HDR of my new car

graphite · Sep 27, 2013

I am trying to figure out how to do HDR with black vehicles. Here is my first attempt. Any advice is welcome

ronlane · Sep 27, 2013

You didn't over process it, which is good in my book. The only question that I have is, "Is there enough dynamic range in this scene to warrant HDR?"

Gavjenks · Sep 27, 2013

It looks pretty good in terms of not being overcooked and having maintained details across the tonal range.

However, I would suggest that if you want to show off black cars in the best way, you should worry much more about LIGHTING, and less so about HDR. By using well-placed external flash setups, you can use the reflections to model the 3D shape of the car's body and show off its cleanliness and sleek shape and sexiness.

You may ALSO want to do HDR with your lighting setup. But HDR by itself is not good enough. All it can do is prevent shadows from blocking up and highlights from blowing out at the same time, and maybe make thing s alittle more "pop"-y. It cannot however show off the shape of the car like a proper lighting setup will.

This is a well-lit car (note that it is also very high contrast and some details are lost, but that this doesn't matter much compared to the good lighting. The lighting is much more important in making it sexy):
http://scr.templates.com/screenshot...-depicting-a-luxury-modern-black-car-.0.4.jpg

graphite · Sep 27, 2013

Thanks for the advice it is very helpful.

I was sitting at a stop light today and saw this alley behind an abandoned building. Swung in and took a couple of quick pictures just to see how they would turn out. All I had with me was my camera and tripod. I think I want to go back with some of my portable lighting.

Murray Bloom · Sep 27, 2013

Think about cloning out that intense blue stripe above the car. It really competes for attention and doesn't fit with all the brownish background tones. Other than that, I like how you have handled the shot. I agree that some well-directed light will make it even better.

graphite · Sep 27, 2013

I cloned out the blue stripe and it definitely looks better.

Devinhullphoto · Sep 27, 2013

graphite said:
I cloned out the blue stripe and it definitely looks better. <img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=56565"/>

The stamping could have been done way better.

graphite · Sep 27, 2013

ronlane said:
You didn't over process it, which is good in my book. The only question that I have is, "Is there enough dynamic range in this scene to warrant HDR?"

That's good that it doesn't look overprocessed. The only reason for trying HDR on the image was that by adjusting in only Photoshop it either looked really flat or looked cartoonish.

Derrel · Sep 27, 2013

It's really a nice-looking shot of the car. If anything, I wish there was just a little bit more detail in the black on the doors of the car...just that one section of the car needs a little bit more detail showing. The way that shape is shown on a car is almost always by highlights on the curves or creases of the sheetmetal...and we see some highlighting on the tops of the doors, but the side of the car is basically black, without any depth or contour clues. lacking any reflective highlights on the door, you could just lighten up the door sides, so we could see the side-moulding just a tiny bit more. There's a nice highlight on the rear fender, above the wheel well,and that looks good. Cars can be pretty tricky I think.