01-22-2008, 10:29 PM

Below is a link to my First attempt at HDR photography... taken tonight (real dark outside).

Am I headed in the right direction???

Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?

Full Size:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2191/...b0b30a1a_b.jpg

Photo Info:
Camera: Canon XTi / 400D (kit lens)
3 Exposures
Shutter: 5 sec. / 13 sec. / 30 sec.
f/5.6
focal length: 39mm
ISO: 800

01-22-2008, 10:44 PM

Nice!!

01-22-2008, 10:44 PM

Wow that looks really cool. (I just looked up HDR so not much help as far as expertise). What kind of camera are you using? I use a Nikon D40x with 18-55mm and a 70-300mm. How do you do this? Take 3 photos and merge them? this seems really cool because I do some low light work that this might be nice for! One problem for me is that with an ISO of more then 400 i get pixels and grain up the wazzoo!

Sorry that this is not what you where asking but it looks really good!

Cheers,

Willgecko

01-22-2008, 10:50 PM

Thank you both!!! I did it with my new Canon XTi / 400D and the standard kit lens. It's my very first try... below is another example...
It's 3 RAW photographs all with different exposure... Then merged together in PS or Photomatix.

FullSize Link:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/...2376f87f_b.jpg

.

01-22-2008, 11:00 PM

ok this makes sense...

yeah i like the second better because of the saturation and the quality is the same so saturation is the key! also the highlights in the doorway look better. i think if you take a good pic with the doorway perfectly exposed and then moved it to mesh with this pic it would look awesome!

back to my original question: what camera are you using?

01-22-2008, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by Willgecko

ok this makes sense...

yeah i like the second better because of the saturation and the quality is the same so saturation is the key! also the highlights in the doorway look better. i think if you take a good pic with the doorway perfectly exposed and then moved it to mesh with this pic it would look awesome!

back to my original question: what camera are you using?

Ok... here's my 3rd (and final) attempt.... I think I like this one best.


I'm using a Canon XTi / 400D with the kit lens.


FullSize Link:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/...c17d5592_o.png

01-22-2008, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Willgecko

Wow that looks really cool. (I just looked up HDR so not much help as far as expertise). What kind of camera are you using? I use a Nikon D40x with 18-55mm and a 70-300mm. How do you do this? Take 3 photos and merge them? this seems really cool because I do some low light work that this might be nice for! One problem for me is that with an ISO of more then 400 i get pixels and grain up the wazzoo!

Sorry that this is not what you where asking but it looks really good!

Cheers,

Willgecko

I have the exact same camera (diff zoom lens though). Since you're doing low light photography, best thing to do is use manual exposure settings, but set the ISO to a slower setting (100 for example). If you're using a tripod, the exposure should come out exactly the same. It's a long exposure anyway, so changing the ISO from say 800, to 100 is only 3 stops - in the end you're getting an image with much less noise, for an exposure that's maybe only 5-15 seconds longer. You can always use bulb setting too, to expose as long as you have your finger on the shutter. Unfortunately, IR remotes (at least my one anyway) don't work with bulb settings...

Originally Posted by RiDE

Thank you both!!! I did it with my new Canon XTi / 400D and the standard kit lens. It's my very first try... below is another example...
It's 3 RAW photographs all with different exposure... Then merged together in PS or Photomatix.

FullSize Link:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/...2376f87f_b.jpg

.

This 2nd one is a vast improvement over the first. It looks much more natural. Great shot(s)!

01-23-2008, 12:48 AM

dtownley: thanks for the tips!

RiDE: I am a moron, I just reread the original post with the camera on it sorry bout that!

01-23-2008, 04:12 AM

Originally Posted by RiDE

Very nice picture have no idea what HDR is yet though.

01-23-2008, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by northy124

Very nice picture have no idea what HDR is yet though.

I think it's High Dynamic Range. You use a number of different photos, of varying exposures, and combine them to increase the tonal range of a single image. This allows a greater tonal range than is normally possible with a single photo.

01-23-2008, 07:32 AM

Pretty cool!!

01-23-2008, 08:19 AM

Sorry for being a newb, but how exactly would you merge the photos together? I would like to try this with my dslr. Is there a tutorial online some where?

01-23-2008, 08:45 AM

What is HDR?

Photomatix review.



Edited to add:

Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2

01-23-2008, 09:12 AM

Photomatix usually yields better results.

Anyways, the third photo is the best, but the first two are kind of flat. There's an extremely important thing to keep in mind when shooting a scene for a good HDR photo, it has to have a very wide range of exposures that the camera can't capture in one exposure due to physical limitations of the sensor. If you try and make an HDR photo out of a scene that doesn't have a wide range of lighting dynamics and is already a scene that's "flat", the end result won't be too much better without a lot of other manipulation.

01-23-2008, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by Village Idiot

Photomatix usually yields better results.

Anyways, the third photo is the best, but the first two are kind of flat. There's an extremely important thing to keep in mind when shooting a scene for a good HDR photo, it has to have a very wide range of exposures that the camera can't capture in one exposure due to physical limitations of the sensor. If you try and make an HDR photo out of a scene that doesn't have a wide range of lighting dynamics and is already a scene that's "flat", the end result won't be too much better without a lot of other manipulation.

So would you suggest a larger discrepancy in shutter speeds???

These were from speeds of 5 sec, 13 sec, and 30 sec.

Thanks for the info.