My first attempt at HDR photography... What do you think?

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/2191/2212940681_dcb0b30a1a_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

Nice!!

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

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/2275/2212985863_8e2376f87f_b.jpg

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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?

Willgecko said:

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?

Click to expand...

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/2365/2213830350_2ec17d5592_o.png

Willgecko said:

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

Click to expand...

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...

RiDE said:

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/2275/2212985863_8e2376f87f_b.jpg

.

Click to expand...

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

dtownley: thanks for the tips!

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

RiDE said:

Click to expand...

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

northy124 said:

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

Click to expand...

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.

Pretty cool!!

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?

What is HDR?

Photomatix review.



Edited to add:

Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2

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.

Village Idiot said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

RiDE said:

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.

Click to expand...

It depends on the scene.

Some people will take 7 shots at -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, for the exposures with the darkest exposure being almost completely black and the lightest being almost completely blown out. It also depends on the scene. A scene wil a lot of highlights and a lot of shadows is a good HDR photo canidate where a scene with a very flat tonal range with few highlights and shadows will make a very flat photo.

Village Idiot said:

It depends on the scene.

Some people will take 7 shots at -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, for the exposures with the darkest exposure being almost completely black and the lightest being almost completely blown out. It also depends on the scene. A scene wil a lot of highlights and a lot of shadows is a good HDR photo canidate where a scene with a very flat tonal range with few highlights and shadows will make a very flat photo.

Click to expand...

Thanks again!

nice image .. you can tell all that colour data (depth) works well for this type of evening shot with dark mid tones - can still see detail in mid tones

I like your 3rd HDR photo. I love fantasy HDR. I also like the first one, it's a natural look and you can see that you've used HDR to the photo.

On my Rebel XT you have to be in manual mode. Than press menu and go to settings the second one with the camera and the #2 and its the first thing in the list AEB auto exposure bracketing. Go to that and select it and push right to set the marks 2 stops under 0, 0, and 2 stops over. Than I put it on the tripod and set it on timer mode. push the shutter and let it fly. It takes all 3 shots consecutively without any movement of the camera.Than I use photomatix to put them together.