Family Dinner - HDR Candid Family Portrait

jhelms

I've been trying to capture an HDR portrait for a few weeks now, just haven't gotten one that I thought worked.

This was a 9 shot bracketed group, and I can't believe how still everyone was for it, I just caught it at the right time....

C&C welcomed as always, full gallery is here:
http://www.johntookmypicture.com/gallery/6583618_G8SLM





BTW, this one was combined in photomatix, no photoshop or any other editing after that - I could probably tweak it a little more though I guess - what do ya'll think, should I do anything else to this one in post processing?

mercphoto

It seems to lack a lot of contrast to me and just looks washed out. Try setting a black point and see what happens. In my opinion, not doing any PP after the HDR is probably part of the problem.

jhelms

mercphoto wrote:

It seems to lack a lot of contrast to me and just looks washed out. Try setting a black point and see what happens. In my opinion, not doing any PP after the HDR is probably part of the problem.

Cool, I'll do that and repost an edited version - with those adjustments made what are your thoughts on the rest of the photo?

For some reason it just speaks to me as a classic family moment.

Mitchell

This is interesting, but what do you really gain by doing a 9 bracket HDR indoor family portrait? I'd be interested in seeing the middle exposure photo.

I wonder if you could achieve the same effect by shooting RAW and using the 1.5 stop lattitude exposure adjustment you can get in ACR?

Tee Why

I think it looks pretty good. None of the haloing I'm used to seeing around HDR shots.

However, I'd think if you have a flash and a diffuser and with some bouncing, you can achieve similar results with one shot.

jhelms

Mitchell wrote:

This is interesting, but what do you really gain by doing a 9 bracket HDR indoor family portrait? I'd be interested in seeing the middle exposure photo.

I wonder if you could achieve the same effect by shooting RAW and using the 1.5 stop lattitude exposure adjustment you can get in ACR?

Good question, it didn't have to be 9, just so happened that's the bracket range that I had set at the time.

The D200 will auto-bracket in 1 stop increments, so I could do an easier set of -1 / 0 / +1 in a pretty quick burst (the D200 shoots @ 5fps) or a 5 shot burst of -2 / -1 / 0 / +1 / +2.

Historically, I've tried to limit my post processing times since I take a lot of shots and have a non-photography related day job. With my HDR's, I run them through several automated batches that will give me a good feel for what the shot sequence is going to give me, then I tweak from there.

I'm also currently shooting .jpg - I'll try to remember to post the middle shot from this bracket and update the post.

Tee Why wrote:

I think it looks pretty good. None of the haloing I'm used to seeing around HDR shots.

However, I'd think if you have a flash and a diffuser and with some bouncing, you can achieve similar results with one shot.

Cool, thanks - I think the HDR benefits on a shot like this are things that show up like the details under the table (just for example), an almost 3D look to some of the items on the table, and on this photo just a hint of painterly surrealism.

iambarefoot

It has an 'antique' quality. Tell us that's what you were going for.

jhelms

iambarefoot wrote:

It has an 'antique' quality. Tell us that's what you were going for.

I did keep it warm toned in photomatix, mostly for that quality. When I cooled it down to a more correct tone it just looked too 'correct' to me.

My memories of these weekly Sunday dinners tend to overwhelm me with browns, tans, and yellows when I close my eyes, so I let much of that carry over into the photo.

Probably my favorite part about the pic is that it's really the first one I've take of the family that is close to a candid photo-journalistic un-posed geniune representation of what's going on.

I love the messy table, the different expressions and gestures, etc. Maybe a rockwell-ian look?

jhelms

As requested, here's the middle shot from this series...

mercphoto

jhelms wrote:

As requested, here's the middle shot from this series...

I'd still like to see you take the HDR results and set a black point on it or bump the contrast up. While it is better than the middle capture in terms of shadow detail and such its still washed out. For example, in the HDR Grandma and Grandpa are just washed out, whereas in the middle capture they look much better. I'm also curious how a simple shadows boost on the middle capture would look.

jhelms

mercphoto wrote:

I'd still like to see you take the HDR results and set a black point on it or bump the contrast up. While it is better than the middle capture in terms of shadow detail and such its still washed out. For example, in the HDR Grandma and Grandpa are just washed out, whereas in the middle capture they look much better. I'm also curious how a simple shadows boost on the middle capture would look.

Definitely good ideas, that's still on my to-do list for this one. I'll post those as well.

zoomer

HDR's typically require a LARGE contrast boost and levels adjustment.
At least in my experience with landscapes...never tried one with people in it.

makeitso

Fantastic
Your work has inspired me to try something similar, great atmosphere and feeling in the photo.