well. here goes. My first real attempt with HDR

[Phantomht]

ok, be gentle with me, im sensitive
I really have little idea how to do this right. I have seen, what i consider BAD HDR. I hope i dont offend anyone here but im striving to be a good photographer. NOT a cartoonist.
With that said, i have also seen some really good HDR and id like to know how to do THAT.
I have Photomatix but really have no idea how to use it correctly and im no where near familiar with it as i am with Lightroom/Photoshop.
But. I was bored the other night and thought, ... lets give it a go.
i will say, that when i was fumbling around trying to get some good results with the images i took, i was pretty dissappointed and almost gave up. Then i took a look at each individual shot and compared to what i was creating in Photomatix and thought, well, i AM turning out something that looks pretty good after all. At least to me they looked better than i expected, but, ... lemme get some of your opinions/comments.
Each [i only really have 2] was put together with 5 exposures.
Quick question, do you find you get better results shooting in daytime rather than nighttime?
Now i got to figure out how to post them here, i might fail and have to respond to my own post to get it right.

Howie
Nikon D90

 

[Bynx]

Your waterfall pic looks pretty decent. I like the water starting off sharp at the bottom and softening out at the top. You might have your WB off because its too red overall. Did you switch to whatever the lighting source is there? Some outside bulbs are Sodium and some use other chemicals which produce different colors like green etc. The same can be said of your first shot. Both images look like the color is off from incorrect WB. There is a problem with the car that came into the pic in one of your frames. All that is left is the outline of the headlight trail. I dont think you took enough bracketed shots. The highlights are still blown and the shadows are still too dark. Id like to see you post those 5 shots that made up your first pic and let some of us have a go at it.

 

[SlickSalmon]

Quick question, do you find you get better results shooting in daytime rather than nighttime?

Nighttime HDR can produce spectacular results, but it's definitely harder. Long exposures bring about noise problems that you don't have with short exposures, things tend to move, focusing is challenging, etc. Personally, I think it's beneficial to learn HDR with daytime shots before you move to nighttime.

 

[Phantomht]

ok, 2 questions.

i was under some impression i could only use 5 bracketed shots in Photomatix, if i can use more than 5, is there a limit how many you can use?

It was suggested i post the 5 shots i took but they are NEF's, so thatd be like 5 - 11 meg pics, do they need to be converted to jpg first to post them?

yes, ima nOOb, but i learn quick.

 

[DiskoJoe]

One main problem I see is that your HDR images still look like the have natural shadowing effects. The purpose is to over expose dark areas and under expose lighter areas to make the image more balanced.

When you took these shots were you using the same aperture for all of them?

 

[DiskoJoe]

ok, 2 questions.

i was under some impression i could only use 5 bracketed shots in Photomatix, if i can use more than 5, is there a limit how many you can use?

It was suggested i post the 5 shots i took but they are NEF's, so thatd be like 5 - 11 meg pics, do they need to be converted to jpg first to post them?

yes, ima nOOb, but i learn quick.

you should not need more then 5 ever. Really three is good if you know how to edit well. I have seen shots with 11 before and it does not make that much of a difference. After a while the exposure variations are so small that all the shots are not needed.

Also you have to convert images to jpeg before using photomatix with bracketed shots. You could use the raw but it is rather point less since you are using multiple images. But if you insist on using the raw do the HDR merge with photoshop the tine mapping with photomatix. Topaz is awesome for tone mapping singles as well.

 

[480sparky]

...........you should not need more then 5 ever. Really three is good if you know how to edit well. I have seen shots with 11 before and it does not make that much of a difference. ...........

The number of shots depends on how you bracket your images. If it would take 15 +/-1 EV shots to record the dynamic range of the scene, 5 just isn't going to do the job. Unless your brackets are +/-3 EVs.

 

[Bynx]

I think the #5 comes from the limits for Photomatix if you havent paid for it. You can certainly need more than 5 exposures in some extreme lighting situations particularly to cover the most bright and most dark areas.

 

[Phantomht]

One main problem I see is that your HDR images still look like the have natural shadowing effects. The purpose is to over expose dark areas and under expose lighter areas to make the image more balanced.

When you took these shots were you using the same aperture for all of them?

Yes, all i did was change shutter speeds by 1 stop. +2 +1 0 -1 -2

 

[Phantomht]

ok, 2 questions.

i was under some impression i could only use 5 bracketed shots in Photomatix, if i can use more than 5, is there a limit how many you can use?

It was suggested i post the 5 shots i took but they are NEF's, so thatd be like 5 - 11 meg pics, do they need to be converted to jpg first to post them?

yes, ima nOOb, but i learn quick.

you should not need more then 5 ever. Really three is good if you know how to edit well. I have seen shots with 11 before and it does not make that much of a difference. After a while the exposure variations are so small that all the shots are not needed.

Also you have to convert images to jpeg before using photomatix with bracketed shots. You could use the raw but it is rather point less since you are using multiple images. But if you insist on using the raw do the HDR merge with photoshop the tine mapping with photomatix. Topaz is awesome for tone mapping singles as well.

Oh.
oops.
So, just so i make sure im getting the processing order correctly.
1. take bracketed shots
2. download to computer [NEFs]
3. Process my NEFs in Lightroom/Photoshop individually
4. save as JPGs
5. Load all 5 in Photomatix, merge, process, Save
6. Edit AGAIN in Photoshop?

is this right?

 

[DiskoJoe]

One main problem I see is that your HDR images still look like the have natural shadowing effects. The purpose is to over expose dark areas and under expose lighter areas to make the image more balanced.

When you took these shots were you using the same aperture for all of them?

Yes, all i did was change shutter speeds by 1 stop. +2 +1 0 -1 -2

What aperture were you using?

 

[Phantomht]

One main problem I see is that your HDR images still look like the have natural shadowing effects. The purpose is to over expose dark areas and under expose lighter areas to make the image more balanced.

When you took these shots were you using the same aperture for all of them?

Yes, all i did was change shutter speeds by 1 stop. +2 +1 0 -1 -2

What aperture were you using?

im pretty sure it was f/11.
Shutter Speeds of 30 sec, 15, 8[?], 4 and 2

 

[SlickSalmon]

One main problem I see is that your HDR images still look like the have natural shadowing effects. The purpose is to over expose dark areas and under expose lighter areas to make the image more balanced.

When you took these shots were you using the same aperture for all of them?

Yes, all i did was change shutter speeds by 1 stop. +2 +1 0 -1 -2

In my experience, an exposure range of +2 to -2 is rarely adequate for night scenes, because they usually contain the image of a light source. You usually need additional underexposures.