Two new HDRs

gmarquez · Apr 26, 2007

These are my first forays into HDRs and tone mapping, so they were originally only designed to be test shots. However, I like how they came out, so I'm posting them here for comments. The subject matter may be a bit mundane (a seaside sunset and a minivan parked in front of the ocean), but I think the shots came out 'interestingly'.

(and yes, I see the discontinuity by the minivan's antenna...I'm trying to find out why that happened).

For the minivan shot I used a tripod; for the sunset shot the camera was hand held (with me trying to steady the camera against a steel fencepost while taking the bracketed exposures).

I used Photomatix Pro to generate the HDRs.

BoblyBill · Apr 26, 2007

In the first one it looks like one of the exposures has been erased on the bottom left. There is almost a line that you can see where there doesn't seem to have the same effect as the rest of the shot (I know that's not really happened but that's the only way I can explain what I see). On the second, I'm not sure what happens in the picture to get that little bending action around the antenna except I've noticed it happens around very skinny black objects.

abraxas · Apr 26, 2007

I'd think initially trying HDR it'd be to your advantage to work with as close to ideal conditions as possible; Meaning, using a tripod on subjects with a range of tones from light to dark. Other than the antenna, the second looks pretty good and was a nice trial. Rather than work out what happened to the aerial, work on the technique- The antenna problem will work itself out later. Likewise, save the hand held stuff for later. Use a tripod until the processing comes out clean.

gmarquez · Apr 26, 2007

BoblyBill said:
In the first one it looks like one of the exposures has been erased on the bottom left. There is almost a line that you can see where there doesn't seem to have the same effect as the rest of the shot

Hmm, I'll have to look at the source images again. What program do you use to make your HDR photos?

abraxas said:
Likewise, save the hand held stuff for later. Use a tripod until the processing comes out clean.

I'd agree...I was caught without my 'pod, and decided to take a chance. I'll probably pursue HDR further, it seems to have some interesting possibilities.

deggimatt · Apr 26, 2007

Too much HDR for my taste in these pics.

BoblyBill · Apr 27, 2007

BoblyBill said:
In the first one it looks like one of the exposures has been erased on the bottom left.

Did I say left?!?!?! I meant right... bottom right... Oh man, I need to read my posts better before I post. I use photomatix for my HDRs.

gmarquez · Apr 27, 2007

BoblyBill said:
Did I say left?!?!?! I meant right... bottom right... Oh man, I need to read my posts better before I post. I use photomatix for my HDRs.

Ya know, that might be because that was the area closest to me, and therefore the area with the best aligned pixels between the three different exposures used to make the photo.

I used auto bracketing to get the 3 exposures, and as I didn't use a tripod for this one, the camera moved minute amounts for each picture taken. Stuff far away from me suffered from this 'jitter' the most, and were more misaligned between photos than the stuff close up.

Anyways, when I get some good clouds, I'll probably go back and take this shot over using a tripod.

BoblyBill · Apr 27, 2007

gmarquez said:
Ya know, that might be because that was the area closest to me, and therefore the area with the best aligned pixels between the three different exposures used to make the photo.

I used auto bracketing to get the 3 exposures, and as I didn't use a tripod for this one, the camera moved minute amounts for each picture taken. Stuff far away from me suffered from this 'jitter' the most, and were more misaligned between photos than the stuff close up.

Anyways, when I get some good clouds, I'll probably go back and take this shot over using a tripod.

I would love to see it when you do.