Lightroom HDR Test - What do you think?

[Parker219]

So this is 5 images with 2 EV brackets.


Once in lightroom, I just highlight all 5 photos, right click, merge to HDR, auto tone.

I will post the 5 images and then the final image.

I don't want to say my opinion just yet, I want to see what you guys think of the results.

Thank You

Exterior Final -

 

[Parker219]

Interior lightroom HDR test.

Interior Final -

 

[tirediron]

The exterior image seems quite respectable; the interior seems somewhat under-exposed.

 

[480sparky]

What prompted you to use five 2EV frames for each?

The exterior shot's results are a bit too bright, at least for me.

 

[Parker219]

What prompted you to use five 2EV frames for each?

The exterior shot's results are a bit too bright, at least for me.

Looking back, I should have used 1 EV, since I don't think anything was really used from the 1st and 5th images, since they are too bright or too dark. Is that what you were thinking?

 

[480sparky]

I think metering for the highlights and metering for the shadows............ then basing your number of exposures on how far apart they are.

 

[Parker219]

Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.

I think I definitely needed it on this scene...

Looking in Final -

 

[480sparky]

Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.

My question is why you chose -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4. Why 5 shots, and why 2 stops difference.

 

[Parker219]

Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.

My question is why you chose -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4. Why 5 shots, and why 2 stops difference.

1 stop and 3 shots were not enough to get the dynamic range that I wanted.

I still think I could / should have went with 1 stop difference with 5 photos.

 

[480sparky]

Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.

My question is why you chose -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4. Why 5 shots, and why 2 stops difference.

1 stop and 3 shots were not enough to get the dynamic range that I wanted.

I still think I could / should have went with 1 stop difference with 5 photos.

The best method is to treat every image individually. You may need just 3 shots for one scene, but the next may take 8. Then the next..... 5. The next: 7.

 

[Desert Rose]

The exterior just looks like the second shot with some RAW editing to me, I don't think it is a good HDR shot.
Why not just get a camera that has better dynamic range and learn to edit the raw files for about the same result?
I noticed the fisheye distortion on the interior more than the exterior.

 

[Parker219]

^ I often come across situations where no camera in the world can get the dynamic range that I want.

 

[Desert Rose]

You have tried every camera in the world or are you just supposing this is the case?
Cameras get better at approximating what the human eye sees every year, and every year HDR becomes less necessary. Cameras today can get the results in a few shots that a few years ago took 7 or 12 shots to capture.
Keep trying various methods and numbers of exposures and spacing for each image and you will start to learn what is necessary and what is just a waste of time. Then you will be able to predict what will work best in an instance ans limit your shots to the ones that will yield the best results.
Good Luck.

 

[KmH]

I think you don't have a good handle on how to determine the EV step value you need, and how many images you need to produce a high quality, lifelike, HDR image.

Also I would submit that there is much better post production software for making HDR images than Lightroom.
HDR Photography Software - Photo Editing Programs & Plugins - Photomatix

 

[Parker219]

^ I have Photomatix .

The question I asked in my first post was asking your thoughts about how lightroom processed HDR.