HDR photos

[Avvie Cunnington]

Does anyone here have any HDR photo's to share? Post them here.

So i've just downloaded a trial for Photoshop CS6 and photo you can convert images to HDR. I thought i might have a little play around with this later as i love the look of HDR photos. Does anyone use this programme? If so any hints on how to make nice looking HDR images? Best settings to use?

 

[Hockeyman55]

Here are two HDR shots I just took the other night. My camera had an auto bracket setting, which takes 3 shots, neutral, -1 and +1 exposure) but even if you camera doesn't have that feature you can do the same thing manually with just adjusting the exposure after each shot. You can even do a one shot HDR if you wanted.just take the one copy and create copy's with different exposures. I've found those dont come out as nice however. I've done very little tone mapping in CS6 so my knowledge of creating HDR shots using CS6 is limited. I use a program called Photomatix to create the HDR shot I want and then edit it in Lightroom or Photoshop.

Holiday at the Gardens by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

Downtown at the Gardens by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr


This one I went heavy on. I actually have been meaning to go back and reprocess this and see if I can get it a little more natural looking

Everest HDR by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Avvie Cunnington]

I have actually got Photomatix, unsure how to use it. Would you mind me messaging you and seeing how you do this. I always thought these kind of photos were done by the camera not a programme!

Ok this is my first try with Photomatix.

 

[Hockeyman55]

I have actually got Photomatix, unsure how to use it. Would you mind me messaging you and seeing how you do this. I always thought these kind of photos were done by the camera not a programme!

That is not a problem. Ill show you here also.

Check out this tutorial, Trey is the man when it comes to HDR shots and his site explains the process better than I would be able to . This is where I learned how to process these shots from and it is quite simple once you run thru it a few times. Take a look at his site and let me know if you have any questions. Im no pro, that is for sure, but its good to be able to talk to other photographers to get pointers and tips and even will all the time.

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

 

[maxairmike]

I've toyed with HDR in both Photoshop CS5 and Photomatix, and I've only managed to make a semi-respectable one with CS5. Photomatix is oddly unusable for me, since no matter what settings I use to tone map a 3 or 5 image HDR I always end up with an image with a strong blue, green, or red tint that I can't figure out how to fix. Tone mapping a single image for a "fake" HDR works fine, but the multi-image processing is really wonky.

However, now that I've started playing around with Nik Color Efex, I've found that the Detail Extractor filter sometimes give you HDR-like results with a simple click and dragging a few sliders. Color Efex is definitely my favorite new piece of software.

 

[Avvie Cunnington]

I've toyed with HDR in both Photoshop CS5 and Photomatix, and I've only managed to make a semi-respectable one with CS5. Photomatix is oddly unusable for me, since no matter what settings I use to tone map a 3 or 5 image HDR I always end up with an image with a strong blue, green, or red tint that I can't figure out how to fix. Tone mapping a single image for a "fake" HDR works fine, but the multi-image processing is really wonky.

However, now that I've started playing around with Nik Color Efex, I've found that the Detail Extractor filter sometimes give you HDR-like results with a simple click and dragging a few sliders. Color Efex is definitely my favorite new piece of software.

I keep getting he colour tint to certain items in the photo and unsure how to remove it. Going to try more with photoshop aswell. Will checkout Color Efex :thumbs:

Oh and another one i tried.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Are the pictures you shoot in RAW format? There maybe only so much you can do if the image is a JPEG

- - - Updated - - -

I've toyed with HDR in both Photoshop CS5 and Photomatix, and I've only managed to make a semi-respectable one with CS5. Photomatix is oddly unusable for me, since no matter what settings I use to tone map a 3 or 5 image HDR I always end up with an image with a strong blue, green, or red tint that I can't figure out how to fix. Tone mapping a single image for a "fake" HDR works fine, but the multi-image processing is really wonky.

However, now that I've started playing around with Nik Color Efex, I've found that the Detail Extractor filter sometimes give you HDR-like results with a simple click and dragging a few sliders. Color Efex is definitely my favorite new piece of software.

I love Nik Color Efex. I use that more than just using Lightroom. The tonal contrast and pro contrast are life savers I also use the detail extractor a lot also but have been toning that down, I went thru a phase of heavy use but the pictures would come across borderline fake. The last few times I used it I turned it down to still get some nice detail out of it but still have a natural looking photo.

 

[Avvie Cunnington]

Like i said, ive only just discovered i could do this, so all my photos are in JPEG, also i only have a digital camera which has neither RAW option or an auto bracket setting. So until i get a better camera, it will be a case of me just messing with my old photo's making them look different.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Yeah you will be limited on what you can do with those photos but when you do get a new camera and shoot in RAW you will be a pro :thumbs:

 

[Hockeyman55]

Two more DR shots I took at an animal sanctuary here in Palm Beach

Florida Wetlands by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr


FL Wetlands by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Avvie Cunnington]

Amazing! What camera do you suggest?

 

[maxairmike]

I love Nik Color Efex. I use that more than just using Lightroom. The tonal contrast and pro contrast are life savers I also use the detail extractor a lot also but have been toning that down, I went thru a phase of heavy use but the pictures would come across borderline fake. The last few times I used it I turned it down to still get some nice detail out of it but still have a natural looking photo.

I try not to go overboard on the Detail Extractor, but sometimes I like pushing it to extremes to see what the limits are and the reactions it gets. Lately I've used it to bring out lighting differences in the sky for night and fireworks shots more than anything.

 

[Hockeyman55]

It's great that it brings out a lot of the details in the shadows, only down side is it brings out more noise also.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Another HDR shot I took recently


Downtown at the Gardens Hanukkah Menorah by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr