Need help with HDR photos

13 years 5 months ago #4435 by Fixedwheelnut
Done HDR for approx year and a half
I will try and type out some presets I use, that someone sent me
Low saturation setting
Details enhancer from top to bottom;

Strength = 100
Colour saturation = 9
Luminosity = 10
Light smoothing = Very High
Microcontrast = 10
Tone settings;
White point = o.250%
Black point = 0.524%
Gamma = 1.00
Colour settings;
Temp setting = 6
Saturation highlights = 8
saturation shadows =6
Smoothing settings;
Micro smoothing = 0
Highlights smoothing = 21
shadows smoothing = 21
shadows clipping = 43
Tone compressor all set at 0 midway or 0.0%
Architecture setting
Details enhancer from top to bottom;

Strength = 100
Colour saturation =100
Luminosity = 10
Light smoothing = High
Microcontrast = 10
Tone settings;
White point = 0.3330%
Black point = 1.084%
Gamma = 1.23
Colour settings;
Temp setting = 1
Saturation highlights = 2
saturation shadows =0
Smoothing settings;
Micro smoothing = 0
Highlights smoothing = 16
shadows smoothing = 40
shadows clipping = 9
Tone compressor all set at 0 midway or 0.0%
Sunsets setting
Details enhancer from top to bottom;

Strength = 100
Colour saturation =0
Luminosity = 10
Light smoothing = medium
Microcontrast =0
Tone settings;
White point =1.176%
Black point = 1.084%
Gamma = 1.07
Colour settings;
Temp setting = 8
Saturation highlights =10
saturation shadows =4
Smoothing settings;
Micro smoothing =15
Highlights smoothing =51
shadows smoothing = 36
shadows clipping = 20
Tone compressor all set at 0 midway or 0.0%

These seemed to be good starting points and you can tweak them from there for what you want, a lot of my early ones seem to get over done and have an almost cartoon effect or harsh look to them, there are so many settings that photomatix needs a lot of practice and what works on one photo might not work on another, when you get one that works save the settings as a .xmp file so you can reuse them easily.
cheers
Steve


,
13 years 5 months ago #4538 by Overread
Thanks for the settings, does Photomatix have a trial version? I would like to try out to see if I might have fun with that program


Photo Comments
,
13 years 5 months ago - 13 years 5 months ago #4548 by jrjohns2
Here is where many people got their start, from Trey Ratcliffe, AKA Stuck In Customs:
www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

Very comprehensive and informative HDR tutorials.

As for my own experience, there are merits of single and multiple exposure, but be aware that APS-C sensors, like those in the prosumer DSLR's only capture 3 stops of available light, giving you only +1,0,-1 to work with and a limited dynamic range from a single exposure. In contrast, professional cameras with FX sensors can give you up to 5 stops, and B&W film gives up to 7 (which is why so many photgs still use B&W film). For single exposure, you can get a good HDR photo if you dont need a big dynamic range to work with (situatioons where most of the exposure has minimal diffferences in lighting). See below for one of my examples:

img\def

skyline by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

img\def

Centennial Olympic Park by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

For multiple exposures, you will gather much more information about the lighting in dark and bright areas, allowing for more information on detail in these regions to be displayed, which is really the effect HDR was designed for. For this you will need a tripod to minimize movement of the body and lens. If you're steady and working in excellent light, you might be able to get away with handheld but its generally not an option. You can autobracket with the D90, and should for most situations where there is not a huge difference in light and dark. +2,0,-2 should cover the range you need here. For larger differences though, you will need more exposures, and can do this manually, I would recommend +3,+2,+1,0,-1,-2,-3 for shooting in the woods with the sunlight coming through the forest ceiling. Remember that Nikon uses a 1/3 EV adjustment system, so to get +1 stop manually you have to go 3 shutter speeds up. While Im on this, dont forget that changing your aperture changes your depth of field, so only do this in A mode or M mode taking care only to adjust shutter speed.

Now, onto processing. You can use Photoshop, but most recommend Photomatix or HDR Expose software. I use Photomatix and love it. Just get familiar with the software with some single images(must be RAW for single exposures) and work your way up to multiples. The first frustrating thing you will encounter in multiple exposures is probably going to be slight movements you werent even aware of. It happens, and so will ghosting when it does, but just keep at it and work on getting your camera as still as possible.

Heres a couple multiple exposures Ive done in the past coupel years:

img\def

Downtown Cleveland by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


img\def

Atlanta Airport by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


,
13 years 4 months ago #5509 by Mike Ayrouth

jrjohns2 wrote: Here is where many people got their start, from Trey Ratcliffe, AKA Stuck In Customs:
www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

Very comprehensive and informative HDR tutorials.

As for my own experience, there are merits of single and multiple exposure, but be aware that APS-C sensors, like those in the prosumer DSLR's only capture 3 stops of available light, giving you only +1,0,-1 to work with and a limited dynamic range from a single exposure. In contrast, professional cameras with FX sensors can give you up to 5 stops, and B&W film gives up to 7 (which is why so many photgs still use B&W film). For single exposure, you can get a good HDR photo if you dont need a big dynamic range to work with (situatioons where most of the exposure has minimal diffferences in lighting). See below for one of my examples:

img\def

skyline by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

img\def

Centennial Olympic Park by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

For multiple exposures, you will gather much more information about the lighting in dark and bright areas, allowing for more information on detail in these regions to be displayed, which is really the effect HDR was designed for. For this you will need a tripod to minimize movement of the body and lens. If you're steady and working in excellent light, you might be able to get away with handheld but its generally not an option. You can autobracket with the D90, and should for most situations where there is not a huge difference in light and dark. +2,0,-2 should cover the range you need here. For larger differences though, you will need more exposures, and can do this manually, I would recommend +3,+2,+1,0,-1,-2,-3 for shooting in the woods with the sunlight coming through the forest ceiling. Remember that Nikon uses a 1/3 EV adjustment system, so to get +1 stop manually you have to go 3 shutter speeds up. While Im on this, dont forget that changing your aperture changes your depth of field, so only do this in A mode or M mode taking care only to adjust shutter speed.

Now, onto processing. You can use Photoshop, but most recommend Photomatix or HDR Expose software. I use Photomatix and love it. Just get familiar with the software with some single images(must be RAW for single exposures) and work your way up to multiples. The first frustrating thing you will encounter in multiple exposures is probably going to be slight movements you werent even aware of. It happens, and so will ghosting when it does, but just keep at it and work on getting your camera as still as possible.

Heres a couple multiple exposures Ive done in the past coupel years:

img\def

Downtown Cleveland by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


img\def

Atlanta Airport by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


The wing and the last airport photo are incredible

Getting BETTER one photo at a time!
Photo Comments
,
13 years 4 months ago #6204 by Dan Dangerfield

jrjohns2 wrote: Here is where many people got their start, from Trey Ratcliffe, AKA Stuck In Customs:
www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

Very comprehensive and informative HDR tutorials.

As for my own experience, there are merits of single and multiple exposure, but be aware that APS-C sensors, like those in the prosumer DSLR's only capture 3 stops of available light, giving you only +1,0,-1 to work with and a limited dynamic range from a single exposure. In contrast, professional cameras with FX sensors can give you up to 5 stops, and B&W film gives up to 7 (which is why so many photgs still use B&W film). For single exposure, you can get a good HDR photo if you dont need a big dynamic range to work with (situatioons where most of the exposure has minimal diffferences in lighting). See below for one of my examples:

img\def

skyline by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

img\def

Centennial Olympic Park by trippysg2003 , on Flickr

For multiple exposures, you will gather much more information about the lighting in dark and bright areas, allowing for more information on detail in these regions to be displayed, which is really the effect HDR was designed for. For this you will need a tripod to minimize movement of the body and lens. If you're steady and working in excellent light, you might be able to get away with handheld but its generally not an option. You can autobracket with the D90, and should for most situations where there is not a huge difference in light and dark. +2,0,-2 should cover the range you need here. For larger differences though, you will need more exposures, and can do this manually, I would recommend +3,+2,+1,0,-1,-2,-3 for shooting in the woods with the sunlight coming through the forest ceiling. Remember that Nikon uses a 1/3 EV adjustment system, so to get +1 stop manually you have to go 3 shutter speeds up. While Im on this, dont forget that changing your aperture changes your depth of field, so only do this in A mode or M mode taking care only to adjust shutter speed.

Now, onto processing. You can use Photoshop, but most recommend Photomatix or HDR Expose software. I use Photomatix and love it. Just get familiar with the software with some single images(must be RAW for single exposures) and work your way up to multiples. The first frustrating thing you will encounter in multiple exposures is probably going to be slight movements you werent even aware of. It happens, and so will ghosting when it does, but just keep at it and work on getting your camera as still as possible.

Heres a couple multiple exposures Ive done in the past coupel years:

img\def

Downtown Cleveland by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


img\def

Atlanta Airport by trippysg2003 , on Flickr


Awesome shots!


,
13 years 3 months ago #7833 by The Gardener
Those airport shots are amazing


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