I’m doing some post-processing of our recent photos, and thought I’d share some of the excitement that we still have from our new discovery. A late-afternoon landscape photo before HDR – There’s a choice of, say:
With nice sky and sunny mountains in the background, with a black gaping void in the foreground, or, say:
With visible foreground but overblown sky and background.
We could use a graduated filter on the lens, but HDR gives us this, effortlessly:
The software we use, Photomatix Pro, gives us a huge range of possibilities for each image with a vast array of settings, so it really adds an extra level of creativity after taking the actual photo, beyond the simple post-processing that we used to do in iPhoto.
We’re very pleased!
I tried to use it tons of times with no result. You definitely have to teach me how to use it next time you come to Padua! :)
zage
Hey Zage! The same happened to me (I tried with Photoshop), until we discovered Photomatix Pro, which is fantastic – it does it all! See stuckincustoms.com and hdrsoft.com.
It was awesome to meet you guys, we really look forward to returning to Padova soon
I also use photomatix pro, its a great tool. Did you just tonemap a single raw file or did you use a blend of 3 exposures?
Cool! Yeah, we totally love it =)
We usually take 3 bracketed exposures – Sometimes I’ll take a raw image, when the subject is moving, though. I’ve had good results with single JPEGs too, surprisingly.
Well I never tried HDR with Photoshop… I always used Photomatix but uhm never succeded in getting anything right :D I’ll try the links you gave me! btw it was a real pleasure to know you too, guys. I think I’m gonna like all australians :)
zage
Michael,
The more I look at your HDR images, the more I feel like giving it a go, the images are stunning! I have been so busy I have not been able to keep up with your travels, looks like I have some reading to do! Give my best to Katherine.
Terry
Great to hear from you, Terry! Yeah, we really are loving HDR, it’s a fantastic technique, really makes photos pop. We have a lot of blogging to catch up on too, it’s a bit disgraceful…
awesome photos. Thumbs up.
These images blew me away. I know next to nothing about photography. Do you need a DSLR to do this? I recently purchased a point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot SX210IS. Thanks for opening my eyes to this technology.
Hey Keith =)
As long as you can coax your camera to do a few different exposures, you should be fine to take HDRs – most will have an exposure compensation setting, but sometimes it’s buried away.
You won’t be able to do auto-bracketing, which means taking 3 (or more) shots in quick succession, as you’ll have to manually change the exposure comp for each frame – consequently you won’t always get the same results, as it gives more scope for movement between each frame. And, as you’re accessing the menus, you won’t be holding the camera in the same spot for all 3, so you’ll be relying heavily on the auto-alignment features of the post-processing software.
Still, all possible with practice! I’ve taken HDRs with my iPhone, so it’s doable.