Jump to content

HDR Photography


Ruddles

Recommended Posts

I'm soon to be doing an evening course in Photography. Has been a sort of hobby of mine for a while now and I've only recently delved into HDR photos. I have created two HDR photographs, but they seem to be suffering from noise graining mostly in the darker areas :shrug: . I'm guessing this is more to do with the fact they were taken in the fading light, but If there are any amateur /professional photographers who'd been keen to to run their eyes over them and if possible give me some advice I'd be very grateful! :thumbs:

 

MarkHDRMod1.jpg

ZedHDRMod1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Z is pure carnography M8.

 

If you want to photograph my Z or jigger about with 1 of my shots with photo shop, I'll send you 1. :thumbs:

 

That would be a great help to me, the more playing around with photographs the better, send what you can and If you have any 7 shots the same ISO but with different shutter speeds, eg. 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/150, 1/200, 1/250 or something around those I would be able to convert to HDR for you. :teeth:

 

I will be at Japfest this year, although not on a stand (car's not upto scratch just yet :p ) I'll be bringing my camera to take shots of any /all Zed's I can see!!

 

Got to go out.

 

Few tips:

 

Download Phomatix for HDR

 

http://www.hdrsoft.com/

 

Keep the ISO low

 

Get rid of noise in CS3

 

Sharpen

 

Get rid of background "mess" (mate's cars :lol: )

 

Crop

 

Took 5 mins but could be done a lot better with patience.

 

MarkHDRMod1.jpg

 

I work on a 'free' ;) Photoshop CS4 Captain and my ISO setting for those photo's was 800.

Yeah, I was wondering how to get around the mess in the background, was that just a simple clone from the sand and grass over?

I'll have a play around with the sharpen on the Zed's photo then, if you look closely at the bottom of the sideskirts, the darkest part at the rear and on the tyres the noise is quite clearly visible.

Many thanks! :thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You need RAW files as a base.

 

You can shoot 5 or 7 or 9 files using a good SLR which will "auto-HDR" by taking the shots at different exposures. But this needs a tripod...........

 

I prefer to take one, underexposed shot, and then create 6 or 7 new pictures by altering the exposure in Lightroom. The shot below was very overexposed but managed to rescue a decent shop in Lightroom.

 

_DSC2288-4_3_2_1.jpg

 

Then merge in Photomatix (not keen on the CS3 or 4 software) and fiddle to your heart's content.

 

You've used far too much gamma (I think) on the piccie of the Azure - hence the glow around the aerial and the trees. :thumbs:

 

PS - Yep. Just a rough and ready clone tool. Could make it perfect in 20 mins or so but I ain't getting paid. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the iso being 800 will lead to more noise disortion dependant on what camera you are using.

 

I went through a phase of HDR for a while,

 

some may recognise this car, newer folk will only know the current style it has

Nissan_350z_7_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

Nissan_350z_5_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

Jesus jay, do you remember those rims :scare::nono::doh:

 

Major tip is do not over sharpen, as that is what will emphasise the grain appearing.

 

One thing i will say for it, is enjoy your addiction, then you will get bored of HDR. It can work a lot better when done

in a subtle matter. It really is a case of less is more.

 

very little use of hdr

Range_Rover_Vogue_5_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

So over all advice, lower the ISO, use less sharpening and finally, use less HDR to make the image more natural.

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's some great info thanks Captain! :thumbs:

Taking one underexposed and repeating for 7+ would be alot easier. I currently don't have Lightroom, will download it as soon as I can. Is there a direct (straight forward) route to preparing 6-7 images from one?

 

Even with a tripod there is a tiny amount of movement :dry: as some of my other single-shot photo's have shown me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i'd bracket instead of using 1 underexposed image.

 

as you brighten the 1 underexposed, you will be creating grain in the dark areas.

 

even shooting in raw, rule of thumb is to not go above 2 stops of exposure.

 

Tripod and multiple shots is what i did for jays old photos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the iso being 800 will lead to more noise disortion dependant on what camera you are using.

 

I went through a phase of HDR for a while,

 

some may recognise this car, newer folk will only know the current style it has

Nissan_350z_7_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

Nissan_350z_5_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

Jesus jay, do you remember those rims :scare::nono::doh:

 

Major tip is do not over sharpen, as that is what will emphasise the grain appearing.

 

One thing i will say for it, is enjoy your addiction, then you will get bored of HDR. It can work a lot better when done

in a subtle matter. It really is a case of less is more.

 

very little use of hdr

Range_Rover_Vogue_5_by_ARphotographs.jpg

 

So over all advice, lower the ISO, use less sharpening and finally, use less HDR to make the image more natural.

 

Adam

 

Those are some fantastic shots Adam! :thumbs:

 

I'll try lowering the ISO this week if I can still catch the sun after work! :p

Thanks for the advice, I need to take on as much as possible!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok this is an attempted Lightroom HDR, I can already see it doesn't follow the same extremities as a multiple photo merge (this pic comprises of two photos). It seemed to come out quite well though after playing around in Lightroom and CS4, tell me what you think! :thumbs:

 

DSC01536.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you able to change your shutter speed? If you can't you will need multiple shots at different exposure levels, so take one single photo, copy 2 or 3 times and use Adobe Lightroom to change exposure levels for each copy. Once you've done that, use Photoshop or Photomatix to merge the photos together. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you able to change your shutter speed? If you can't you will need multiple shots at different exposure levels, so take one single photo, copy 2 or 3 times and use Adobe Lightroom to change exposure levels for each copy. Once you've done that, use Photoshop or Photomatix to merge the photos together. :)

 

Yes i think i can pick shutter speed, it has all the settings, just not all at the touch of a button. So how then?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll need to take multiple shots of a certain item /object, I usually do about 7 shots. Keep the camera on a tripod or if you don't have a tripod balance the camera on a wall (just make sure it doesn't move :scare: ). Take one shot at 1/40, one shot at 1/60 and so forth until about 1/250, import these into your PC and onto Photoshop then 'File' -> 'Automate' -> 'Merge to HDR', select your photo set and 'OK'. Once Photoshop has finished combining it will give you a final say before you Merge all photos, fine tune if needs be and 'OK'. Once this is doen you will have one HDR image ready for editing. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...