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Alan, thank-you for the explanations...I had a "duh moment" when you told me what ACR was...
Alex and rgravel...nice! I don't know how you arrived at the results, but they look good to me. Classic HDR or not, those are cool photos that I would be proud to create.
Rick
Alex, as for night shots, I'm still learning what is the proper way to do this. For me, what I've found to be helpful, is to do an auto exposure bracket but not one that is +/- 2 EV around a properly exposed image. HDR gurus recommend this, generally.
I do an AEB but have the properly exposed image, then -1 EV, and another one at -2 EV for the completed bracketed shots.
Depending on the lighting situation, you might find that a +/- 2 EV around the center point gives too long of exposure on the bright side, and give blown hightlights, despite the HDR's ability to tone it down. Plus, if there is movement, you run a greater risk of blurry HDR images, unless you're spending time to correct it.
I tried HDR with Christmas light displays. They're tough to do correctly, and I'm still trying different things with them.
Here's an example, using Photomatix, with 3 images bracketed as above.
Let's try that again. I blew the image size. Sorry!
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.34/Hopkins.jpg[/img]
(Bryan, if you will, delete that first picture from the post. Thanks.) Bryan, never mind, Jeff informed me on how to edit my posts. I should pay more attention.
Thanks, Jeff.
Alan
Alan, thanks for the advice.
I'll give it a go with your method.
Still trying to find something more interesting than a pond to take pictures of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Alan, you can click on the "More" button and then select edit, and remove the photo without Bryan's help ;)
I've just been for a walk and I think I've almost got my technique sorted out.
Alan, this is a really beautiful image. very well done. If its HDR, its very natural looking as well.
John, yes, this is an HDR. I did it with Photomatix, using the "tone" process (the "details" gave too much color noise, which I find to be the case with night shots, in many examples I've tried).
I used auto exposure bracketing (0, -1, -2 EV), then did the blending to an HDR. Tone mapped it, then brought it into CS4, sharpened it with the USM, then a slight curves adjustment.
Sometimes, using the tone adjustment with Photomatix can saturate the colors a bit too much, and I'll have to back it down some. I could do the adjustment in Photomatix, but I usually don't, and bring the image into Photoshop to touch it up.
Alan