Hdr

[joebranko]

Now that my computer is 64 bit, I can try the HDR feature in Lightroom.



I merged 3 shots for this experiment all at f 8, and bracketed by 2 (2?) stops. 1/200, 1/800 and 1/50". The camera was hand held. The streak rising to the right from the sunset was a vapour trail which was blurred either from camera shake or movement of the vapour trail itself; The shadow of the duck in the foreground was due to its movement between the shots. I chose to leave it in the shot. The colours are not true. The sunset was more red than shown here, although I don't find this an unpleasant colour. During the merge process Lightroom does its own thing and adjusts the tone of the final merged shot. Perhaps there is a way of changing that.

[Shadowman]

Now that my computer is 64 bit, I can try the HDR feature in Lightroom.



I merged 3 shots for this experiment all at f 8, and bracketed by 2 (2?) stops. 1/200, 1/800 and 1/50". The camera was hand held. The streak rising to the right from the sunset was a vapour trail which was blurred either from camera shake or movement of the vapour trail itself; The shadow of the duck in the foreground was due to its movement between the shots. I chose to leave it in the shot. The colours are not true. The sunset was more red than shown here, although I don't find this an unpleasant colour. During the merge process Lightroom does its own thing and adjusts the tone of the final merged shot. Perhaps there is a way of changing that.

Hi Joe,

Nice effort, did you find the colors to be true in either of the other bracketed shots?

I think LR only merges the images and does not do a true HDR, at least in my version 4 package that holds to be true. I also don't think LR does anything other than merge the three exposures, no tone mapping is applied during the process.

[Geoff F]

I've tried several different HDR systems, Joe; and I always come back to auto alignment followed by manual merging using layers and masks. But you can't do that with Lightroom.

[joebranko]

Hi Joe,

Nice effort, did you find the colors to be true in either of the other bracketed shots?

I think LR only merges the images and does not do a true HDR, at least in my version 4 package that holds to be true. I also don't think LR does anything other than merge the three exposures, no tone mapping is applied during the process.

One shot was over exposed and those colours were somewhat washed out. The other was under exposed and difficult to compare, but I'd say the underexposed shot was close to the actual colour

[DanK]

4 stops is actually quite a bit. I find I rarely need more than 2 and often do fine with one. Did this scene really need an extra 4 stops? The more extreme the high and low images are, the less useful information they will have.

LR's merge to HDR has an autotone checkbox. Did you uncheck this? If not, you might try unchecking it and making your own adjustments to the tonality controls after the merge to see if it gets you closer to what you want.

[joebranko]

I've tried several different HDR systems, Joe; and I always come back to auto alignment followed by manual merging using layers and masks. But you can't do that with Lightroom.

Thanks Geoff

[joebranko]

4 stops is actually quite a bit. I find I rarely need more than 2 and often do fine with one. Did this scene really need an extra 4 stops? The more extreme the high and low images are, the less useful information they will have.

LR's merge to HDR has an autotone checkbox. Did you uncheck this? If not, you might try unchecking it and making your own adjustments to the tonality controls after the merge to see if it gets you closer to what you want.

Thanks Dan. To be honest I did not know how many stops to use, so I tried 2 stops either side to see the result. There was no reason/justification for that choice. Ill just have to try other settings until I learn what works. Thanks for the guidance you provided in your comment.

[IzzieK]

I have not done HDR at all so I won't comment on the process...Looking at the whole image, I thought the "vapor" you referred to is a contrail...that it lined up with the sun diagonally is very beautiful...I love the scene.

[joebranko]

I have not done HDR at all so I won't comment on the process...Looking at the whole image, I thought the "vapor" you referred to is a contrail...that it lined up with the sun diagonally is very beautiful...I love the scene.

Yes you got it. Thank you!