1st Attempt at HDR (2nd attempt at posting it)

[baronvon]

Hi all

havent really posted much in here for a while (or anywhere tbh) had a suspected brain haemorrhage and was in hospital for a few days about a month ago, alls fine after CT scans and lumbar punctures (boy that was fun)

So................... after all of that I threw myself back into taking pics.

Been wanting to dabble in HDR but never got round to it, cant beleive how easy it is (the taking of the photos, not the pp !!)
Obtained photomatix and away I went.

Would really appreciate C&C as at the mo I`m just messing with the sliders not really understanding what I`m doing.














cheers

THE BARON

[ilscuro]

Well i hope you are on the way to recovery after your health problems.

Personally i like every one of your photo's, well done

[_Belial]

Some crackin' shots there mate. I'm not keen on the 2nd or 3rd shots it must be said, they're a bit too OTT on the tonemapping for my liking and look like you've just tonemapped for the sake of it tbh. I'd much prefer them without the tone-mapping and instead just use a curve tweak to boost contrast.

That Church window shot is lovely though, especially the reflected colour on the left hand wall.

The last but one image, the shed is HDR done right imho, not overly tone-mapped to look unrealistic, although again, I do wonder if the scene really needed HDR. I always find that 99% of the time you never *need* to HDR an image, and when you do you end up ruining it with bad tone-mapping afterwards.

[baronvon]

Thanks

to be honest I went out over 2 days just doing the 3 shots per pic soley to play with the new software.

The shed is my favourite out of all of them, I was driving in the Clyde Valley and saw the greenhouses and sheds on a farm, knocked on the farmers door and asked if I got get some photos of his land....... he was made up

The church one is the church next to Linlithgow Palace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mic...ch,_Linlithgow

pure chance that I got there at the right time of day to get the sun coming through the window

Its funny that some shots I think will be really good HDR turn out pish and others that are average turn out belters.

I`ve figured out buildings and skies are best but landscapes really dont come out well.

THE BARON

[Zoots]

I like the out-building shot, just the right amount of tone mapping. The church window and it's colours are really nice, bit of a shame the arch is cropped at the top. I think the others are a little overcooked, and I know messing with HDR it's easy to let it run away with itself. I find it hard to be too critical though as I struggle to be happy with my own and usually end up scrapping them. HDR's a bit marmite sometimes. Helps with me to stop and walk away, then come back after a little while and decide from that first look if it looks OK. You can usually tell.

Pleased to hear you're OK though? Bloody hell.

:edit: I'd like to see that last shot with less pp. It looks just the kind of bleak image I like.

[dpSparhawk]

Very good to hear you're ok BV - That's the most important thing.

As for the shots. I really do like the wide landscape, the Church window and the Shed, with the Shed being my favourite.

The others are a little over done I would say but then this is the beauty of digital imagery. You can experiment and if it goes wrong, you can come back to the RAW files and try again.

Really do like the composition and simple country scene of the shed and the colours from that church window are superb.

[baronvon]

here is the other one of the shed



Cheers

THE BARON

[Bilbo_baggin]

Good to know you're ok dude.

Of the images, I go with the second last too. In HDR, it's all about the tonemapping, and this one looks nailed on.


Paul.

[greens117]

Great pic of the shed, like them all tbh

[WRATH OF BOD]

love the shed & the land scape.
always loved HDR on the right picture

[superflysi]

Mate, long time no speak (or piss take !!)

Glad to hear you are ok after reading the post above. Top photos fella.

Where is 3 ?

[Jock]

These pics are very good

[muttleymacclad]

Have to agree that the stained glass window is lovely and the shed is very nice too.

I'm in the "no HDR is best" club but those work really well.

Glad to hear you're ok too.

[nitelife]

I agree, im not really a hdr fan since most of them out there seem overcooked, but some of these are very nice, shed, window and second view especially.

[ant3b]

I like the shed pic. Very scary. Fits in with Halwoeen.. although it has now passed

[baronvon]

Mate, long time no speak (or piss take !!)

Glad to hear you are ok after reading the post above. Top photos fella.

Where is 3 ?

hi mate, gezz must be a few years since we last spoke, I`m good thanks, much better now anyway

number 3 is blackness castle in................. well.......... blackness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackness_Castle

2nd view is standing on top of Castle Campbell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Campbell

cheers for the nice comments (photos and health )

THE BARON

[superflysi]

a couple of extra places for me on next trip up to Scotland........... !!

we were up in Edinburgh and took in Queens View, Loch Rannoch, Loch Lomond and Stirling a few weeks back. I don't have a digital Slr - just a decent top end Canon powershot - but from of my photo's - I know its time to invest.

Si

[maltloaf]

I think some of those shots are stunning. How do I go about trying this ?

[baronvon]

In spade is a spade terms, take 3 photos with a tripod, 1 normal, 1 over exposed and 1 under exposed.

Look up Auto Exposure Bracket in your cameras manual, if you set it to -2 (dark) 0 (normal) +2 (bright) it then takes the 3 shots with 1 click (hence the need for the tripod)

I dont have a remote, I just line the shot up and set the camera to 2 second timer and click

The use photomatix (or similar software) to layer the 3 then toy with the sliders to get different effect


cheers

THE BARON

[maltloaf]

i just downloaded the trial of photomatix for mac and I think I can see what's going on.

When the iPhone 4 takes HDR photos then, is it automatically taking all three shots and doing it's own auto post processing on them in a 'best guess' ?

If I take a pic on mine in HDR mode and the same pic in normal the HDR one definitely has more definition but didn't really know why.