HDR first attempt

[Craigie]

This is my first attempt at HDR. My intension was to take 3 pictures, all with different exposures.
But on the day I went down to the site, it was too windy ( the flags were moving).
So I did it in PS with one image.
C&C welcome

[JohnRostron]

It would be interesting to see the original image.

What HDR software would you have Used? I have found that the strong deghosting in Photomatics is very effective.

John

[Craigie]

Below is the original (uncropped), the exposure slider set at zero in Photoshop, the other two images the exposure slider was set at +2 and -2 respectively. Then merged in Photoshop.
I did the very basic with HDR in Photoshop (still a beginner in PS), but will try your tip.

[Dave Humphries]

To be honest Gary, I don't see anything there that wouldn't respond better to simple judicious use of the Highlights and Whites sliders, along with a decent White Balance, some Clarity and the usual Shadows, Blacks, etc.

Good correction, in the first, of lens and aiming errors though.

HTH, Dave

PS
I assume you shot at that time because of the sun angle and the shadows cast by the coping stones atop the brick wall.

[ajohnw]

I agree with Dave. With the possible exception of the clouds there isn't really anything in the shot that needs it.

There is nothing wrong with using the technique as it can be much quicker than some other methods but attention needs to be given to what is shown best in the exposures taken from the raw file. I'd think that often all that will be needed from a single raw file is 2 exposures at settings to suit the shot not plus or minus specific values.

I stuck a simple example in this flickr album. A duck shot into the sun. Usually something to avoid doing but it can often solve the problems quickly and easily. The water could look how ever some one wanted. I chose to leave it washed out in places - after all it was shot into the sun. To get more water detail I would simply have to darken the water shot more.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/489946...57631399852866

It's also possible to do PP on each image as required even selective work.

Just add that with the package that I usually use there is a need to anticipate the result. For instance if one showed the clouds poorly but definitely there the shot for the clouds would have to be more contrasty than the final result as the other shot may weaken the effect down when they are merged.

John
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[Shadowman]

The attempt did achieve one thing besides a slightly balanced image, provided the OP with an explanation on when HDR is needed.

[Manfred M]

Gary: Let me suggest that the scene likely looked something more like this:




Technically, you can't really create and HDR image from a single image. All the software is doing is something called "tone mapping" where it replaces a group of colours with another colour, so effectively you have an image that often does not look at all close to what your original looked like.

The technique is used when the dynamic range (i.e. the range of the brightest highlights through to the deepest shadows) cannot be captured by your camera. As others have said before, that does not appear to be the case in this image. I was able to recover 100% of these areas in Photoshop, so this is not an image where I would use HDRI software on.

The way HDRI works is that you create a series of exposures that are over and under exposed versus the "nominal" exposure for the scene to capture these areas that cannot be obtained in a single exposure. With modern camera sensors that often exceed 14 eV in dynamic range, I find that I rarely find scenes that need HDRI treatment.

[ajohnw]

Not really possible from a jpg but just to show that the fake hdr can be useful I've managed to bring out a bit more cloud contrast very quickly. Just a few mins work. Brick colour etc with a rather strong cast in the original took longer. I have no idea what colour the bricks should be but guessed that they are probably victorian or a bit after which often look more like this. There is still a colour cast but as the colour channels look a bit odd I didn't try to correct it further.



Leaves the question - what did the bricks look like ?

John
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[JohnRostron]

I rarely find scenes that need HDRI treatment.

I would agree. The main occasions that I need HDR are when photographing inside large spaces such as churches, where the lighting can vary from one extreme to another. This is especially true when including stained glass windows.

John

[rpcrowe]

IMO, bringing out the clouds and opening up the shadows in the doorways could be done effectively by using NIK Viveza.



I selected the sky with control points and lowered the brightness bringing out the clouds. The sky to the left of the image was washed out so I selected it again with control points and increased the blue slider.

I selected the doorways with control points and used the shadows slider to open the shadows a bit and then the contrast slider to boost the contrast a bit in those areas.

Naturally, working from an original image, rather than a copy of the posted image; the results should be a bit better.

[Manfred M]

I would agree. The main occasions that I need HDR are when photographing inside large spaces such as churches, where the lighting can vary from one extreme to another. This is especially true when including stained glass windows.

John

I agree, sort of. I find that when I face these situations I will take two shots. One where the interior is properly exposed and then a second exposure where the windows are properly exposed. I then do a manual blend, which gives me the same type of results as the HDR technique, but with more control and more accurate colours.

A tripod is obviously the best way to do this, but I've found that can get quite good results with hand-held shots too.

[ajohnw]

There's usually many ways of cracking an egg and in my case it can be just because I feel like doing it one particular way.

As far as HDR goes I have several different options. I have used one option that can cope with aligning hand held images. The one that I mentioned does not alter colour and produces similar results to hand blending. In fact I have to go to some lengths and use something else to get a typical HDR effect. For something along those lines I would rather use contrast based tone mapping that makes changes according to the contrast levels in the shot via a curve to set the degree.

The NIK result is interesting. Seems I can run those from the GIMP under Linux.

John
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[Craigie]

Many thanks to everyone for their input it is very much appreciated and is helping my learning curve in PP.
Manfred version of the image is about right.