Another HDR

[joebranko]

Tried another HDR shot today. This time I bracketed the shot +/_ 1 stop, as suggested by DanK. ( Thanks Dan)

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I think this result is better than the last. I also unchecked the auto tone adjustments and made adjustments to the merged view in PP.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort.

[JBW]

I find myself straining to see the shore line instead of admiring the clouds.

[jcuknz]

I agree Brian ... not that there is anything there to see

[Manfred M]

This one is not working for me Joe. The minimum bracket I will go for HDR is ± 2 stops, you are just not pulling in the dynamic range needed present this scene. The dynamic range of most modern cameras is somewhere around 12 stops, so you can pull this much information out of a shot without bothering with HDRI.

The other issue is what Brian and John have hinted at. HDRI alone does not make the shot, the scene must be good compositionally and the technique can overcome your camera's limitations (human vision can handle around 20 stops, sort of).

[joebranko]

I find myself straining to see the shore line instead of admiring the clouds.

Thanks Brian. Are you suggesting that I crop the shore line? Or brighten it?

[joebranko]

This one is not working for me Joe. The minimum bracket I will go for HDR is ± 2 stops, you are just not pulling in the dynamic range needed present this scene. The dynamic range of most modern cameras is somewhere around 12 stops, so you can pull this much information out of a shot without bothering with HDRI.

The other issue is what Brian and John have hinted at. HDRI alone does not make the shot, the scene must be good compositionally and the technique can overcome your camera's limitations (human vision can handle around 20 stops, sort of).

Thanks for your input Manfred. I am trying to get a feel for HDR, to find out how many stops I should bracket. My first attempt was at +- 2 stops. It was suggested that that was too much, hence my try at +-1 stop. Perhaps this shot was not a good candidate for HDR. In any case I am just playing with it, seeing what results I get and looking for feedback.

[DanK]

Joe,

I may have given you bad feedback last time. There are two issues: how far apart to put the exposures, and how much additional range you need in total. I often set the shots 1 stop apart, and I thought that might help last time. However, I think I was probably remembering incorrectly when I said that I often have a total additional range of only 1 stop. It's probably 2.

However, I wonder if this isn't putting the cart before the horse.

Unless you like the "grunge" look of tonemapping (I personally hate it), the only reason to do HDR or exposure fusion is to give you more dynamic range if you need it. How much more you need will depend on the scene. In what I shoot, 2 stops is often plenty. That might not be true for others. What you need to do, I think, is look at a single exposure and then try to figure out how much more you need.

In this case, I don't think the issue is how much dynamic range you need. The photo looks washed out. That's because almost all of the pixels are in the bottom half of the histogram. Only the small bright clouds are in the top half. That gives the image a low-contrast look. You could add contrast in any number of ways. E.g., you could darken the shoreline, since that detail isn't really what you want to highlight, and boost contrast in the sky. I did a few quick edits to start down that path:



This isn't polished, and it might not be the direction you would want to go, but I think it may be helpful to show the impact of contrast.

Dan

[joebranko]

Joe,



This isn't polished, and it might not be the direction you would want to go, but I think it may be helpful to show the impact of contrast.

Dan

Thanks again Dan! I do like the treatment you show here. The darker trees also make the shot more dramatic. I think one lesson here is that every shot does not need HDR treatment; I should look at the exposure and decide whether of not I need it.

Ihave tried another composition darkening the trees and cropping the water.

[Wavelength]

I liked the colors and clouds...yes; the image needed a levelling... and wait for a/an boat/eagle to come into frame to make it rich

[IzzieK]

I still like the shot no matter what anyone says...it has a lot of potentials. My thought is that even if there is nothing to see amongst those trees, it will be nice if it is a bit more brighter...

[JamesScott86]

Really impressive.

[shreds]

Sorry, doesn't work at all for me.

[joebranko]

I liked the colors and clouds...yes; the image needed a levelling... and wait for a/an boat/eagle to come into frame to make it rich

Thanks Nandakumar. Yes I would have loved to capture a bird or boat in the frame. That would have been fantastic!

[joebranko]

I still like the shot no matter what anyone says...it has a lot of potentials. My thought is that even if there is nothing to see amongst those trees, it will be nice if it is a bit more brighter...

Thanks Izzie. Yes I had lightened the trees, but on a suggestion from Dan I have tried to go the opposite way and now have darkened the trees and additionally cropped out the water. Do you like this composition?

[joebranko]

Sorry, doesn't work at all for me.

[Manfred M]

Joe - I had a bit of time this morning and had a more thorough look at the image. Let me make a few more comments, if you don't mind?

1. HDRI expands the dynamic range of the image, which means there should be a meaningful amount of data from the darkest tones to the lightest tones, across the entire range. When I open up this shot and look at it, virtually all values are crammed into the left hand side of the histogram. This suggests to me that the dynamic range that you captured was not wide enough and your initial midpoint for the exposures was not optimal.

2. Sunsets (and sun rises) are one of the highest dynamic range subjects the average photographer faces, so these will need more, not fewer shots. The foreground will be backlit (dark) and the clouds and sun will be extremely light.

3. Most HDR images tend to look a touch flat (just the nature of the process), so contrast needs to be added in; either in the HDRI software or in your usual editing tool(s).


This is your image with black point, white point and mid-point (gamma) adjusted and then some selected dodging and burning. Note I don't use the dodge and burn tools, but rather blending modes and layer masks.

[JohnRostron]

I liked the colors and clouds...yes; the image needed a levelling... and wait for a/an boat/eagle to come into frame to make it rich

If you add a boat or eagle to the mix, then this will complicate your HDR processing with ghosting. It can be done, but best avoided if you are starting in HDR.

I do like your later version, with the lighter foreground.

John

[joebranko]

Joe - I had a bit of time this morning and had a more thorough look at the image. Let me make a few more comments, if you don't mind?

1. HDRI expands the dynamic range of the image, which means there should be a meaningful amount of data from the darkest tones to the lightest tones, across the entire range. When I open up this shot and look at it, virtually all values are crammed into the left hand side of the histogram. This suggests to me that the dynamic range that you captured was not wide enough and your initial midpoint for the exposures was not optimal.

2. Sunsets (and sun rises) are one of the highest dynamic range subjects the average photographer faces, so these will need more, not fewer shots. The foreground will be backlit (dark) and the clouds and sun will be extremely light.

3. Most HDR images tend to look a touch flat (just the nature of the process), so contrast needs to be added in; either in the HDRI software or in your usual editing tool(s).


This is your image with black point, white point and mid-point (gamma) adjusted and then some selected dodging and burning. Note I don't use the dodge and burn tools, but rather blending modes and layer masks.

Thanks Manfred. I really like what you have been able to do with this shot. I understand all your points but have not been able to find anything on adjusting gamma in Lightroom 6. As my camera only allows 3 frames with a max 2 stop step size, is there any practical way to add more frames when hand held?

[joebranko]

If you add a boat or eagle to the mix, then this will complicate your HDR processing with ghosting. It can be done, but best avoided if you are starting in HDR.

I do like your later version, with the lighter foreground.

John

Thanks John; I had forgotten that. In my first try at HDR I had a duck in the water and his movement produced a ghost which ironically made the shot more interesting!