Great image - wonderful colours there.

I keep noticing something.

 

Sometimes when I process an image in photomatix then Ok the tonemapping, it becomes really dark and dull, not atall like it was in the preview.

 

Usually happens when using 360 mode.

Any help appretiated.

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I've noticed the same thing recently. Seems the larger you can make the shot on screen when tonemapping the more accurate it is.

Here's a recent one from me. From 3 raw files.

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BPITW won 7 times.

My Flickr gallery

Righto, I've been reading with avid interest in the last couple of mags the hints and tips for HDR so have had a go again myself.  Here are a couple that I have done recently,  I'd welcome all comments

Cheers
Ian

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In search of that magic moment...

Hi Ian,

Of the two, the second one looks least like an HDR - which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned - I hate the overcooked look!

The first one has a good range of tones and colours but you need to play around with the luminance and light-smoothing sliders a bit more... There's a halo over the tops of the trees which marks the shot as a dead-giveaway HDR image. It also seems a little out-of-focus but that could be 'cos it's a small image and my eyes are probably wonky.

Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative.

Best wishes,

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Si
DCM
spiritflier.com
My Flickr
BPITW x 4

Thanks for that Si.

It's all a learning curve for me and I'm very much of the opinion that all feedback is good feedback.  What might seem negative to you is great for me as it's expanding my exposure to photography (pun intended ) 

I see what you mean about the trees on the first one, I'll have a play about with the sliders etc and see what I come up with.

I've just checked the larger image and there is a little bluring to it.  It may be because there was a little bit of wind the day I took these images and bacause it's an HDR from 5 separate images the trees may have moved slightly between shots.  The one with the waterfall was done using a single RAW image so all the movement etc in it is all in the same place (if that makes sense?).  I might have a go at doing the HDR from one of the RAW files of the trees and see if that makes a difference.

Cheers
Ian

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In search of that magic moment...

Hi Ian,

Unless I'm shooting water, I find the blurring caused by merging a few RAW files in Photomatix to be a monumental pain in the rear. If it's a bit windy, I'll either shoot one RAW file exposed to the right of the histogram to capture the highlights and create an HDR from that or now that I've got the 40D, I'll whack it onto high speed continuous and rattle off three shots with Auto Exposure Bracketing... At 6fps, there's not a lot of movement.

Remember to make sure the 'align source images' button is ticked and also the 'ghosting' button... it'll help to keep everything lined up but it doesn't always work!

The best advice I can give is to be subtle with the processing...

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Si
DCM
spiritflier.com
My Flickr
BPITW x 4

Just out of interest - is anyone using/or has tried Dynamic Photo HDR that was mentioned a good while back on here? For anyone that has, have you also tried Photomatix and if yes to that, how would you compare it to Dynamic Photo HDR?

Spiritflier:

Hi Ian,

Unless I'm shooting water, I find the blurring caused by merging a few RAW files in Photomatix to be a monumental pain in the rear. If it's a bit windy, I'll either shoot one RAW file exposed to the right of the histogram to capture the highlights and create an HDR from that or now that I've got the 40D, I'll whack it onto high speed continuous and rattle off three shots with Auto Exposure Bracketing... At 6fps, there's not a lot of movement.

Remember to make sure the 'align source images' button is ticked and also the 'ghosting' button... it'll help to keep everything lined up but it doesn't always work!

The best advice I can give is to be subtle with the processing...

Thanks again Si

I've been reading my manual re bracketing and continious shots so am going to give it a go back at the same spot again.

Practice makes perfect I guess so I'll keep practicing

Cheers
Ian

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In search of that magic moment...

Forseti:

Just out of interest - is anyone using/or has tried Dynamic Photo HDR that was mentioned a good while back on here? For anyone that has, have you also tried Photomatix and if yes to that, how would you compare it to Dynamic Photo HDR?

I've used it after it being recomended by David Constable.
Its alright, but I prefer the customizability that Photomatix gives. Its much more indepth the DPHDR.

cairntoul:

Thanks for that Si.

It's all a learning curve for me and I'm very much of the opinion that all feedback is good feedback.  What might seem negative to you is great for me as it's expanding my exposure to photography (pun intended ) 

I see what you mean about the trees on the first one, I'll have a play about with the sliders etc and see what I come up with.

I've just checked the larger image and there is a little bluring to it.  It may be because there was a little bit of wind the day I took these images and bacause it's an HDR from 5 separate images the trees may have moved slightly between shots.  The one with the waterfall was done using a single RAW image so all the movement etc in it is all in the same place (if that makes sense?).  I might have a go at doing the HDR from one of the RAW files of the trees and see if that makes a difference.

Cheers
Ian

Ghosting can be a real problem, and alot of the time you dont notice it until its too late.

One thing I do when ghosting can be a problem, is use a polarizer or ND filters to slow the shutter speed even more, and use a smaller aperture, so that the fastest shutter speed, the most under exposed shot is still resonably slow, so that anything likely to move will be captured as a blur.
Then all the blurred subjects will just be on big blurred subject.

HDR + Water + Gooooood, in my books.
It can give it alot of depth, hence my use of HDR for my seascape works.

And like you said Ian, practise makes perfect.
Just experiment with it mate, its all meant to be fun.

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Matt Harris Photography
The Crusade for Photographers Rights
Support a Needy Artist?

I have a question about HDR and bracketing if anyone can help?

Is there an optimum number of shots to take for HDR?  In the past I have used 3 shots, usually 2 stops apart, but I have noticed that some folk use more and some are only 1 stop apart.

Does it really matter how many shots and how many stops apart they are?

I know that the whole point of HDR is to capture the whole dynamic range of a scene and that you would expose for all the extremes of the scene, but there must be an optimum.  Does anyone know?

Cheers
Ian

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In search of that magic moment...

Is there an optimum number of shots to take for HDR?  In the past I have used 3 shots, usually 2 stops apart, but I have noticed that some folk use more and some are only 1 stop apart.

Does it really matter how many shots and how many stops apart they are?

I started HDR with my D70 which shoots at 2 stops apart, so I did 3 shots, 2 stops apart. -2, metered, +2.
Then I got my D200, which can shoot 9 shots in a bracket, but at only 1 stop apart.

Most of it does come down to the camera. Some cameras have 2 stops, but less shots. Some have 1 stop, but more shots.

Thats what I think anyways.

I know that the whole point of HDR is to capture the whole dynamic range of a scene and that you would expose for all the extremes of the scene, but there must be an optimum.  Does anyone know?

Personally, speaking from relative experience, I think it all comes down to the individual scene.
I've done HDR's from 3 shots that looked fine, but I've done 3 shots that looked bad, where I needed 5 or 7 to make it work.
I find sunsets the hardest for HDR, as you do need a much wider range. Only way to really tone it down is using a ND grad at the same time.
I think my widest HDR was about 23 shots, and that was more personal taste then anything. I wanted to blur the movement, and I wanted it to bring out more tones.
Normally 3-7 will work fine. Sometimes you'll need a bit more, sometimes 3 is completely adequate.
Best bet is to just experiment with it under different scenarios, and see how a 3 shot HDRi compares to a 9 shot HDRi of the same scene.

Hope that helps a bit.

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Matt Harris Photography
The Crusade for Photographers Rights
Support a Needy Artist?

How can you have 23 shots matt?

 

I tried using half stop gaps, but it confuses and freezes photomatix..

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The easiest way to use loads of shots like that is to just use 1/3 stops in manual mode, but you can do it with 1/5's and full stops.

I've got a custom program in my D200's banks set up to jump in full stops, which makes it easier to do HDR's manually.

Photomatix rarely freezes, even on my vintage system, it sort of goes into thinking.
Best thing to do is just leave it, and it'll do something eventually.

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Matt Harris Photography
The Crusade for Photographers Rights
Support a Needy Artist?

When I try it with anything less then full stops then it comes up with "two photos with same exposure"

I  then manually input the data into the gaps, it freezes for a minute then comes up with an error message, and I have to exit it!

 

My current project is HDR free though

Not that I'm becoming anti HDR, I just know what look I want this set to have, and thats not what I'd achieve from using HDR, but single photos with lots of contrast and curve/colour adjustments made in PS.

 

http://www.adesw.deviantart.com/gallery/#Urban-England

 

I guess I realised I cant beat you at your own game matt . You're just too good for me

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