Practical application of HDR

[Christie Photo]

On occasion while photographing buildings, a client will want an image of a particular room but doesn't want to invest a bunch of time into it. I struggle when this happens since the ambient light is nearly always ceiling mounted lamps providing straight-down illumination. And the lamps themselves will often come into view.

It's starting to dawn on me the HDR might be a good way to go. On the left is my "middle" exposure. I used seven exposures to create the image on the right.

I think I'm still lacking in my results. It just feels a bit lack-luster to me. Of course when I increase the contrast, I begin to loose shadow and highlight detail. Can anyone advise me?

Thanks!
-Pete

 

[myshkin]

I think you did the best you can with this shot. The room doesnt offer much for photos so I wouldnt stress about it much. The glare off the chairs bugs me the most about the pic

 

[Bynx]

Just a touch of shadow/highlight in Photoshop. It will bring out the shadows a bit and also fix any overexposed areas as well.

 

[Arch]

Hi Pete,

How about something like this?

When contrast starts to reach its limit, go for curves and give it a higher arch (one near the shadow end and one near the top end), once the overall image has more brightness (which won't blow highlights if done correctly) you can then add a touch more contrast in a levels layer. I also added a touch more saturation here.

I think you would only encounter this problem alot when doing rooms with no natural light or decent lighting though.

I can probably post a screen shot of the curves layer, if your interested.

 

[Christie Photo]

Just a touch of shadow/highlight in Photoshop. It will bring out the shadows a bit and also fix any overexposed areas as well.

Thanks, John.

-Pete

 

[Christie Photo]

When contrast starts to reach its limit, go for curves and give it a higher arch (one near the shadow end and one near the top end), once the overall image has more brightness (which won't blow highlights if done correctly) you can then add a touch more contrast in a levels layer. I also added a touch more saturation here.

More good advice! Thanks, Arch.

-Pete