HDR Tutorial - plus 15% off coupon for Photomatix!

[rob2278]

This was from one single JPEG.

nice looking VXR!!

[JHM]

i might be missing something but dont the photomatrix apply a watermark and i cant see any on the images on this topic, can you avoid it somehow or not?

Thanks,

[grahamnp]

That applies only to the trial version. If you have the full version there will be no watermarks.

[Joren]

Really nice tutorial, thanks

[shire]

I see that my Paint Shop Pro X2 has a HDR photo merge facility. Does anyone know if that is any good?

edit to add that I can't actually try it as I am still waiting on return of camera so wondered if any good or should I buy something for the job?

[DurhamLad]

Hi,

Thank-you for the great tutorial. I've been experimenting with a few HDR images and am unsure whether the results are good or not. I'm colour blind with quite a few shades of colour and thus am never sure whether images look good or not.

Is HDR more benefical when shooting in dark or 'overcast' light?

Cheers!

[Thomas]

Hello DurhamLad, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
----
Well, color-blind Now I assume you have to decide between processing the images in a way that you are satisfied or that other people are. Is that so?

As to your Q relating to dark and/or overcast light. If you mean light that produces dull colors then you're right: HDR can map brightness values to colors in a way that the results looks more colorful than the unprocessed image. But it need not be so. There are many ways to tone-map and some people try to avoid the overly colorful look. So it depends.

If you look at shoots that are taken in very low light these mostly have very high contrast as some parts of the image lie in total shadow whereas some other parts are probably shone on by some street light or other light-source. In those cases HDRing the image can compress the extreme dynamic range of the original and produce an image where you can discere details in the darkest shadows and details under the light. But this does not necessarily mean you get some "boosted" colors.

[DurhamLad]

Hi Thomas,

I find myself overly critical of any creative work I do. I simply don't know whether images look 'correct' or not. This applies to all kinds of applications not just photography.

I have experimented over the last few days with some images however the weather was so bright and skies so clear that it didn't allow for any definition/shadows/variation in scene.

Reviewing other peoples images they tend to have a good mix of light/shadows.

[Thomas]

But also in bright hard sunshine you normally have very high contrast. Which can be controlled with HDR.
Just give it a try!

[-Neil-]

ive just tried this, looking at a landscape into the sun whilst its setting, did 5 exposures, +4 +2 0 -2 -4 but for some reason the sky looks fine the but the ground its pure black and dark, what did i do wrong?

[Zephyr]

The guide i used is not from this thread, but still.

[Gwaihir]

Can you make HDR photos on a camera without auto-bracketing? If yes, what's the easiest way? Thanks

[WoutK89]

Yes you can if you want, it takes extra time so make sure there is not much movement in the frame, but just put the camera in aperture priority and change the shutter speed (by exposure compensation) to 1 stop lower and after 1 stop higher than the optimal exposure. Or +2 and -2, and even +2, +1, 0, -1, -2 is possible.

[Gwaihir]

Right, so basically retake the photo with different settings. Get it! Thanks

[Gordon Laing]

NEW! Cameralabs readers can enjoy 15% discount when ordering Photomatix HDR software using the coupon code CameraLabs at checkout!

Gordon