Lucky to call this home.

augustmelody

Here's my second attempt using HDR from this afternoon. I'm just blown away by what can be done in HDR, even considering I know SO little about it!

I think I could've done a better job capturing the subject matter here, but I'm interested on your C&C on the use of HDR here specifically... Well, tell me anything you'd like actually, I can use all of the advice I can get and I have thick skin!

augustmelody

To you HDR experts out there (I know we have a handful of you, I hope you'll speak up!) do you use the built in "Merge to HDR Pro" action in CS5? An external program or another plugin? Or do you somehow do this manually? I know SO little about what I'm doing and I'm here to learn whatever I can.

zoomer

I used to do some HDR. I used Photomatix. That was 5 years ago so imagine there are some updated programs out there now.
Great place to live!

paddler4

I used the "merge to HDR Pro" option in CS5 once. The distortion of color was unacceptable. Since then, I have used exposure blending rather than HDR, which seems to provide much more natural colors while extending dynamic range. I'll post two below. The first is with merge to HDR pro. The second used the Lightroom Enfuse plugin for exposure blending. These were applied to the same base images. Check out the sky in particular.

HDR Pro:

'

LR Enfuse:

augustmelody

Thanks for the input - that answers some questions for me. I thought I was just doing the whole thing wrong because the colors on many images that I attempted to merge were a disaster. The original exposures all looked fairly reasonable to my eye, but after the Merge automation did its "trick" I thought that maybe my originals were just useless or that I had entered them incorrectly somehow.

I do not have access to lightroom on my personal computer - any other recommendations?

paddler4

I believe some HDR programs have an option to do exposure blending. I'd just google that phrase and also 'enfuse'.

WiscoFrank

I use Photomatix and it has several methods .. Enhancer, Compressor & Fusion. To be honest I don't believe I've ever used anything but the Enhancer method for my landscapes and interiors. I find with careful adjustments it is capable of realistically reproducing the image I saw when I took the shoot. They have a free trial period for the software so you should try it for yourself.

Frank

kdog

I like your shot and you're definitely on the right track, August. For me, the foreground is a bit too bright as compared to the horizon. That's a bit unrealistic. You didn't mention which HDR software you are using, but in Photomatix, I'd probably try turning down the strength slider a bit. Otherwise, I think you done good.

kdog

WiscoFrank wrote: »

I use Photomatix and it has several methods .. Enhancer, Compressor & Fusion. To be honest I don't believe I've ever used anything but the Enhancer method for my landscapes and interiors.

I've spent quite a bit of time with the Compressor and Fusion tone mapping modes, and I tend to agree that the Details Enhancer is the one I use most. Most any look from the Compressor or Fusion tone mapping modes can be duplicated in Enhancer mode if you have a soft touch on the sliders.

basflt

augustmelody wrote: »

... Well, tell me anything you'd like actually,

you can use HDR in two ways

- as tool to enhance your photo
- artistic , as you did

i prefer the artistic way

for making realistic images there are other ways , no need for HDRtools

as for HDR , you did well , not overdone IMO

Photomatix standalone is the best tool , as far as i know

fibredrive

Am personally using Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro as well as Color Efex Pro. You might want to try out both Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro (they both have fully functioning trial versions for download) and see which one suits you best.

cheers

choudhrysaab

I didn't find the first picture HDRish - I thought it was a regular picture but nonetheless its a GREAT shot!

redleash

I like the shot. I use Photomatix Pro and have had good luck with it. I think it's pretty user friendly, but it is scary the first few times when you see some of the results--just keep tweaking the sliders. I haven't used PS for HDR. This was a good choice of scene for it.

augustmelody

Thanks everybody for the very positive feedback! You all have given me a lot of encouragement and some ideas to play with.