new layer disappears. To bring it back, select the paintbrush tool in white, select the brush size and opacity you want, and then "paint" in the new parts that you want. After it looks the way you want, apply the layer mask and then open the new layer and repeat.

For more info do a search on Layer Mask. it is one of the most valuable tools in photoshop.