HDR Kitchen! Critique please :)

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charlottemarie_15

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Hey, haven't posted on here for a while, I've been practising :)

First attempt at HDR, I'm impressed with myself as I just couldn't get it to work before but I'm not sure if I'm looking at it through rose tinted glasses! Honest opinions if you would, but- I will cry if you say its rubbish as I've come close to throwing my laptop out the window! No pressure :) j/k of course!

gallery_392407.html


I'm having a few issues with uploading here so if its not worked, the link to the image on my website is here;

http://www.charlottemarie.co.uk/gallery_392407.html#photos_id=7682699
 
Copy the image url ans use the little post card icon above the post box and paste it into there:

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At least the kitchens clean! :lol:

Some nice colours and not too overdone!
 
Thanks very much!

Think I'm having a dumb moment lol.

Yeah my mum wants to sell so I was practising my interior photography so she could have some better shots as the last practise at a hotel was awful shots. Just awful lol. I'm so happy with the improvement even though I know its not perfect- its given me hope!
 
Oh and also- how do I prevent noise in the images before post processing? I've heard expose to the right, so have more overexposed images over underexposed? But then I need underexposed images to combine in Photomatix! Help!

I'm planning on going to the beach and practising (obviously just using one RAW for sea shots) but taking 3 or 4 of other areas on the beach and combining them. I'm really wanting to shoot into the sun to increase contrast but this has been a bit hit and miss in the past- any tips?

And come on- critique my shot I need help!
 
Expose to the right is only for a single image not HDR.

With HDR you obviously want to cover the entire dynamic, so you need to expose for your highlights on some exposeures, and shadows in others, which it seems you are probably already doing. Your highlights and shadows look like you could have gone a bit further each way but its down to personal taste really.

I have found HDR usually works best with a stop between exposures, if you go as much as 0.3 stops between each exposure you need too many and theres no need. Just use RAW files in photomatix, when you bracket your shots check the histogram and make sure your darkest shots have about 1/4 of the histogram empty on the right and the brightest shots have about 1/4 of the histogram empty to the left and you'll be right.

I use noise reduction software like NIK or topaz denoise in photoshop to remove noise after tonemapping if it is a problem.

I would suggest leaving the black point and white point alone in photomatix, don't try to boost contrast in that program. The images will look a little flat after tonemapping but it's much better to fix that in something like photoshop afterwards using curves or even levels, you have much more control this way.

I would say also the image you posted doesn't look as sharp as I would expect, it might just need some sharpening in post, but make sure you are bracketing in aperture priority so only shutter speed changes (not aperture) or you are changing the depth of feild with each exposure. Use a reasonably small aperture to get good DOF if you are after that super detailed look that HDR is good for with interior shots.
 
I dont have a single HDR know-how. But personally the subject (kitchen) for me is very dull.

I would attempt something more interesting. A building or something outside. I'm pretty sure that would work better as a HDR test.
 
Ahhh thats a good point, I'll be trying single and multiple shot HDR later on so I'll bear that in mind with the histogram- I've made it my new years resolution to use the histogram more. :)

As for sharpness, its much sharper on my computer, but everytime load anything onto the internet, it comes off as de-saturated and not as sharp. It's really frustrating as my website portfolio doesn't look as sharp as it could be, they look so much better on my computer- any suggestions?

And yeah the subjects dull, but it was to help my mum and practise at the same time! Hence why this afternoon I'm heading out to the beach to get something more interesting (hopefully!)
 
charlottemarie_15 said:
Ahhh thats a good point, I'll be trying single and multiple shot HDR later on so I'll bear that in mind with the histogram- I've made it my new years resolution to use the histogram more. :)

As for sharpness, its much sharper on my computer, but everytime load anything onto the internet, it comes off as de-saturated and not as sharp. It's really frustrating as my website portfolio doesn't look as sharp as it could be, they look so much better on my computer- any suggestions?

And yeah the subjects dull, but it was to help my mum and practise at the same time! Hence why this afternoon I'm heading out to the beach to get something more interesting (hopefully!)
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I actually mostly only use histogram when bracketing for HDR, other times I use the blinkies on the LCD.


As for the difference in colour etc when putting images on the web, are you saving them in the sRGB colour space? Also make sure you resize them for the web and sharpen last. Also some things like wordpress automatically resize your images even if you tell it to use full size, its a pain to change that too, you need to go into the code in the style sheet or use a plug in to fix it. Not sure how you are doing your website but worth checking the images are showing up at the size you intend them to be.
 
I think this should be sharper... what do you think?

03_tonemappedweb1.jpg


Yeah I've always known of the histogram, but everytime I try to use it I just seem to prefer looking through the viewfinder and getting the image right that way, but then you miss the details I guess...

I'm definately gonna try later on though!
 
charlottemarie_15 said:
I think this should be sharper... what do you think?

03_tonemappedweb1.jpg


Yeah I've always known of the histogram, but everytime I try to use it I just seem to prefer looking through the viewfinder and getting the image right that way, but then you miss the details I guess...

I'm definately gonna try later on though!
Click to expand...



What I meant was I don't use the histogram very often when doing single exposure shots, I use the highlight warnings (blinkies) to check exposure. The only time I use the histogram a lot is to check if I have covered the full dynamic range when bracketing for HDR. You can just look at the scene on the LCD and check the blinkies but the histogram will show you how far you have pushes the btightest and darkest tones. If you have the empty space I mentioned above on your extreme exposures, you know you have it covered.

The sharpening is up to you but yes personally I think it go a little further. These kind of shots can take a lot more sharpening than say a persons face. You can also selectively sharpen some areas more, this draws your attention to those areas like having an area brighter or more in focus does.
 
Ahh ok I got ya! Yeah I can see how helpful it would be- went to shoot last night with the most boring sky ever (not successful!) and the histogram gave me a lot more info than the image. Weird really!

Sharpening my images is something that's gonna take practise- I always find I overdo it so tend to leave it slightly 'under' sharpened which obviously makes it look soft.... can't seem to get it right.
 
Just make sure you leave the sharpening until you have done any other post proccessing and resized the image. I always save a TIFF of my final edit with only a small amount of (pre) sharpening applied in lightroom. When I export an image for print or web I use an action in photoshop that resizes and sharpens for the output. For instance an 8x10 print can stand a lot of sharpening, it would look oversharpened on screen but will print well, while an image that is say 900 pixels on its longest size for web viewing wouldn't need as much sharpening.

If you use CS5 the smart sharpen filter does a really nice job, I also use pro sharpner by NIK software within photoshop, its handy for printing because you set the print size and printer res. etc. and it works out the amount of sharpening needed for average viewing distance for that size print.
 
Its too CGI, and the lines are not aligh. and a little bit less saturation.
 
Charlotte, I really like it actually. It's not technically perfect, could do with being sharper as discussed, and probably with a bit more mid-tone contrast, but considering it's a photo of a kitchen I think it's very good. It certainly looks better than a lot of interior photos you see.
 
Thanks! I know its far from perfect, but you should have seen my other post from my pics of a hotel- really rubbish lol. There is definate improvement but I'm struggling for ideas on where to go to practise. My house is offically over-done, and pretty boring really, certainly not portfolio pieces. I wouldn't know where to start about photographing interesting places....
 
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