Photography Fun

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 8, 2011, 1:47 pm

I'm trying a new process called HDR (High Dynamic Range) and would love to learn from anyone that has been doing it for awhile. I understand the basics in shooting 3 or more photos of the same shot utilizing AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) or multiple exposures to give you a broader exposure level with which to enhance the finished photo. I have the software (Photomatix) to do it and I've started playing a little with it I just want to learn any tips or tricks anyone may have that does HDR photos.

Here are my first attempts, it's pooring rain here so the photos were taken out my dirty front window here in Idaho on this wonderful Mothers Day.

slick4x4 · Post by **slick4x4** » May 8, 2011, 3:23 pm

those look like paintings.....
is that the 'Effect' you were going after ?

oldtrucks · Post by **oldtrucks** » May 8, 2011, 3:50 pm

Those are very interesting effects. What camera are you using? Can it be done with a point and shoot digital? I have done a lot of photography in the past with a 35 mm. I'm looking for a minolta digital body so I can use my AF lenses. Like you I can shoot a lot of wildlife and landscape right from our front porch.

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 8, 2011, 3:55 pm

Too some degree yes, it's kind of hard to explain but once you bring the three photos back together it gives you many different variations and then you can modify each one of those variations including black and white and a standard looking photo in any fashion you want including color. I guess it's photo art in a sense.

Google HDR Photos and then go to the images and it is amazing what you can do, you can play with the colors as well, Dan Greenberg does a lot in HDR here's a link to some of his work http://www.pbase.com/dlgphoto/carartrelic&page=all he posts a lot on the HAMB as well in the Friday art show.

Me I just love photography and love experimenting and every once in awhile you get those magical shots.

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 8, 2011, 4:00 pm

oldtrucks wrote:Those are very interesting effects. What camera are you using? Can it be done with a point and shoot digital? I have done a lot of photography in the past with a 35 mm. I'm looking for a minolta digital body so I can use my AF lenses. Like you I can shoot a lot of wildlife and landscape right from our front porch.

I shoot a Sony A380 DSLR along with a Canon Powershot Point and Shoot however I just started reading and learning the HDR today and from what I've learned you need a DSLR with AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) which is a setting that will shoot 3 or more shots in sequence with different exposures, you can use a camera and manually change the exposures and shoot 3 or more shots but I think the difficulty in changing every shot would render it not any fun. Point and shoot don't have exposure settings that I know of so I'd say no Point and Shoot. It will be fun to shoot the old truck once it's sunny enough to go play again and see what I can do with HDR on that. The link in my previous post gives you a good idea of what can be done now I just need to learn all the fun details.

66fordtrucknut · Post by **66fordtrucknut** » May 9, 2011, 5:22 am

Thats some really cool shots, Good job Cory.

Charlie

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 9, 2011, 7:00 am

Here's a few more I shot and messed with last night after spending the evening with my wonderful mother.

Bridge Street in our Wonderful Little Home Town.

The Lube Bay.

This one isn't HDR but I played with it in the same program and it came out kind of interesting.

Johnny Canuck · Post by **Johnny Canuck** » May 9, 2011, 8:56 am

The are some snappy shots, Cory! Nice work

The Big M · Post by **The Big M** » May 9, 2011, 2:45 pm

Hookedtrout wrote:
oldtrucks wrote:Those are very interesting effects. What camera are you using? Can it be done with a point and shoot digital? I have done a lot of photography in the past with a 35 mm. I'm looking for a minolta digital body so I can use my AF lenses. Like you I can shoot a lot of wildlife and landscape right from our front porch.
I shoot a Sony A380 DSLR along with a Canon Powershot Point and Shoot however I just started reading and learning the HDR today and from what I've learned you need a DSLR with AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) which is a setting that will shoot 3 or more shots in sequence with different exposures, you can use a camera and manually change the exposures and shoot 3 or more shots but I think the difficulty in changing every shot would render it not any fun. Point and shoot don't have exposure settings that I know of so I'd say no Point and Shoot. It will be fun to shoot the old truck once it's sunny enough to go play again and see what I can do with HDR on that. The link in my previous post gives you a good idea of what can be done now I just need to learn all the fun details.

Auto bracketing is definitely more convenient, but all you really need is a camera with aperature-priority (Av) mode along with exposure compensation (usually a button marked +/-), which some point-and-shoots do have. Then you can simply set the exposure compensation before each shot to get your 3 to 5 bracketed exposures. For example, -1, 0, +1, or -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, where -1 would be 1 stop underexposed (to retain sky detail), +1 would be 1 stop overexposed (to pull detail out of shadow areas). This typically requires a tripod, but the "align layers" tool in Photoshop usually does a decent job of lining up the separate exposures.

I've done a bit of experimenting with it, but I typically only use it for landscapes where I'm trying to mimic what the human eye would see, or just slightly enhance it by giving it a bit more depth. My wife uses Photoshop as well, and she's manipulated a few of my images to achieve a look similar to mild HDR, only with one exposure (typically from a RAW file).

oldtrucks · Post by **oldtrucks** » May 9, 2011, 5:08 pm

Cory and Big M you 2 have got me going a bit, I've got to tryout this program and see how I can do. How do I get the program?

Max · Post by **Max** » May 9, 2011, 5:29 pm

Mike, run a Google search on:

Photomatix Pro - or - FDRTools

MadMaxetc · Post by **MadMaxetc** » May 9, 2011, 5:50 pm

I have Photoshop 7. How would I combine the photos?

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 9, 2011, 6:56 pm

Here is where I downloaded it.

http://www.hdrsoft.com/download/win.html

I hate to admit it because I'm usually relentless in pricing out a bunch of web sites for prices but I was reading about HDR and on a whim decided to go for it and the article I was reading had this link so away I went. There may be much cheaper or other downloads for exactly the same thing.

The best thing is this program is a thousand times more user friendly than Photoshop and the article I read said Photoshop alone isn't capable of HDR, at least not the version I have which is last years version, Elements 9.

It seams the photos with a single click, you drag the three or more photos into a box and drop them and basically click ok and the entire process is complete, you now have an HDR photo that you can call your own or you can manipulate it by draging slides for all the various settings. It's that simple and it creates multiple styles and types of HDR photos all of them at the bottom of the page, you select the type you want and start playing with it or save it and you are done.

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 9, 2011, 8:30 pm

If you do download the program from photmatix here is a discount you can type in, I used it and it worked 15% off. STUCKINCUSTOMS

Here is the website with the coupon code and a tutorial, it is a busy website that uses a lot of bandwidth.

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » May 9, 2011, 9:14 pm

hey cory, check out this thread if you like hdr and fast fords.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/pi ... hread.html

Max · Post by **Max** » May 9, 2011, 9:26 pm

Dan, doing this is technically NOT HDR but you can achieve certain high-contrast effects to certain single-frame photos in Photoshop...

http://e-cj.deviantart.com/art/Photosho ... 2-85956989

http://www.nill.cz/index.php?set=tu1

You have much more control over true HDR settings using multi-frame images as discussed above.

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 9, 2011, 9:44 pm

ezernut9mm wrote:hey cory, check out this thread if you like hdr and fast fords.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/pi ... hread.html

Awesome! Wouldn't it be a blast to take that Ford GT for a quick spin, pun intended!!!

Hookedtrout · Post by **Hookedtrout** » May 9, 2011, 9:47 pm

Just had a moose out in our pasture so I went out and did the AEB on him and pulled him in to some HDR, bet that's a first for him/her and it doesn't even realize it.

It's so grainy because it was almost dark outside, had to lighten up the finished product but at least you can see it.

oldtrucks · Post by **oldtrucks** » May 9, 2011, 10:21 pm

Ok I downloaded the trial program and played with a few jpeg photos. Well I am now going to buy me a camera that I can bracket with and really get into this photo process.
Have you printed any of your photos yet Cory?
I want to thank you for bringing this process to our attention.

The statements about these effects on a single photo are correct but it does inhance them to a nice degree. No where near the effects of a bracketed shot for sure.

Post by **Greg D** » May 9, 2011, 10:46 pm

That is interesting and very cool.
Slightly Impressionist - like a Monet with more detail.