Need help with HDR photos

13 years 5 months ago #3918 by Mike Ayrouth
Hi everyone,

I have a Nikon D90 and would like to get into taking HDR photos and would like to get some tips on how these photos are taken or made rather. Any HDR guru's here?

Thanks for the help

Mike Ayrouth

Getting BETTER one photo at a time!
Photo Comments
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13 years 5 months ago #3921 by foto guy

JD
"The universe is wider than our views of it."
Thoreau

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13 years 5 months ago #3926 by Livernois
I have a D90 - check out the manual or book you may have on how to use exposure bracketing. A good place to start is to use -2.0, 0.0, and +2.0.

A good program for HDR is Photomatix, you can download a trial version for free. It's easy and works great. Under a hundred bucks to buy. If you have Photoshop you can use that too. My avatar is an HDR using Photomatix.

There's lots of info on the web, read up on the details for more information.

Good luck!


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13 years 5 months ago #3997 by Fixedwheelnut
New here myself but Phil Tobin on Flickr has some great HDR shots and helpful techniques, his blog is here;
Dynamicphotographic blog

You can produce an HDR from a single RAW file as well by svaing copies of the original at three different exposure settings and then combine them to an HDR with either photoshop or photomatix.

Here is my favourite from a single RAW file Canon 400D and 18-55mm kit lense created with Photomatix


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13 years 5 months ago #4031 by Monster

Fixedwheelnut wrote: New here myself but Phil Tobin on Flickr has some great HDR shots and helpful techniques, his blog is here;
Dynamicphotographic blog

You can produce an HDR from a single RAW file as well by svaing copies of the original at three different exposure settings and then combine them to an HDR with either photoshop or photomatix.

Here is my favourite from a single RAW file Canon 400D and 18-55mm kit lense created with Photomatix


That is a really cool photo, any more to share?


Photo Comments
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13 years 5 months ago #4039 by Fixedwheelnut
My second fave HDR is black & white HDr shot of a boat wreck on Deal beach
img\def


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13 years 5 months ago #4052 by Monster

Fixedwheelnut wrote: My second fave HDR is black & white HDr shot of a boat wreck on Deal beach

img\def


You can almost feel the paint chipping away in this photo. Another good shot. Now how long does it take you to process an image like this? Would you mind sharing the steps? 1 image or 3?

Thank you!


Photo Comments
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13 years 5 months ago #4083 by The Gardener
I would hang this photo and have it framed.


Photo Comments
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13 years 5 months ago - 13 years 5 months ago #4118 by Yasko
Hi, glad to see a fellow HDR enthusiast. The good news is you probably have everything you need to start doing HDR's. The minimum equipment you'll need is a tripod, and Adobe Photoshop. That's it. It's best to take photos in RAW, but JPG works fine too. Simply set your camera on a tripod at the scene you want to capture, set your camera on manual, and take a series of at least 3 shots, underexposed to overexposed in 1 stop increments. It's crucial the f-stop stays the same on all shots, while the shutter speed changes. The more shots the better. Adobe Photoshop CS2 and later has an HDR feature that allows you to merge the shots.
P.S. it's also a good idea to invest in a cabled release. It minimizes camera shake during shooting.

Now, Adobe Photoshop is a good tool for making natural looking HDR's. For example, a sunset shot where the foreground is normally in silhouette, Adobe's HDR merger can do a good job of increasing the sky detail and bring back the foreground light and detail. However, if you want really dramatic results, it's best to use a dedicated HDR program, the most popular being Photomatix Pro and Artizen. I hate to sound like I'm doing a plug for this or that, but I've tried a lot of programs now, and those two are the most versatile and give the best results in my experience. Both have fully functional trials, so you can try them for free.

HDR opens up a lot of creative avenues. Been doing it for a few years, and it's amazing what you can do. These were done in Artizen and Photomatix.

Have fun :)















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13 years 5 months ago #4121 by Steven.Powell
Love this shot:



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13 years 5 months ago #4158 by Simon Says
HDR images really have so much character to them. Nice job guys


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13 years 5 months ago #4187 by Vladimir

Monster wrote:

Fixedwheelnut wrote: My second fave HDR is black & white HDr shot of a boat wreck on Deal beach

img\def


You can almost feel the paint chipping away in this photo. Another good shot. Now how long does it take you to process an image like this? Would you mind sharing the steps? 1 image or 3?

Thank you!


I was thinking the same thing, I really like this photo


Photo Comments
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13 years 5 months ago #4202 by Fixedwheelnut
Thanks Vladimir
Canon 400d with 18-55mm kit lense
1/250th sec at F4.5 with 55mm focal length
A single RAW file shot then I produced three tif files at -2, 0 and +2 exposure
then created an HDR with photomatix and altered it to black and white in photoshop.

My hdr set on Flickr is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedwheelnut/sets/72157617785242477/
The beauty of using a single RAW file is that you can even create HDR pics of action shots as well.
Just experiment and have a go.


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13 years 5 months ago #4203 by Fixedwheelnut
Yasko, love those shots especially the cat and the B&W portrait, and I don't even like cats :)


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13 years 5 months ago #4382 by The Gardener

Fixedwheelnut wrote: Thanks Vladimir
Canon 400d with 18-55mm kit lense
1/250th sec at F4.5 with 55mm focal length
A single RAW file shot then I produced three tif files at -2, 0 and +2 exposure
then created an HDR with photomatix and altered it to black and white in photoshop.

My hdr set on Flickr is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedwheelnut/sets/72157617785242477/
The beauty of using a single RAW file is that you can even create HDR pics of action shots as well.
Just experiment and have a go.


How long have you been working HDR images?


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