HDR Question?

tesco

tesco

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I wonder if anyone could help? I have been taking HDR images for a few years now and I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I like it. What I do is take one well exposed image and then run off 7 to 9 using the Nikon’s in camera auto bracketing system and them process them in Photomatix. But I wanted images with some movement in them clearly this is not possible with auto bracketing several different shots with the mirror up. So what I do is take one well exposed image and copy it say 9 times on my PC and process via Photomatix. The software recognises that the exposures are all the same and asks you what stop you wish to increment them. You then run it and it gives a HDR image. My question is why not do this for all HDR images and why go through the rigmarole of bracketing in the camera is the copying method inferior to bracketing in camera and hence should only be used for shots with movement where you have no choice ?

Thanks
 
tesco said:
is the copying method inferior to bracketing in camera
Click to expand...

in one word "yes", bracketing in RAW provides much more + / - dynamic range in each image!

when you stop up or down one image you lose information and noise will creep in reducing quality.

i know what you mean about having movement in an hdr image in which case i would make a -1 +1 stop copy of the original to bring more dynamic range into the image.

as a rule if im doing and hdr ( static ) i would do a 9 bracketed shot but i would not use Photomatix as i find it is too good at making tacky hdr's, my work flow would be -

1) i take up to 9 images, -4 stops, 0, +4 stops.
2) use Lightroom to crop as needed and sync to all images.
3) export from LR to PS and use merge to HDR pro but make the image a 32bit image not 16 bit, i do this because much much more info is stored in 32bits.
4) save the image as tiff and import to LR and play as needed, you will have + - 4 stops of dynamic rage to play with.

With that sort of range to will produce an image that doesnt have that HDR tack.

i hope that helps

buzz
 
Yep nice explanation..thanks Robert. Do you do any other processing to the image(s) other than cropping before exporting to PS, noise reduction etc.?
Sorry to hijack but I suppose it's all relevant.
JohnyT
 
Hi, Just an observation on what Robert states about not using Photomatix and exporting to PS then back into L/R, if you have L/R you can now get the Photomatix plug-in for it. http://www.hdrsoft.com/download/merge_lrplugin.html
It costs only $29 approx £19
Saves exporting to P/S that a lot of people don't have and gives you back a 32 bit image to play with in L/R. If you want more than a plug-in just search for HDR software and download the trial versions, Google/NIK I think still have the complete NIK suite at around the £80 mark when you convert down from the USD.
Russ
 
Hi can i sort of hijack this thread and ask if its possible to do HDR using elements 11? Im a bit confused as to what programme/s are required to get the end product. i only own elements 11 and if im honest at this stage in my hobby i dont want to be buying more programmes if its not necessary! Could someone point me in the right direction? Ive read maybe 5 contradicting articles across the web and have been left confused!
 
Bmwjc said:
Hi can i sort of hijack this thread and ask if its possible to do HDR using elements 11? Im a bit confused as to what programme/s are required to get the end product. i only own elements 11 and if im honest at this stage in my hobby i dont want to be buying more programmes if its not necessary! Could someone point me in the right direction? Ive read maybe 5 contradicting articles across the web and have been left confused!
Click to expand...

You have a Canon camera, so should have DPP that came with it on a disk. DPP does have HDR, albeit quite basic, it does work well. :)
 
I use Photomatix, but increasingly liking Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro 2.
 
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