Oldish boat (anti ghosting vs non anti ghosting comparison)

[Compaq]

You gotta love the anti ghosting in photomatix pro 4.2! I was standing on a floating dock, and moving quite a big. I tried once without anti ghosting, and it looked like this (straight out of photomatix):

Then I selectively chose the parts I wanted de-ghosted, boat and sky (probably should have included the boats in the background), and they're tack sharp


Gamal båt by Anders Myhre Brakestad, on Flickr

 

[Steve5D]

Wow, that's pretty significant.

I gotta' tell ya', though. There's something about that fist shot that I really like...

 

[HughGuessWho]

Wow, that's pretty significant.

I gotta' tell ya', though. There's something about that fist shot that I really like...

Ditto. #1 makes me dizzy, but I really like #2

 

[Compaq]

Yup, pretty significant. I'm getting sea sick of #1 as well. Close-up of the steering house:


Gamal båt 2 by Anders Myhre Brakestad, on Flickr

 

[HughGuessWho]

Nice. I really like the processing.

 

[Compaq]

Here's another one. I post here as I keep finish the editing This one came out pretty well, I think:


Kvit båt by Anders Myhre Brakestad, on Flickr

 

[HughGuessWho]

Best one yet. I really like the realism of the reflection on the bow and water.

 

[Carny]

#1 is pretty cool in the way the the ship is the main thing where the ghosting is noticeable. It makes it look like a ghost ship or something. It would be awesome if you could find a pirate ship to do this with.

 

[Compaq]

Not many pirate ships where I come from, unfortunately. I see your point, though

Looks like I'm out of boat pictures

 

[Compaq]

Whaddya know. I found another boat pic


To båtar by Anders Myhre Brakestad, on Flickr

 

[charlie76]

Okokokok.....enough is enough. I gotta get into this HDR thing. But where the heck should I start? I guess I'll just google...and scan TPF?

 

[Compaq]

Great Many people make grimaces and shiver slightly at the very sound of "tonemapping" - don't become one of those

You need a software to do the tonemapping. I suggest Photomatix. You can try it for free, and the full version isn't very expensive, $39. With the updated version, you often don't need to do anything in other software, for example photoshop. You can adjust your contrast and sharpen in photomatix. You can also control individual colour channels, but you can't mask. If I adjust the blue channel in PM, I can't mask in the sky, for example.

So, always take enough exposures when out. A tripod is very handy, and a necessity in many (most?) situations. Expose for the entire range of tonal values in yours scene. Expose for the highlights, and expose for the shadows. Then, expose for everything in between. I take shots 1EV apart. For example: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2. Sometimes I need to go up to +5, and sometimes I must go down to -5. Just remember to take enough exposures, or else you'll regret it when you're on the computer.

Experiment in photomatix. Learn, by experience, what the sliders do. The only ones I never touch are the saturation sliders. At some point, I find use for most of the others
Ask questions here, post for HDR shootouts (post your exposures, and see how other people edit them).

There are many knowledgeable people here.

480sparky from here made a video that explains his way of doing it: