Author Topic: HDR (Read 15242 times)

dual · « **on:** May 15, 2012, 06:16:57 pm »

When is it OK and when is it too much?

Asking because I don't know

Some professionals makes it looks quite nice

Looks like a colour in competition to me

N[]vA · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2012, 07:16:29 am »

So I reckon its down to personal taste.

In the pic you posted some of the things that dont work for me

The halo'ing around bikes and the mountains
the grain is way overkill
the micro smoothing is creating a flat spot in colors at the base of the mountain
color saturation is killing it on the green

Generally I like an HDR picture to be as close to natural looking at it can be. I want to get more detail out of an image rather than show an image that looks like I am tripping on something.

End of the day all personal preferance

domstes · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2012, 01:23:49 pm »

Only one way to get a good HDR image. Lots of pictures a diffrent exposures and lots of time and a good software to merge all the photos into one.
A fake HDR will always look fake. HDR should add to the picture an not be the main focus of the image.

N[]vA · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2012, 01:44:32 pm »

Quote from: domstes on May 16, 2012, 01:23:49 pm

Only one way to get a good HDR image. Lots of pictures a diffrent exposures and lots of time and a good software to merge all the photos into one.
A fake HDR will always look fake. HDR should add to the picture an not be the main focus of the image.

You can take as many pictures you want and the best software you can find and still end up at the result above.

Its down to the specific tone mapping and blending, often fare more processes after the actual HDR part of it

Giepie · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2012, 08:19:08 pm »

Maybe not what you wanted, but still quite a nice pic for me.

Kenisis · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2012, 08:40:14 pm »

Hey guys.

What HDR software do you use?

Cheers

Al

Jughead · « **Reply #6 on:** May 16, 2012, 09:48:45 pm »

Photomatix

N[]vA · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2012, 03:43:48 am »

Mostly photomatix4 for the tone mapping
Lightroom cs5 for lens correction, color balance, etc
Neatimage pro for noise reduction
photoshop cs5 for any spot removal or that sort

Kenisis · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2012, 09:35:42 am »

Quote from: N[]vA on May 17, 2012, 03:43:48 am

Mostly photomatix4 for the tone mapping
Lightroom cs5 for lens correction, color balance, etc
Neatimage pro for noise reduction
photoshop cs5 for any spot removal or that sort

Hey Nova.

how much do you spend on software?

N[]vA · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2012, 02:20:23 pm »

Quote from: Kenisis on May 17, 2012, 09:35:42 am

Quote from: N[]vA on May 17, 2012, 03:43:48 am
Mostly photomatix4 for the tone mapping
Lightroom cs5 for lens correction, color balance, etc
Neatimage pro for noise reduction
photoshop cs5 for any spot removal or that sort

Hey Nova.

how much do you spend on software?

A fair chunk to get started, I dont really update unless there is a massive reason to

Kobus · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2012, 03:14:32 pm »

HDR for me is only suppose to compensate for the lack of dynamic range of the camera sensor. ie mild HDR =

Lourens ツ · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2012, 04:06:34 pm »

Quote from: Kobus on May 17, 2012, 03:14:32 pm

HDR for me is only suppose to compensate for the lack of dynamic range of the camera sensor. ie mild HDR =

The idea of HDR is exactly that. When its done correctly one should see some detail in the darkest and lightest areas but there should still be some differentiation between shadows and highlights. Everything in the image should not look exposed perfectly because is starts to look unnatural.

That's my opinion anyway.

Here is a useful HDR tutorial. <- Click-click (it takes a while to load)

N[]vA · « **Reply #12 on:** May 18, 2012, 06:04:18 am »

Quote from: Kobus on May 17, 2012, 03:14:32 pm

HDR for me is only suppose to compensate for the lack of dynamic range of the camera sensor. ie mild HDR =

Exactly!

Peat · « **Reply #13 on:** June 01, 2012, 11:01:21 pm »

All the above are 3 picture HDR's
From pretty radical to what I think it should look like.

dual · « **Reply #14 on:** June 12, 2012, 12:41:42 pm »

madmike999 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 12, 2012, 12:48:45 pm »

not a fan at all of HDR, always looks unreal. besides spending a little bit more time on a shot, some filters , you can get an even better shot than going HDR!

my 2c,

heti · « **Reply #16 on:** June 12, 2012, 12:51:42 pm »

Agree MadMike

If you get the basics of the shot wrong, HDR makes it look even worse IMHO!!

KTMaster · « **Reply #17 on:** June 14, 2012, 12:28:38 pm »

Quote from: madmike999 on June 12, 2012, 12:48:45 pm

not a fan at all of HDR, always looks unreal. besides spending a little bit more time on a shot, some filters , you can get an even better shot than going HDR!

my 2c,

Like Kobus said, HDR is to compensate the DSLR sensor's tendency to clip the highlights (white) and shadows (black): Dynamic Range and therefore loosing details in those extremes.

The cartoon like results, or the fakeness appearance of HDR photography is only up to the user. Like all post-processing work in photography, some abuse it while others successfully apply the 'less is more' principle. Since we deal with visual art, some do amazing work because beside their technique they have a good taste in things visual.

I got a D800, expensive camera, but it really performs in landscape for Dynamic Range. But I still do composite of 2 or 3 photos when there are too much variation in highlight and shadow.

eikeboom · « **Reply #18 on:** June 17, 2013, 09:31:09 pm »

See how the professionals at National Geographic do it.
The link has some photos with comments and tips underneath each.
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips/hdr-high-dynamic-range-photos/
Stunning!

Stofstreep · « **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2013, 10:56:58 am »

I love HDR.
It is some times tricky to get the best results.
I use a program called SNS-HDR PRO. quite expensive, but very easy to use and it has a batch processing feature that works wonderful.

Here are some of my favorites.