HDR – Nothing Added

Just thought I’d post a straight up HDR shot. 3 Shots, 2 stops apart.

Processed in Photomatix and finished in Photoshop.

© Distant Fishermen

HDR – Cars

I have probably come to the stage of just using this blog to post my HDR work. I’ll explain what I’ve done as I will no doubt be trying to introduce further processing to enhance the work, well, that’s hopefully my intention. Some things may work, some may not, I’d like some feedback. (assuming that people read my blog)

Anyway, went to a Hot Rod Show held in Queenscliff, VIC (Australia) last weekend. I’m not a motor fan by any stretch of the imagination, but you just have to admire the imagination, work and not to mention money, that goes into this hobby or obsession as some would put it, and I thought photography was an expensive hobby!!

On the technical side of things, shot with a Canon 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens used, polariser attached. 3 Shot HDR, processed in Photomatix. This time I went for a slightly less saturated look, surprised? Well, saturation was around 35 on the scale in Photomatix, this tends to give a nice glassy finish to the shot. Back in Photoshop I went into selective colour and “pumped” the reds up and reduced the strength of all other colours. I then duplicated the layer, selected High Pass Filter, setting of 2 and selected Overlay in the blending mode. From EDIT you can select FADE and adjust to “taste”

Rather than post some of the other shots from Hot Rod Day, you can see some more in my TRANSPORT folder on PBase. I have a few more to process, so visit often.

Just a word for the uninformed, all images appearing on this blog are copyright to me (unless stated otherwise) I’ve had a few of my images posted elsewhere without my permission, you will soon be receiving an invoice.

HDR Work – Is it worth further processing? #3

Well, it’s been a while since I posted and not a lot of photos taken in between, but I managed to get out and about last weekend. Thought I’d try and again take processing a bit further after creating a HDR. I had a look at a program called Lucisart and am still considering buying it. I quite like the effect that can be had, but having said that, I can nearly achieve the same result with shadow / highlight and High Pass Filter, but as I said, nearly!

The Musicians

Just a technical note, HDR created from one shot RAW file. Alterations made in Photoshop, High Pass Filter, Shadows & Highlights, Curves, Contrast and Unsharp mask. Duplicated layer and converted to Black and White. Oval marquee created on B/W layer with a feather radius of 150 pixels and hit delete to reveal the colour layer below.

As I mentioned, the technique I use has a similar outcome to Lucisart, but their product does the job simpler and has a nice ‘edge’ to it.

HDR – A bit of holiday self indulgence – Part 3

A couple more shots from the other night, they are a bit on the small side, being in landscape format. If you want to see a larger version, you can visit my PBase account here

Wet Sand 1

Wet Sand 2

Both photos were 3 shot HDR, polariser, ND4 and half grad used. Processed using Photomatix and Photoshop.

Hoping to catch up with a cycle race tonight with an intention of getting some HDR sports, haven’t tried that yet, so will be interesting to say the least. (and before you ask, they’ll be good ol’ one shot pseudo HDR, for the purists out there)

HDR – A bit of holiday self indulgence – Part 2

Short and sweet this one. I decided to take my time and set up my shot. HDR, 3 shots, 2 stops apart, also mounted a polariser, a half grad and a ND 4 filter.

Combined and tone mapped in Photomatix, curve for contrast adjustment in Photoshop. High Pass filter, Shadows and Highlights and some dodging and burning to finish it off.

I have some more to process so I’ll post soon.

HDR – A bit of holiday self indulgence

Well, as I said in my earlier blog, I was hoping to get out and “bag a few HDR” shots. So this post won’t really be of anything new, just an opportunity to post a few HDR shots. So here we go.

A 3 shot HDR, one stop apart, processed and tone mapped in photomatix. High pass filter, shadow & highlights and contrast adjustment made in Photoshop. Probably over done it in regards to the high pass filter, I wanted a slightly ‘drawn’ look to it, there was a nice surprise to find a couple playing with their dog near the foot of the lighthouse.

Further along the shore (I should mention these were all taken at Point Lonsdale Beach, VIC, Australia) as they sun was setting, the low angle gave off some great looking reflections, it’s a ‘busy’ looking shot, but I found it appealing.

Of course, the problem with these blogs is the landscape orientated photos finish up a lot smaller to view, you can always check out my PBase account for a larger view.

OK, this type of processing is probably a little further removed from HDR than most purists would like, but, you can’t please everyone.

Here’s another from around the base of the lighthouse, when the tide is out, there are some amazing rock pools revealed. With the aid of a polariser I was able to show off the contents, I couldn’t help but ‘pump’ up the colours in this one.

These were all 3 shots HDR, one stop apart. For a slightly larger viewing, you could visit my PBase account as I mentioned before.

http://www.pbase.com/johno60

Please drop a line if you have any questions, or even if something you do or don’t like, I’d love to hear either way. With more holidays remaining, I hope to get a few more to post, until then….

HDR Work – Is it worth further processing? #2

I revisit my usual “style” of creating a HDR from one shot. In most cases, the reason being, I’m not actually looking for a HDR opportunity, but when I get home to down load the card, I usually end up thinking, why didn’t I try a 3 exposure HDR for that?

Anyway, this is my offer on this subject, well, two to be exact. I’ve gone a bit further with the processing after creating the HDR, use of the High Pass filter and a dodging and burning layer, just to get that little bit extra out of the shots.

Seems to work better when there is ample light, rather than a dreary grey light, like the one on “Stormy Day at the Pier”.

Title : “Light, Dark and Stormy”

Title : “Stormy Day at the Pier”

With holidays upon us, I hope to get out and about and “bag me some HDR” this time with intention.

If you want to see a bigger version of the shots above, Stormy Day at the pier is here : http://www.pbase.com/johno60/image/90645297

and Light, Dark and Stormy is here : http://www.pbase.com/johno60/image/90713423

or if you need to kill some time, you can check out my others offerings here : http://www.pbase.com/johno60

HDR Work – Is it worth further processing?

One of the things that leaps out at me when I surf the net, viewing all those lovely examples of HDR, is this where the shot should end?, is there more to be earned from a little further processing, or as a friend loves to call it, the pushing around of the pixels. I suppose it becomes subjective or just a matter of taste.

I’m not sure if this guy has a site of his own, but he has wonderful examples of HDR, with a bit extra added in. Venture over and pay a visit to a guy by the name of Mike Savad, he has some of his wares on display at http://www.redbubble.com/people/mikesavad

As for me, I’m still very much in the mode of “playing” with HDR and a few other techniques to see what works. Here’s one I did the other night.

This is a rarity for me, a three shot HDR (no tripod, just love the Canon 40D frame rate) After processing in Photomatix, I decided an extra serve of dodging and burning was the way to go. Hopefully with summer holidays starting, and hoping my arm stays on the mend, I hope to be bringing a few more HDR to a page near you. Any questions, fire away.

3 Photo HDR – Closed & Tower

Just thought I’d try my hand at some 3 shot HDR, over and under exposed by two stops. Both of these were processed in Photomatix Pro. I said a while back (I know, I’ve been away tooooooo long) I’d try out Picturenaut. I’ve had a play around with it and can say, it’s not too bad and if it was the first HDR program you’ve used, then you would be more than pleased with its output. Anyway, to my two shots, in a few days time I’ll reprocess them using Picturenaut to see if there any subtle differences or pleasing aspects.

Title : “Closed” 

Title : “The Tower”

Stay tuned…

Single File HDR – An Explanation

I’ve mentioned single file HDR and have had a few inquiries as how to go about it. I have used a shot below, supplied by Andy Smylie, who said when trying the technique “…ended up with a rather dark looking image with which I was not pleased”

Anyway, I have tried processing this in two ways. Andy has kindly supplied the RAW file in which I used Capture One Pro to export the file as a high res, 300 dpi jpg.

Processed as normal – Capture One

Processed as one stop over exposed – Capture One

Processed as one stop under exposed – Capture One

These three were exported from Capture One Pro as their own exposures and combined using Photomatix Pro. The settings below ( from the screen capture ) were the settings I was most happy with.

End result below.

On the larger image, one thing noticeable, is the grain of the sand is much sharper. Andy’s EXIF shows that he used 200ISO and I have many times read, use as low an ISO as possible, of course this is mentioned when referring to 3 (or more) shot HDR, but I think that should apply when trying to achieve HDR with the one shot method.

Anyway, onto exporting a normal processed shot from Capture One Pro, but this time, using that shot and making two duplicates in Photoshop and creating a ‘lighter’ and ‘darker’ copy. These were then combined using Photomatix and using the same values as used before, will there be any noticeable difference?

We used the photo above ( marked “Processed as normal – Capture One” )

The first one we duplicated was the “light” one. We used ‘curves’ in Photoshop to create it.

( light curve )

The second one we duplicated was the “dark” one. We used ‘curves’ in Photoshop to create it.

( dark curve )

When combined in Photomatix, and using the same values as before, this is the result we get.

While it’s a bit hard to tell here from just viewing the screen, but I can tell you by viewing the larger resolution, that the one that had all three exported from Capture One, was cleaner and not as dark as the one ‘manufactured’ in Photoshop. Of course, depending on the subject, the darker, moodier look might be a more applicable look in some cases, photography being subjective. It does back up Andy’s concern of being rather dark, although I have not seen Andy’s version. Hopefully he can post some thoughts here.

Later on in the week, I’ll be trying out another HDR program called Picturenaut. I’ve heard good reviews about it and will try out a few photos to see how it looks (and more important, ease of use and does it hog the memory) Maybe in the meantime (if you can’t wait) do a google search and download it to try it yourself.

(photograph above, kindly supplied by Andy Smylie for use in this entry of the Blog)