HDR Fun in the Desert

[Boatman]

I had a tripod with me last week when I was in Nevada, so I took the opportunity to try a couple of HDR shots. The lighting didn't really call for this and the results were dissapointing for the most part. This shot is interesting. It was shot straight into the sun with a 7 x 2/3 EV range. Most of the effects come from playing around, post HDR processing, with vibrance and hue/saturation. The image is broken into three adjustment layers; background, foreground grass and the mountains. Better than the shots under the boardwalk at Salisbury beach

Panasonic G1 14-45mm lens

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Homer,

I have to admit not liking HDR in landscapes and this is no exception. The colours look un-natural and I feel the foreground grasses are not sharp and I think its because the images have not aligned correctly. Sorry Homer it just not for me but others may well love it.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Homer,

Generally there's no advantage in having your exposure bracket at anything less than 2 stops apart, especially if shooting RAW which one always should for this kind of thing.

Also, many confuse "HDR" with a certain surreal "over-processed" "ultra tone mapped" type of image, whereas in reality, HDR isn't a type of image - it's a technique for capturing a scene with a dynamic range that's too great to be captured in a normal single exposure; the resulting image may look anything from completely normal to "a Harry Potter nightmare". Often just a single (RAW) exposure along with an agressive "dollop" of fill light slider in ACR is all one needs to reveal the tones required.

eg - this one I took the other day ...

[Boatman]

Well, I'm more than willing to admit that my HDR effort is no great shakes. In fact, I pretty much tossed it out until I started playing with it and liked it better kind of funked up. It's still nothing I'm going to print and display. Just an intersting shot.

Colin, how did you make out with all that earthquake business in Chirstchurch? Are you near there?

Homer

[Colin Southern]

Colin, how did you make out with all that earthquake business in Chirstchurch? Are you near there?

Hi Homer,

I'm about 400km away. I felt their big one, but only just. Certainly made me think about disaster preparation though! (and not just think - actually do something about it!)