Part HDR Part Not

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BruceKingston
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Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by BruceKingston »

Gidday everyone,

Those who have been following the weather topic might have noticed that I have done some HDR images from stuff that I took on a trip to the East Coast of the country last week. Rather that clogging up that thread and because it is now a real stretch to say that this is either weather from my vicinity or even that it was taken today, here is another of the results from Tasmania. This one is a combination of HDR and some of one of the original frames.
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Most effective 'glow' to the image Bruce. Looks very slick but also entirely realistic, no way HDR-ifyed.

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Greg Beetham
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Great scene and well taken.
What camera did you use Bruce? did you get an ambient EV and work out high/low exposure settings, or if using an A550 what exposure settings did it choose for the HDR, and how far apart do the shots happen, ie. do you need to use a tripod?
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by BruceKingston »

Thank you gentlemen!

Greg, it was taken on my A900 with a Sigma 2.8, 28-105mm lens. Three exposures taken one after another using the camera's bracketing mode, all at 28mm, f8.0, ISO 200 on a tripod. I was lucky in that there was absolutely no wind so the surface of the water in the orignal images was pretty glassy anyway. I was in Aperture Priority Mode which I wouldn't normally use (in preference to full manual mode) but in manual focus which I ALWAYS use and with light metered using AEL Spot Toggle which I also ALWAYS use. From memory I metered somewhere about midway down the jetty but on the water you can see underneath and on the other side of it (eg something I thought was about mid-tone for the scene).

Exposure 1 = 1.6 sec, 0EV,
Exposure 2 = 1.0 sec, -1/2EV; and
Exposure 3 = 2.0 sec, 1/2EV

Processed in Photomatix Pro which left me with a REALLY noisy image so I took the resultant HDR and Exposure 2 into photoshop and masked out the noise under the jetty and in the bottom right corner with a soft brush set at about 25% opacity using multiple strokes where it was needed. Played with levels a bit to reduce mid-tone luminance a fair amount and that was that!
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Dr. Harout
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

I'm not a fan of HDR (not to say the contrary) but in this case it works quite well. Time to try it.
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Birma
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by Birma »

Hi Bruce - great shot, love the glassy view of the water - HDR isn't the first thing that comes to mind for me, just that it is a very attractive picture - and thanks for the explanation of how you did it.
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sury
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by sury »

I liked the over all picture. I was wondering why the structures are a bit fuzzy for tripod shots? It could be my eyes or monitor too.

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Ewannawe
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by Ewannawe »

Lovely shot Bruce, and as others have already said - not OTT with the HDR effect leaving one with an image that certainly warrants more than a glance.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

What I like about that style of Bruce's (a well done bracket in this case), is the potential of actually producing a photo that is close to what the eye saw at the time, a single frame in those circustances often does not have the latitude to do that I think.
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by BruceKingston »

Thanks for the commments everyone. This is by far my most preferred way of doing HDR though, I have done a little bit of experimentation - which you can see on my blog (address in the signature) if you want and I'm finding there is a time and a place for the entire range of potential output.

Sury, it looks pretty sharp (for an HDR) on my monitor(s) which are all calibrated but the effect that HDR produces certainly can produce blur if and when you use three different frames to produce the shot as I did in this case. Often I find myself "crafting" HDR from a single frame captured in camera (by creating two virtual copies in Lightroom and using adjustments in the application to create the exposure bracket) and this will be the first place I go when there is movement between the frames taken from the camera. Very often there is a difference between the three frames from the camera because even the slightest breeze will cause trees to sway or, in this case, the masts of the yachts to move. I was lucky in this series that there was absolutely no wind but that's not to say that swell won't have the same effect!

Birma, the way HDR has the effect of smoothing out water in a similar way to long exposure in a normal image is one of the things I like about the technique. In this case, I was lucky because the water started out pretty much like a mirror anyway and HDRing it just sort of emphasises it. The effect is further added to in this case because after doing the tone mapping the area under the jetty and at the bottom right was VERY noisy so I masked in one of the frames out of the camera at about 90% opacity. So what you see in that area (which is the bit that gives the glassy feeling) is mostly a single frame with little of no HDR effect visible!

Greg, spot on (as usual). There's no doubt that HDR contributes to the "glow" and I actually desaturated the tone mapped image once I had it back in Photoshop (as well as playing with midtone levels) to bring back a little reality and get an image as close as possible to what my eye saw when I was standing there. It's the first time I've played with saturation in Photoshop after tone mapping and I don't think it will be the last. I'm rapidly learning that HDR works for some images and not for others. I look at some brackets that I have taken and think they will make good HDR candidates but when I get them tone mapped, they just don't work. Then others just do. I haven't worked out the rhyme or reason yet except to say that good candidates need more than just a wide tonal range to work. As with all things photographic (for me at least), more practice is required. Lucky that I can't think of too many things (at least too many that are publishable either as a thought or a picture :D ) that I'd rather be doing!
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sury
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Re: Part HDR Part Not

Unread post by sury »

Bruce,
Thank you. It could be stacking or more likely a combination of my monitor and these old eyes. :)

With best regards,
Sury
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