Post Your Best HDR Photo

[William]

There are some really nice images in this thread.


Bryan do you mind sharing your HDR workflow, and in particular how you blend these images. I

[BryanKing]

William,


I'm glad you like the photos. You can see a few more samples of my HDR stuff in my gallery here: http://www.pbase.com/bryanking/hdr_images


I used to utilize Photomatix, but these were processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CS5. I typically just auto-bracket 2 stops over/under. After importing the RAW files into Lightroom, the only adjustment I would initially make is fine-tuning the desired white balance. After getting that the same for all 3 images, I'll select the three and Edit in HDR Pro in Photoshop. From there it's a matter of finessing the settings to get the look I'm after. Save as a 16 bit TIF, then back to Lightroom. I often find the initial HDR export loses too much contrast, they tend to get a little flat, so lately I've been Autobalancing again in Lightroom and/or bumping contrast, usually pushing the black level up.


Hope that helps. I haven't used Lucus Pro.

[William]

Thanks Bryan. Is HDR Pro a plugin, and if so does it work with CS4? The rest seems straight forward. I visited your other photo

[BryanKing]

William, "Merge to HDR Pro" is actually built-in to CS5. Here's a review that suggests Photomatix is better anyway, so since you already have that, you might just want to keep working with that.: www.stuckincustoms.com/.../photomatix-pro-4-0-versus-adobe-photoshop-cs5s-new-merge-to-hdr-pro


FYI, the HDR from Long Beach that you like was done in Photomatix.

[Richard Lane]

Bryan, Those are great shots. I

[William]

Acutally it was the review from

[freelanceshots]

I don't typically use HDR software. My work is done in photoshop and is all hand done with individual selections, layers and multiple exposures some times 6 to 9. I use DDP for the opening and initial preview of the images because its free and does what I need and then PS4 and now PS5 for all other work.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/ Exterior Commercial Photography by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]

[William]

This looks like you might have used PS to keep the vertical line parallel rather than a tilt lens, is that correct. I don't really photograph buildings so this is not really my specialty. I love the balance of the dynamic range. It seems that you have more local control in PS than you do with Photomatix. It gives a very clean image.

[freelanceshots]

Yes, one of the things that is a must is perspective correction and I have not tried the HDR feature is CS5. Another big aspect of outdoor photography is timing the light correctly to help the image look more natural. When I do my 3 day shoots I'm constantly keeping an eye on what's happening outside where many times I'm left running through the hotels with my gear in hand when moments present themselves. Try getting a good exterior shot when it rains the whole time or snows or even foggy. Also very tough to coordinate photos with no people or cars at just the right moments because thats when these places are the most busy. There where many times while doing this project that I wanted to give up and just quit. To date I've finished approx 1700 finished still photos like the ones above which includes many interiors. I have approx 500 gigs of photos taken from 70 hotels from all over the mid south area. Some of the interiors where literally nightmares where I found myself dreaming that I was working all the time. I hate dreaming about work. with that said I really want to buy the 14mm L lens as the 16-35mm on my 5D2 is just a little short of what I need plus I hear the IQ is better since it's not a zoom. With the 16mm I find myself always missing out on just a bit of the overall image because once you perspective correct you loose some of the original image at the top left and right corners. 98
percent of the time I have to redraw these areas which can
get extremely time consuming because I'm picky. Some of these rooms I go into are so small, long and dark with one super bright window at the end where it just wants to make you cry.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/ small bedroom by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]

[William]

Yes I see what you mean. This customer wants a room the size of a postage stamp to look like stadium! I think you've pulled it off too.


Nice lighting as well.