Discussions of group: HDR

Advice

nobody@ipernity.com (All that remains) — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:43:07 +0000

Having only just started to use HDR I am wondering if I can tweak something in HDRShop to balance the range more to my taste. For example in this test shot, I would really like the foregound to have been lighter and the background darker. This might not be possible - after all the shot looks reasonably well balanced, but I'm always one for asking and experimenting

which software do you use?

nobody@ipernity.com (Szandor (D)) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:56:04 +0000

Szandor (D) has started a topic:

Hello,
which software do you use to generate HDR pictures? What can you recommend? I tried a freeware one, but I don't get nice results, so I am looking for a cheap alternative :)

solved Sorry, this type of docs is not allowed in the group HDR

nobody@ipernity.com (fugo) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:34:17 +0000

fugo has started a topic:

There are problems with posting photos to this groups at the moment. We have made no restrictions but while posting you might get the error message above.
I have no idea why and contacted the IP-support already.
Please stand by.
Fugo

Advantages of HDR

nobody@ipernity.com (Doomshammer) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:29:47 +0000

Doomshammer has started a topic:

I already wrote this article in my Ipernity blog, but I like to contribute it to all people in this group. As HDR is the main topic here, it might be interessting for some of you.
(This is of course, just my personal opinion of HDR :-)

---
In the comments to this photo, I have been asked by grapf why I've choosen HDR for this shot. As you may notice, it isn't too apparent that this is a HDR composition (compared to other HDR compositions). Well, personally I am not a big fan of these "overrealistic" HDRs - you know.. this kind of HDR where cars look like plastic - but that's just my personal opinion. I rather use HDR to enhance the dynamic range of my photos, so that you can see more details and have better light and stuff. So I try to build my HDRs as realistic as possible.

To give you a brief overview/comparison, I've uploaded the "normal" exposure to the above mentioned HDR composition:

As you can see, the shot isn't to bad at all. But some parts are (at least for my personal taste) too overexposed and the colors are looking a bit flat. Additionally I'd like to have the sky a little more dark red - just to highlight the mood and the daytime. Last but not least, the reflections on the water, are not looking so nice as well. For sure.. I could have done some raw processing to underexpose the photo a bit, but then the roofs and the skyline would fade into dark and details would disappear. As well I could do some image processing with PS to just slightly underexpose some parts of the photo, but this would be lots of work and I doubt that the result would be the same as with the HDR composition.

Now have a look at the HDR version of this shot:

As you will instantly notice, the colors are much more powerful and the reflections are way better than in the above version. The sky now has a really nice mood and shows that the sun was just setting- though the details of the roofs and the skyline are still visible. But besides of this, the most impressive enhancement of the HDR version (at least IMHO) are the colorful lights. They are not as overexposed as in the normal version but though very bright and a real eyecatcher.

So that's my point of view about HDR. I'm curious in hearing your opinions about this post and the comparsion between normal shots and HDR compositions. :-)

Learning by example

nobody@ipernity.com (Roberto Ballerini - traveling) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:43:21 +0000

Roberto Ballerini - traveling has started a topic:

I think not all our Ipernity friends know exactly what's HDR.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.
The problems: film and sensors haven't the same ability of the human eye to record high luminosity differencies. A typical JPG image has a range of 256 different tones for each of the three R(ed)G(reen)B(lue) colour components. Digital sensors can have 16 to 256 times this range. Human eye has greater range. So, in a typical scene with a dark subject against a light background, in a traditional LDR shot we have to choose if we want details in the highlights zone or in the shadows zone.
The solutions: film and modern sensors capture a much higher range, but this only partially solves our dilemma --> the standard image formats are 8-bits ones (256 tones x component).

First step: capture a wider range --> the RAW formats have 12 to 16 bits per component;

second step (optional): capture a more wider range --> use the bracketing: mount the camera on a tripod and capture the scene on different shots, changing the exposure value (3 to 15 different exposures are usually employed)

third step: combine the different exposures with specialised softwares (Photomatix and QtPfsGUI are the more common) with a technique called tone-mapping: use details from the lighter exposures for the shadows zone and from the darker exposures for the highlights zone (if we don't make the second step, we have a pseudo-HDR and data from teh same exposure are combined to obtain the pseudoHDR shot).

A visual example:

- original shot (directly converted to JPG):
"Roar" by Roberto Ballerini [?]

- (pseudo)HDR shot (tone-mapped and converted to JPG):
"Roar (HDR)" by Roberto Ballerini [?]

As you can see, there is a lot more detail in the lion's face, particularly in the ears, but the sky looks too saturated and a little bit unnatural.

Photos are dissapearing

nobody@ipernity.com (fugo) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:25:48 +0000

fugo has started a topic:

Seems that older pics can't be seen in this group anymore when new ones arrive.
At least for my pics i can say that they still belong to this group but they are not visible.
Do other groups have the same problem?
(Just to let you know that we surely haven't deleted any photos from this group)

Welcome to hdr

nobody@ipernity.com (fugo) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:03:32 +0000

fugo has started a topic:

Welcome to the hdr group and thanks for joining.

Discussions of group: HDR

Advice

which software do you use?

*solved* Sorry, this type of docs is not allowed in the group HDR

Advantages of HDR

Learning by example

Photos are dissapearing

Welcome to hdr

solved Sorry, this type of docs is not allowed in the group HDR