Question about HDR

ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
edited March 25, 2009 in Finishing School
So I decided to try my hand at HDR images tonight. I shot several sequences of pictures by bracketing on my camera from -3 to +3. I downloaded the trial version of Photmatrix and imported the pics and played around with the settings until the image looked good to me. I then saved the .HDR image then saved it as a .jpg. However the jpeg isn't near as sharp as the .hdr image. Does anyone know why this is?
Come see my Photos at:
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
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D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro

Comments

  • BrundigeBrundige Registered Users Posts: 19 Big grins
    edited March 17, 2009
    I noticed that as well with some of the HDR i have taken , i think it has something to do with the compression, i noticed that saving it as a .tiff file helps a lot also try an unsharp mask PS filter. good luck
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 19, 2009
    Were all three or five frames shot while mounted firmly on a tripod? Any movement of the camera or subject in the different frames will produce artifacts of one sort or another. I have not really noticed unsharpness in my HDR images, - like this one, unless something is moving

    443697501_yVKjA-XL.jpg

    Does anyone have any experience with Topaz Adjust plug in software?
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited March 19, 2009
    What were you shooting? You need to beware of wind moving leaves and tree branches. Anything that is moving at all can create minute differences between frames. Each frame will look sharp, but the combined version will not. Auto-alignment cannot resolve the differences. As PF said, using a tripod and avoiding movement of the subject are the keys.

    Post an example with EXIF data for the component frames and maybe we can help.
    My Pics
  • ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    No, they were handheld and I would understand that there may be some movement between exposures except the HDR that I produced was sharp until I saved it as a jpg. That is what confuses me.
    Come see my Photos at:
    http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
    http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman



    D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited March 19, 2009
    Erbeman wrote:
    No, they were handheld and I would understand that there may be some movement between exposures except the HDR that I produced was sharp until I saved it as a jpg. That is what confuses me.

    Ooops, I misunderstood the problem. Reading is hard. rolleyes1.gif Sorry.

    OK, so what quality JPG are you creating? If you are compressing the image a lot, that will introduce artifacts. ne_nau.gif
    My Pics
  • ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    Richard wrote:
    Ooops, I misunderstood the problem. Reading is hard. rolleyes1.gif Sorry.

    OK, so what quality JPG are you creating? If you are compressing the image a lot, that will introduce artifacts. ne_nau.gif

    I shot with my D700 using Jpeg Large fine.
    Come see my Photos at:
    http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
    http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman



    D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    Erbeman wrote:
    I shot with my D700 using Jpeg Large fine.

    And after Phtomatix and any other PS work you saved as what type/size of jpg???
    I could be wrong but I think with HDR and other specialties like this one truly needs to be shooting raw.....just me 'umble opinon................
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    Art Scott wrote:
    And after Phtomatix and any other PS work you saved as what type/size of jpg???
    I could be wrong but I think with HDR and other specialties like this one truly needs to be shooting raw.....just me 'umble opinon................

    Photomatrix doesn't give you the option that could tell to save as different sizes. I just saved as a jpg.
    Come see my Photos at:
    http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
    http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman



    D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited March 19, 2009
    Erbeman wrote:
    Photomatrix doesn't give you the option that could tell to save as different sizes. I just saved as a jpg.

    Can you save as a TIFF or some other non-compressed format? This would only help if there's something wonky in the Photomatix JPG conversion, which I tend to doubt. headscratch.gif
    My Pics
  • ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    Richard wrote:
    Can you save as a TIFF or some other non-compressed format? This would only help if there's something wonky in the Photomatix JPG conversion, which I tend to doubt. headscratch.gif

    Yes, you can save as a Tiff
    Come see my Photos at:
    http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
    http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman



    D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 19, 2009
    FWIW, my image WAS processed in Photomatix as part of its rendering.

    I did not save it as a a jpg from Photomatix, but as a 16 bit tiff after tone-mapping. The 16 bit image was then edited in CS(3 or 4) and finally saved as an 8 bit sRGB jpg. I don't think I have tried saving jpgs directly from Photomatix, as 16 bit tiffs contain far more data to take to Photoshop for final editing.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited March 19, 2009
    Erbeman wrote:
    Photomatrix doesn't give you the option that could tell to save as different sizes. I just saved as a jpg.

    My fear here would be not being able to control the amount of compression....I always save as the largest possible jpg to keep compression minimal....as PW said saving as a 16bit Tiff in Photomatix and then saving as a #12 jpg out of PS might also be a huge help for this.
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • anonymouscubananonymouscuban Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,586 Major grins
    edited March 20, 2009
    I have found that using Pathfinders method works best to maintain detail. I've noticed that if you convert to JPG within Photomatix, the image isn't as crisp when saved as a TIFF and then using LR or CS3 to then convert to JPG. This also preserves more detail during the post-HDR processing in CS3.

    Just my $.02
    "I'm not yelling. I'm Cuban. That's how we talk."

    Moderator of the People and Go Figure forums

    My Smug Site
  • ErbemanErbeman Registered Users Posts: 926 Major grins
    edited March 20, 2009
    anonymouscuban wrote:
    I have found that using Pathfinders method works best to maintain detail. I've noticed that if you convert to JPG within Photomatix, the image isn't as crisp when saved as a TIFF and then using LR or CS3 to then convert to JPG. This also preserves more detail during the post-HDR processing in CS3.

    Just my $.02

    That makes sense. Thanks
    Come see my Photos at:
    http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
    http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman



    D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
  • RoytpRoytp Registered Users Posts: 72 Big grins
    edited March 25, 2009
    Erbeman wrote:
    Photomatrix doesn't give you the option that could tell to save as different sizes. I just saved as a jpg.


    Have you tried this software?
    It is free.
    http://www.hdrlabs.com/picturenaut/

    Roy
    Thank you
    Roy Palmer - Digital Images
    http://www.digital-images.org.uk/
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