Stuck...HDR/Photoshop

[iluvphotography]

So I took this shot of my father in law's old sh**ty car (But he thinks it's a pretty cool car).. I tried HDR but no matter what I do, I can't get the colors right and I get a blue reflection on rims and bumpers that I can't get rid of... I even tried to make it look better in Photoshop but st ill can't get the color right. I know one mistake is that I took it mid-day. But here is my HDR attempt and one unedited original shot. Could you guys play with it and see if you can get a decent picture??

Original :

HDR Attempt:

 

[Bifurcator]

That's pretty nice as is. If you have the RAW I wouldn't think you would need to go HDR usless you wanted to make one of those "velvet painting Elvis" style "art-worx" out of it.

Here's what I did just the the top image in jpeg. It would look better if the same basic things were done to the RAW.

__________Your Original (Top) Image_________

__________My Ultra Lame Edit___________

​

Basically I did something like this: http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1270172&postcount=10 but on different areas for slightly different purposes obviously. I did just a real rough job - just kind of a proof of concept type thing. The blues remaining in the body paint can be removed in much the same way as well. I didn't mess with that though.


Feel free to ask any questions. :thumbup:

Great photograph BTW!

 

[vbrandon91]

nice car...haha i think i see a forklift on the tail end of it though...

 

[Bifurcator]

BTW, to see what this actually looks like either view it in safari or load it into PS. For some reason my FireFox browser looks very different (lighter and with noise) that the Safari and Photoshop display.

 

[iluvphotography]

Thanks Bifurcator... It looks so much better and the colors are much more vivid. Do you guys know how to get rid of the compactor's reflection?

 

[freelunch]

You have blue in the bumper and wheels because you are blessed with a blue sky. It's natural that these mirror surfaces should reflect the sky. Nevertheless:

 

[toofpaste]

Where is manaheim when you need him?

 

[iluvphotography]

Thanks Freelunch..Could you let me know how did you get rid of the blue reflection?

 

[freelunch]

Thanks Freelunch..Could you let me know how did you get rid of the blue reflection?

Yes. I used the Lasso tool to select the bumper and wheels. Then used the Hue/Saturation filter (command+U) to tone down blue and cyan.

I used the Shadow/Highlight filter to lift the definition in the car.

I used the Lasso tool and the Brightness/Contrast filter to bump up the contrast in the background.

Glad you liked it.

By the way, please excuse a newbie, but what is HDR?

 

[toofpaste]

High Dynamic Range? I think?

It's supposed to get different exposures from different pictures made into one....

At least that's how I understand it

 

[freelunch]

Thanks. I think you're right:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

It sounds like that is the underlying concept behind the Highlight/Shadow filter in Photoshop? Or, the "Active D-Lighting" program on my D60.

 

[toofpaste]

somewhat.....

 

[freelunch]

Okay, I now understand what HDR is and that Photoshop CS3 has a program for it. Photoshop Help says:

Keep the following tips in mind when you take photos to be combined with the Merge To HDR command:

Secure the camera to a tripod.

Take enough photos to cover the full dynamic range of the scene. You can try taking at least five to seven photos, but you might need to take more exposures depending on the dynamic range of the scene. The minimum number of photos should be three.

Vary the shutter speed to create different exposures. Changing the aperture changes the depth of field in each exposure and can produce lower-quality results. Changing the ISO or aperture may also cause noise or vignetting in the image.

In general, don’t use your camera’s auto-bracket feature, because the exposure changes are usually too small.

The exposure differences between the photos should be one or two EV (exposure value) steps apart (equivalent to about one or two f‑stops apart).

Don’t vary the lighting; for instance, don’t use a flash in one exposure but not the next.

Make sure that nothing is moving in the scene. Exposure Merge works only with differently exposed images of the identical scene.
_____

I wonder if our original poster is trying to use HDR on a single shot?

 

[toofpaste]

No, I think he tried it and it still wouldn't solve his problem?

 

[iluvphotography]

I used 3 different exposure and I even tried 5 exposure, but I used camera's auto bracket feature. Maybe that's what the problem is based on Freelunch's research. My experience with HDR is that it works better in sunset or night photography. Maybe because there are more dynamic range than mid-day.. But I have seen some really nice HDRs done during the day. I don't know why it didn't work with the car.

BTW, it's SHE not HE