HDR Photography.

[Unfiltered]

Originally Posted by PuckMonkey

I think it was $99. For $119 you get a tone mapping CS3 plug-in, but it's kinda lame. Could be handy in the future though.

There is a discount from some photo website somewhere. I'll try and track it down.

[PuckMonkey]

OK, this is REALLY the last one. Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

[HeShootsNScores]

Originally Posted by PuckMonkey

OK, this is REALLY the last one. Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

this is my favorite of the bunch. The color range is great, and not as over saturated as the others. Plus, I think you all but eliminated the HALO effect that Valleyfan was talking about.

I also like the sharpness....

One thing I can't seem to get a hang of in HDR photog. is when the RAW files are merged, the focus seems soft to me.... after all the processing.

That didn't happen on this shot. ^^^

I like.


The Arboretum by the santa anita mall?

[PuckMonkey]

So I took everything I learned the other day from my first attempt at HDR (btw, thanks for the feedback everybody), and went out today with my newfound knowledge and, well, I'm pretty happy with my progress...

Still much to learn here, but I am definitely getting more comfortable with it.

Don't want to bog down the page, so there are more

here (1)


here (2)


here (3)


here (4)


and here (5).

I am learning that subject matter is key for this stuff.

[FlyBoeingJets]

Alright. That's the kinds of results I've been trying to get, but can't seem to home in on.

Mind posting the step-by-steps?

[PuckMonkey]

I pretty much followed the Stuck in Customs tutorial, though his quick pass over the tonemapping didn't do justice to the importance of it. That was where I found the good stuff that made the images work. Getting used to the controls is key. He is correct when he says there is no "right way" of doing the tonemapping, but I would add to that that there is also no easy way. But finally getting comfortable with the obscure control-set and the very minimal reference that came with it was a big help.

But I can not stress what I think is the most important part of HDR (he says in his all knowing "I've been doing this for two whole days" voice.)... Subject matter. I started thinking in terms of the Zone System, and when I did the results were almost always more favorable. When I saw this shot, I was able to identify with my eye almost every step in the Zone, even though the camera could only get 3 or 4 at a time regardless of exposure. But knowing the whole gamut was represented, I felt good about what my HRD results would be.

[FlyBoeingJets]

Is it:

A) As-shot
B) HDR
C) Just Plain Ugly

[Blurker]

I thought I'd attempt to steal back my own thread from PuckMonkey.




This photo has been replaced by some words. The photo was too ugly.

Here is a snake with two heads instead.





Anyhow, I'm certainly learning quite a bit playing around and from everyone's input here. Let's keep 'em coming.

[PuckMonkey]

Shot today

[Unfiltered]

The 15% coupon code still works at the HDR Soft website. The code is VPG15.

Originally Posted by PuckMonkey

Shot today

I like it a lot, PM. Objects in some HDRs have an illustrated look to them. So I like, some distract. This is one of those processed images that I DO like. Mostly I think it's due to a virtually solid background color. (I'm sure that's why I find HDRs like those shown below appeal to me on some level.