Hdr??

[floodz]

Anyone here delve into HDR photography? Here are a couple of fakes I did. I used 2 different methods that I found online and they both produced some pretty nice results i think. I dont have all the right software / equipment to make a true hdr... hopefully someday i will.

Original

Method 1

Method 2

 

[Hazmat Ranger]

HDR??

Did you do those with photoshop or something similar?

 

[MusicManiac]

HDR??

Did you do those with photoshop or something similar?

I didn't know either Hazmat. Googled it and found out that HDR is High Dynamic Range. Here is the Wikipedia.

 

[floodz]

Yeah, I did them both in photoshop. They are just fakes however. To do a real HDR image you need 3 images, under exposed, right exposure, and over exposed.

The first method was just a pretty simple one, and the second method was a much more complex and adjustable version.

 

[LittleHorse]

so if you have a tripod and a camera that allows you to adjust aperture and shutter speed settings, you can make "real" HDR photos? I might have to give this a shot and have some gun with it.

 

[Hazmat Ranger]

I did a bit of research and supposedly CS2 and newer versions of Photshop actually have an HDR module or something. I need to look into it a bit more - see I do not know it all - LOL. But those are cool anyway.

 

[Mtrhd0024]

Hmm this is really cool! I'm with Hazmat, I've never heard of this before but the sample images given on wikipedia really want to make me go and try it out!

I'm pretty sure I can do that with my camera, so I just need to find a subject now!

If all else fails I could render 3 different exposures of an object in 3Ds Max and then try this... Hmmm....

 

[floodz]

I did a bit of research and supposedly CS2 and newer versions of Photshop actually have an HDR module or something. I need to look into it a bit more - see I do not know it all - LOL. But those are cool anyway.

Yeah, I have cs and under file > automate > photomerge, you can merge photos to HDR. It almost takes the fun out of doing it tho because ps does the whole thing for you =\

I'm pretty sure I can do that with my camera, so I just need to find a subject now!

Trucks make a really good subject... lol Brings out the best in em.

 

[goldxlt]

i just got done playing with cs2 and i was not having results like the examples, every time i merged the images i ended up with an image that was very similar to a normal exposure. i did seven exposures going from dark to light (they say 5 is best) and the end result looked only minimally better then one of my original shots.

 

[Hazmat Ranger]

Ok - I took a picture of my truck and changed the exposure to make several versions from light to dark - used the Merge HDR function of CS3 and here is what I got - now this is an 8 bit version as the larger 16 bit image was 19.8 Mb and there is still a 32 bit image available, did not use that one though. When merged it gave me a multitude of adjustments to make it like I wanted. The inset image is the original before adjustments and merge HDR.

So is there a difference - yes, do I see a need for it myself - not really. Some of the others I have seen gave an abstract image, what I have seen on-line has been some very beautiful images made using HDR, but I have other tools I can do so that give me more refinement such as Shadow/Highlight and Variations to name a few. Then I can throw in a couple adjustment layers, some layer comps, and maybe even play around with color balance and threshold if I feel like it.
All depends on the look you are going for and how much control you want later on - once merged and adjusted - you are stuck with the result - my way - infinite adjustment at my fingertips or mouse clicks.

 

[floodz]

Yeah hazmat... I think doing it that way is actually better. Like I said, when you use the photo merge it takes all the adjusting out, and you are stuck with what ps wants. I think sometimes making the fake HDR using layers, shadows/highlights, linear burn, color dodge, and inverted overlays comes out way better looking.