HDR Pano in Lightroom

Gary752Gary752 Registered Users Posts: 934 Major grins
edited June 23, 2015 in Other Cool Shots
I recently decided to partake the Adobe Koolaide and upgraded my Lightroom and Photoshop to the CC version. What convinced me to upgrade was the ability to do Pano's in Lightroom in the RAW format. Another feature that made it a PLUS was the HDR feature. Below is my first test of an HDR Pano, of the gazebo in the center of town. It consists of 5 verticle shots each shot at -2, 0, +2 then merged together using the default settings before being stitched together. What you see below was done entirely in Lightroom. C&C welcomed!


050415-gazebo-L.jpg

GaryB
GaryB
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams

Comments

  • ThelensspotThelensspot Registered Users Posts: 2,041 Major grins
    edited June 21, 2015
    Gary, I have been experimenting with the same features and posted one shot earlier (see "Hermione" thread). This is excellent. thumb.gif Of course as you know...the more you pan the more you sometimes in-cooperate a distracting feature (i.e. a telephone pole). I also agree that this is a step up for Lightroom 6 (CC)!
    "Photography is partly art and partly science. Really good photography adds discipline, sacrifice and a never ending pursuit of photographic excellence"...ziggy53

  • StumblebumStumblebum Registered Users Posts: 8,480 Major grins
    edited June 21, 2015
    Nice! What is HDR pano? You mean each shot has 4-5 HDR shots and then it overlays them and also stitches them?
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,968 moderator
    edited June 22, 2015
    Pleasant scene. The panorama aspect works well, though I wish you hadn't clipped the peak of the cupola (a minor nit, really). I'm generally not a fan of HDR, mainly because it is so often abused to create garish, unnatural looking images. You didn't go this route, I'm glad to say, but IMO this image suffers from a different common HDR problem: overcompression into the mid-tones which creates a flat look. It's ironic that a technique meant to expand dynamic range often yields the opposite effect. I think just adding a standard S curve for contrast would improve this image a lot.
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  • Gary752Gary752 Registered Users Posts: 934 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2015
    Stumblebum wrote: »
    Nice! What is HDR pano? You mean each shot has 4-5 HDR shots and then it overlays them and also stitches them?

    This one is 5 shots, each at -2, 0, and +2 then merged just like any other HDR, then the 5 shots are stitched together to make the pano. This was all done in Lightroom.

    GaryB
    GaryB
    “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
  • Gary752Gary752 Registered Users Posts: 934 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2015
    Richard wrote: »
    Pleasant scene. The panorama aspect works well, though I wish you hadn't clipped the peak of the cupola (a minor nit, really). I'm generally not a fan of HDR, mainly because it is so often abused to create garish, unnatural looking images. You didn't go this route, I'm glad to say, but IMO this image suffers from a different common HDR problem: overcompression into the mid-tones which creates a flat look. It's ironic that a technique meant to expand dynamic range often yields the opposite effect. I think just adding a standard S curve for contrast would improve this image a lot.

    Thanks Richard for your comments. I hadn't noticed the top of the gazebo missing until after I exported the DNG file it created, to JPG. As soon as we get some better weather here, I want to go and re-shoot it from a little further back and to my right. That should allow me to get the whole gazebo in the shot and get the telephone pole in a position that it can be removed with out messing with the trees in the background too much. I also agree that some contrast is needed, and that can also be done in LR before exporting to JPG. The main reason I had to try this is because everything is done in RAW. I imported NEF files and ran them through HDR, and it spit out a DNG file. Then the DNG files were stitched together and it created another DNG file. You don't get a JPG file until you do an export.

    GaryB
    GaryB
    “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
  • StumblebumStumblebum Registered Users Posts: 8,480 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2015
    Gary752 wrote: »
    This one is 5 shots, each at -2, 0, and +2 then merged just like any other HDR, then the 5 shots are stitched together to make the pano. This was all done in Lightroom.

    GaryB

    Thanks Gary!
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