Working on my HDR

GnipGnop · May 1, 2012

What you are doing is not HDR photography. It is more tone mapping then anything, and perhaps closer to just a contrast and saturation boosted photo. HDR photos capture more detail in the shadows and highlights of the scene. Yours seem to hover on either side the the exposure.

One thing I recommend is to half the amount of saturation and contrast you are adding to your photos. After that, bump it down a bit more. It is distracting, and after the viewer gets over the initial shock of colour, there is not much else to look at.

You have all the necessary tools for producing HDR that isn't overprocessed with Photomatix or the like. Take 3 photos at the appropriate bracketed exposures necessary to capture the details held within the shadows and highlights. In photoshop, mask the parts of the photos out that are blown out and underexposed to create a single image from the bracketed photos. This is a more accurate representation of HDR, gives you more control in the creation of it, and doesn't look as over processed as Photomatix and the like.

Cheers.

DiskoJoe · May 1, 2012

FaultyShutter said:
Would a structural scene like this be more appropriate? Again I only bracketed by a stop, and how many exposures would be ideal for a good HDR output of a scene like this?

If you cared about getting keeping the people from streaking only one. But let say there are no people there then you could do 5 easy. I have found that 5 exposures usually gives you the best detail without being over kill. You can do more but it doesnt really help much more. With HDR you want very minimal contrast difference that blend more subtly. Most of your images have way to much contrast.

DiskoJoe · May 1, 2012

GnipGnop said:
What you are doing is not HDR photography. It is more tone mapping then anything, and perhaps closer to just a contrast and saturation boosted photo. HDR photos capture more detail in the shadows and highlights of the scene. Yours seem to hover on either side the the exposure.

One thing I recommend is to half the amount of saturation and contrast you are adding to your photos. After that, bump it down a bit more. It is distracting, and after the viewer gets over the initial shock of colour, there is not much else to look at.

You have all the necessary tools for producing HDR that isn't overprocessed with Photomatix or the like. Take 3 photos at the appropriate bracketed exposures necessary to capture the details held within the shadows and highlights. In photoshop, mask the parts of the photos out that are blown out and underexposed to create a single image from the bracketed photos. This is a more accurate representation of HDR, gives you more control in the creation of it, and doesn't look as over processed as Photomatix and the like.

Cheers.

Good advice here. Too much color early on can kill a lot of detail and ruin the HDR. Try to get it to where you really like the amount of detail you are getting first then up the color gradually.

ann · May 1, 2012

Do you think the OP is still around, this thread is about 9 months old (and really i had to stop from being a wisea... about the time frame)

KmH · May 1, 2012

Many new members discover a TPF thread by doing an Internet search on a photography related subject, and don't look at the date a thread was started.

ann · May 1, 2012

ah, good point keith, getting too old and cranky

ChaseH · May 2, 2012

True, it's an old thread, but there wasn't much else written on Hydra. I didn't want to be guilty of starting a query in a new thread without using the search function, which took me here. I'm brand new to the forum, and newly stepping up my game in photography from snapshot to dedicated amateur. Previous experience and study focusing largely on shooting underwater and now trying to get my skills to a higher level before a big African safari which looms on the horizon. So, what's wrong with Hydra? Apple seems to encourage it as a plug in for aperture but it's not discussed much on this forum. As my original response asked, it seems to be the same price point at photomatix.

unpopular · May 2, 2012

I am not seeing a lot of reason to use HDR here...

GnipGnop · May 3, 2012

Haha I had no idea this was such an old thread. Didn't realize it was something to look out for on this forum. Most forums lock really old threads that get bumped. I'll keep an eye out for it next time I guess.