OT: My First HDR Image

MeuserReef

MeuserReef

Welcome to the next level
Thought I'd share my first stab @ HDR. I've been a big B+W fan since my film/darkroom days and am thrilled to see the bold new world that digital B+W has to offer!

NOTE: Im using the trial edition of Photomatix (hince the watermarks) and I dont have PS (yet), so this is far from "finished".


Waterway Avenue Tunnels - The Woodlands, TX
WaterwayTunnel.jpg


Original (untouched) image:
Waterway0.jpg
 
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Pretty good for a first image! HDR is something that is often way over done resulting in the image looking very "fakey." Yours isn't like that which is nice to see, nice to see a B&W HDR as well. :)
 
Thanks for the comments Dino. Im a newbie here on the Photography forum but have been a lurker for a while. There are some seriously talented photographers collecting here.

IMO, B+W HDR seems to be a digital method of applying at least SOME of the concepts that Ansel Adams mastered so well using the large/medium format.

I regularly thumb through Ansel Adams 3-book set even though my film days have been over for almost a decade! The medium has changed, however the artistic concepts are the same (seeing the final "print" tonal relationships while composing and capturing the live, full color image).

I dont see myself doing too much color HDR.
 
Seems very nice. What lens were you using for the shot?

I just did my first "fake" HDR based off one exposure of a hawaiian photo I took while we were there a couple months ago, it's amazing how much closer to reality that picture looks than the original does. It's really hard to capture lots of color and vibrance when the sun is out so bright.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15315608#post15315608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Recty
Seems very nice. What lens were you using for the shot?

I just did my first "fake" HDR based off one exposure of a hawaiian photo I took while we were there a couple months ago, it's amazing how much closer to reality that picture looks than the original does. It's really hard to capture lots of color and vibrance when the sun is out so bright.
Click to expand...

Thanks Recty. The lens used was an 18-55mm f/3.5 VR Nikkor lens (the "kit lens" that comes with the D60/D5000)

Since taking this photo, I traded in the D60 for the D5000. I snapped a few shots with it today after work, mainly just capturing bracketed "practice" shots to play with in Photomatix (still have the trial edition :D ). I snagged a copy of Photoshop CS2 off of eBay today too so Im slowly building my HDR toolkit.

My goal, one day down the road, is to be able to sell prints at the local art festivals that are held in our town a few times a year. I've not seen this style of art on sale before, so perhaps it will catch on and provide some revenus to buy some better glass :D. (of course, I have to actually develop talent first! ;) )
 
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How many shots will the D5000 take while in auto bracketing? My 50D only does 3 at a time, I'm really wishing I had one of the full frame bad boys that will do up to 7 or 11 at a time.

Of course, I just end up taking two sets of shots and I can still get +2 +1 0 -1 -2 but I'd rather just click the button once!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15316088#post15316088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Recty
How many shots will the D5000 take while in auto bracketing?
Click to expand...

The D5000 will only take 3 exposure bracketed shots in series. I shoot in RAW so I guess I could "cheat" and expand this to 5/7/9/11 shots during RAW conversion. I used -2/0/+2 exclusively today and have a few decent shots to play around with.

So far, 3 seems to be enough to start with! Im still in the "read, read, study, read-some-more" mode with respect to B&W HDR.
 
I'm just breaking into the world of HDR as well.

What I've been doing with my camera is setting it to -2 0 +2 and then taking my shot. Then I set it to -1 0 +1 and take it again.

Then I import to Photomatix and just dont do the duplicated exposure at 0, so then you have 5 stops to be working with. It actually makes a difference in your photos, not a whole lot, but on some shots I'm definitely seeing a difference.

It's an easy step to do if you have the time!
 
Tripod, if you have any kind of camera movement at all the end result of your HDR process isnt very clean looking.
 
I'm not sure if you're looking for an honest critique or not but the dark halos around the clouds bother me. From a compositional standpoint the framing isn't level and the objects cut-off on the sides of the frame distract. Often a viewer of an image won't pick up on exactly what is bothering them but those types of things detract from the image.

If you're serious about wanting to hit the art show circuit you'll need to take things a bit more seriously. There is a lot of competition out there. Post processing is an important of the process but you want the image to evoke an emotional response. "Neat" doesn't sell very well as the image has to stand on it's own.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble, just trying to be realistic. Keep at it and develop your own style but lead with the strength of the image; use processing to enhance that.

Cheers
 
Hey Doug! I agree 100% with everything that you mentioned. This is in no way a "good" picture, IMO (compositionally and Im sure tonally). Ive got a long way to go and just got a bit excited watching my first image come out of Photomatix.

I do appreciate the honest critique. Theres always room to learn and advance your skills, so long as you stay humble and take advice from others further along the same path that you are attempting to travel (this is my approach to life in general, not just photography). I also have a TON to learn regarding postprocessing (there is no PP at all in the image above).

As far as commercial sales... thats really and "end target" and nothing that I would attempt until my skills improve. Its the "emotional" aspect that I really want to develop when taking photographs, not just the massing of files that look, as you say, "neat" :D
 
Let me know if you figure a way to fix the haloing effect around clouds. Right now I'm struggling with getting that to go away.

Doug, by the framing isnt level, do you mean the bridge leads up and to the left, which means the camera wasnt held horizontal while the picture was taken? Or is there something else I'm missing? Sorry to intrude on your thread MR ;) but this is something I'm interested in as I'm just now getting into HDR photography as well.
 
No intrusion at all. While the bridge does slope upwards from left to right, I was hanging out over the water in an attempt to get the tunnels right. Im sure this unbalanced position didnt help. Having PS will help as I can arbitrarily rotate the image until its fixed.

I understand 100% what Doug's saying about the clipped details along the sides. I shoudl have shot this in the landscape orientation.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15318881#post15318881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by truthdesigns
Good Ol Beerguy loves HDR :lol:
Click to expand...

I'll admit that I'm not a fan of it generally but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have its place.

My issue, as pointed out, is that it's often used as the "star." People feed a mediocre image into Photomatix and think that it's "art." Post processing rarely turns a bad image into a good one.

I have a photographer friend, who's actually sponsored by HDRSoft (and Nik), that uses it often. He has really good results with it because he's using it as it's intended: a way to handle exposure problems, not to "make" the image.

At the end of the day it's your image and artistic interpretation. You are free to do with it what you'd like. I, however, am just as free to not like it. ;)

Cheers
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15320020#post15320020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
I have a photographer friend, who's actually sponsored by HDRSoft (and Nik), that uses it often. He has really good results with it because he's using it as it's intended: a way to handle exposure problems, not to "make" the image.
Click to expand...

Doug,

Would you mind sharing a link to some of your friends work?
 
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