Post Your Best HDR Photo

[William]

Doh! You posted before me. OK so Nik Software.

[greggf]

Hey William...yup, HDR Efex from Nik. You should give it a try. Use their trial version for 15 days, and see if it's worth it. There are so many options with HDR efex, you could go down many, many routes to come up with diff renditions of the same image. It is also fully tied in with LR and CS, too.


Here is another taken today from another one of my customers house.


5 shot 35mm@f8....


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[William]

I might give it a go. BTW it must have been a big biscuit that went with that cup of coffee!

[freelanceshots]

Does not disturb me. That approach sure gives it a dramatic look. Images with that style are very popular with folks. William what does the single, middle exposure look like from that picture? Can you post the 3 small images so that I can get an idea of what you where working from. If not no big deal.

[greggf]

Lol...A really big biscuit!! Really, William, give the trial version a go. I really like the interface for HDR Efex!! The possibilities are quite endless...I liked Photomatix, then, until I was introduced to HDR Efex. CS5's HDR program is pretty good, too, but I still gravitate towards the Nik program more. And, like I said above, it is fully tied in with both LR3 and CS5(not sure about earlier versions?)...


A lot of the time, I will take a single image from LR3, import it as a tiff into CS5, and then do a tone map of the image in HDR Efex, and then convert to B&W....I find a get WAAAAYYYYY better B&W images that way...


for example...both processed in LR3-CS5-tone mapped in HDR Efex, for this final result....


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[William]

Thanks Gregg, I definitely will, not might, give it a go. The work flow suits me because I currently follow LR -> HDR software -> PS. I also really really like Black and White photography and always keep my ear to the ground for any tips that can help me on my way to producing really compelling images. Cheer for that.

William what does the single, middle exposure look like from that picture? Can you post the 3 small images so that I can get an idea of what you where working from. If not no big deal.

No worries Bryan. If you want a closer look I've temporarily posted them on Flickr. There are a few little mistakes like the people. I'm thinking that with people I might take the 0EV and use LR to produce two more exposures and blend them using the same settings as the rest of the image. This should give a moving subject the same effect as the rest of the image and can be masked in seamlessly. That's my theory anyway.











Just click on the image to go to Flickr (for those that don't already know) []


BTW I use Topaz ReMask for my masking, Topaz Clean for my sharpening (yes I know, unusual choice), and Topaz DeNoise for.... hmm...can't remember? These are great PS/LR plugins that are worth taking a look at. Especially ReMask - it'll change your life!


Canon 30D, 17-55mm IS @ 17mm, f8, ISO 200. Crops from the images above:


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[freelanceshots]

Thanks for showing those! The finished image looks so surreal that it is truly spectacular. I think its neat to see the before and after. It goes well beyond basic blending to get more dynamic range where this process should have a new name made for it. Maybe the young hip folks already gave it a new name like -Hipstamatic- where I

[William]

Nothing wrong with being in the closet, photographically speaking. These sort of images, and I

[greggf]

I agree with everything you say William, but there is an intrinsic art to making HDR's that do require you to have a little fun in post with it, too. I agree that sometimes doing HDR's you want to make them as real as possible...but sometimes it is fun to get a little "wild", too!! Having fun with photography is the greatest thing, too, especially since the advent of digital, where you can see instantaneous results on the back of the camera, and not have to wait for the film to develop.... I think it steepens the learning curve substantially, but at the same time, it is essential to have some basic photography skills to go hand in hand with taking photos. I like the idea of using 1 lens for a period of time...to get in touch with ones inner photographer...hence, I am kinda doing the same right now and using a couple of new 35 1.4's to get back to the basis skills of photography, whilst trying to figure which 35 I'm going to keep. It is my new found range, and I'm loving it!!


Here is another HDR from yesterday, in the light of this subject...


1D4 35mm@f1.4(William, not the Rokinon either, but a whole diff 35 altogether...ask me and I will tell!!)..


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[William]

There