My first attempts at an HDR - Please Critique

Hello all,

Here are my first attempts at an HDR. I used the stuck in custom's technique at www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-photoshop/.

Please tell me what you think and where I can improve.

For each picture I used three exposures with two stops between each. I used Photomatix, Photoshop, Noiseware, and Lucis Art SE.

Tags: HDR

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Permalink Reply by Carlton Ward on May 28, 2009 at 11:17pm

I think they have good detail & illumination throughout the images. Great job. I also use Photomatix and love HDR imaging. Keep up the good work :)
Carlton

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Permalink Reply by Peter A. Gibson on May 29, 2009 at 12:33am

Your work is very nice! One thing that I have found in Photomatix is it has trouble with more then one light source. From what I see you only used sun light. When I find Photomatix can't do the job I use Photoshop but not their HDR, I create the HDR with layer masks

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Permalink Reply by Lee Dighton on May 29, 2009 at 4:09am

I'll have to look at this tecnique, these seem a lot better than my attempts, well done,

Lee

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Permalink Reply by David Sambells on May 29, 2009 at 6:22am

They look good to me, but I guess it depends what you are aiming for. Myself and a lot of people don't like the "overcooked" style of HDR some people do. Yours are nice and subtle though! ;)

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Permalink Reply by Jay Rodriguez on May 29, 2009 at 8:43am

NIce and vibrant!
I've noticed in some areas in the pics that you get a blur, I guess that Lucas Arts doing with the halo remnants it tends to leave behind.
Try using this program "Dynamic Photo HDR" , It does fabulous work along with you lighting and Photoshopping.
You can also do some awesome HDR'ish stuff in lightroom also. Just mess around with the filters and you can get some awesome results.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony R Poston on May 29, 2009 at 3:07pm

You done a pretty good job here with three exposures, I will give you a little advice dealing in this style.
For your straight shots like these, use six to eight exposures. Photomatix will take care of the rest.
Use your historiogram on the camera, take as many as needed. start with your lines touching far left, bracketting.
Keep shooting in between until you touch the far right side. Ever how clear you want the picture to be will dictacte the amount of exposures you shoot, and how much shadow your doing away with.....For clear shots in heavy shadows eight to ten exposures will be about right....My biggest piece of advice for this HDR style is use the historiogram on the camera! You done a really good job with these. Congrats....AP

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Permalink Reply by Hi-DOF Photography on May 29, 2009 at 3:25pm

Thanks for all the compliments!

@Peter - I havent had the Photomatix problem you described, but I have had to use layer masks a few times, especially with the kid on the bike who was moving

@Jay - Do you prefer Dynamic Photo HDR over Photomatix or are you just suggesting another one to try?

@Anthony - Thanks for the suggestions! I will put them to use. I can't wait to see what my 8-exposure HDR shot will look like!

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Permalink Reply by Sean on May 29, 2009 at 4:39pm

Maybe it's me but I do not see the "high dynamic range" of these photos. Nice photos, don't get me wrong, but they look like pictures taken with the right settings right out of the camera.

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Permalink Reply by Hi-DOF Photography on May 29, 2009 at 4:56pm

The details in the shadows on the inside(dark areas) and the details of what is outside(bright areas) show the high dynamic range. The fact that you can even see both shows this. I took plenty of normal shots, but without a lighting setup I couldn't have gotten nowhere near as well on a single exposure photo.

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Permalink Reply by Staale Sannerud on May 30, 2009 at 8:23am

That's to be considered a feature, not a bug. It's like flash; if you can see that it was used, it was used badly.

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Permalink Reply by Sean on May 30, 2009 at 11:57am

What I am saying is that these images are obtainable without that process. I am seeing dark areas that are way to dark and areas that are so bright they are blown out. The saturation isn't constant. I know what good HDR is and what bad HDR is. This a barely a move towards that. It can be pushed much further without giving that fake look that most HDRs have.

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Permalink Reply by Hi-DOF Photography on May 30, 2009 at 2:33pm

Sean, you really believe you can shoot right into a window and expect to get the details inside and outside of the window without using HDR? Please teach me, because I would love to know.