Very first HDR attempt

[returnofsid]

I've made my very first attempt at photographing and creating an HDR photograph. I'd like some opinions please. I've never attempted this before and did a very quick study, to figure out the basics. This is a barn that I've photographed, over the past 5 years, on vacations to Montana. It's been interesting to watch it slowly deteriorate. This trip, I decided to do something different, and create the HDR. As I said, I've never attempted any HDR photography in the past so thought I'd give it a shot. To be honest, I'm not very sure I like the results and I obviously need to do a lot more learning and practicing.

Using a tripod, I took 3 photographs, all on manual, all in RAW. One is properly exposed and then by adjusting the shutter speed, I took a photographs at approximately +2 and -2.

I made no adjustments to the RAW photographs, converted them to Jpg and then, using Photoshop, Merged to HDR, 32 bit.. Once merged, I made some slight Gamma and then Exposure adjustments, not really knowing what I was doing...then I fiddled with Curves, slightly, again, without any idea what I was doing...lol.

I then converted the photo to 8 bit and saved.

Please critique not only the finished HDR product, but also the process that I used.

I'm not at all sure how to go about posting these critique requests so I'm going to post all 3 photos and then the HDR.

Proper Exposure

+2 Exposure

-2 Exposure

Final HDR product

 

[swjim]

Nice first attempt! I like that you didn't go overboard with the HDR. The only recommendation I would make is that you might want to try adding a curves layer to lessen the blue color cast in the shadowed areas.

 

[returnofsid]

Thank you! First, I need to learn what a Curves layer is and how to add one...lol

 

[bwest]

Good first attempt.

It looks like you said you adjusted the exposure manually. First tip would be if you're going to do some HDR photos, make it easier on yourself and use an auto bracketing feature on your camera if there is one (I'm not sure what type you're using).

Secondly, I'm not sure why you took the photos in RAW, but then before processing converted to JPG. That sorta defeats the purpose of shooting in RAW, since you're compressing the file before doing anything to it. If that makes sense.

I've shot a bunch of landscapes, and in my opinion HDR is a good thing to know how to do when you're really trying to pull some detail from the extremes like shadows and sky. It can look great when tastefully done, but not overdone. If that makes sense. In your image I don't believe it's too overdone, but also by looking at the subject and lighting, there isn't much of the extremes going on (ie not a crazy bright sky, or dark foreground), so for a scene like this you could most likely get a very similar look of your HDR image you processed just by playing around with the correctly exposed image itself. If you don't have it already, Adobe Lightroom is an amazing complement to photoshop, and will make image processing a whole lot easier.

I hope that helps a little.

 

[swjim]

Thank you! First, I need to learn what a Curves layer is and how to add one...lol

No worries, I hope you don't mind but here's a quick edit.... I'll remove it if you like.

 

[mariusmeyer]

The HDR is a little too dark for my liking. I actually think the original looks best apart from the sky. Try just darkening the sky but not so much as in the HDR. Add a little contrast to it and it should come out just fine.

 

[Barto]

I think I know that barn...

where is it?

 

[Misled]

It's in that field!!!!

 

[returnofsid]

Good first attempt.

It looks like you said you adjusted the exposure manually. First tip would be if you're going to do some HDR photos, make it easier on yourself and use an auto bracketing feature on your camera if there is one (I'm not sure what type you're using).

Secondly, I'm not sure why you took the photos in RAW, but then before processing converted to JPG. That sorta defeats the purpose of shooting in RAW, since you're compressing the file before doing anything to it. If that makes sense.

I've shot a bunch of landscapes, and in my opinion HDR is a good thing to know how to do when you're really trying to pull some detail from the extremes like shadows and sky. It can look great when tastefully done, but not overdone. If that makes sense. In your image I don't believe it's too overdone, but also by looking at the subject and lighting, there isn't much of the extremes going on (ie not a crazy bright sky, or dark foreground), so for a scene like this you could most likely get a very similar look of your HDR image you processed just by playing around with the correctly exposed image itself. If you don't have it already, Adobe Lightroom is an amazing complement to photoshop, and will make image processing a whole lot easier.

I hope that helps a little.

I'm shooting with a Canon 7D, so I do have Auto Bracketing available but have never used it. Guess it's time to learn how...lol.

I actually should have left the photos in RAW until the end of the process but when I attempted to do that, I received some kind of error in PS. I don't remember what the error was but I'd contributed it to the files still being in RAW so I changed them to Jpg and continued...

I do feel that the scene isn't really a scene that needed HDR though I didn't realize that at the time. Next time, I'm going to look for a scene that has much more of a contrasty dynamic range.

In the photo you edited, which Thank you, BTW, a couple of questions...

Which of the original photos did you use and edit from?
What did you actually do, as far as editing goes?

I think I know that barn...

where is it?

Barto, I wouldn't be surprised. We travel from Spokane, WA to Kalispell, MT, a few times a year to visit family. I've always loved this barn, out in the middle of nowhere, and have always stopped to photograph it. It's been neat to watch it slowly give in to it's eventual fate. It's on State 28, going from Kalispell, towards St. Regis. Ummm, I've never paid particular attention to WHERE, on 28, the barn is, but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably 30-45 minutes before the 28-200, maybe near Hot Springs... Next trip, I'll pay more attention to where it's actually at.

 

[swjim]

In the photo you edited, which Thank you, BTW, a couple of questions...

Which of the original photos did you use and edit from?
What did you actually do, as far as editing goes?

I used your HDR edit. Here are the steps I took, it took less than a minute:

1. Added a curves layer
2. The curves layer will default to RGB, I changed this to "blue" and lowered the blue channel (pulled it down and to the right) until the blue was lessened.
3. The image then had a bit of a green cast to it so I chose the red channel and boosted it slightly (up and to the left) until it looked right.
4. The sky now had a bit of a purplish cast to it so I selected it using the quick select tool, clicked on the curves layer mask, then used the paint bucket tool to fill it with black so that the curves would not apply to the sky.

I didn't save the original PSD so here is an approximate re-creation. Sorry for the watermark, the gallery I use for online sharing automatically puts it on there. I can delete the image as soon as you've seen it here if you like.

Hope this helps!