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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Help with HDR please.
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 11/02/2007 10:19:46 PM · #1
I have been having a play with HDR on PS3 but am not having any success. Was hoping that someone could have a play with this photo and show me their results with a guide to how they did it. I have been trying it by changing the exposure above and below using 3 different exposures but am not getting anything remotely nice looking. Should I be using more exposure settings or am not I not playing with the HDR section properly? I'm not sure how to do the bracket sequencing on my camera but am told I should get similar results by just adusting one photo. I would love to be able to get some decent results as I love the effect of HDR on the rustic looking photos. Any help will be fantastic!!

P.S if you want a larger size let me know and I can email it. otherwise if it still works on this size thats OK.

Message edited by author 2007-11-02 22:20:33.
 11/02/2007 10:27:19 PM · #2
You'll need to start with a RAW. You can't really do HDR on a JPG because it's only 8-bits and you've lost the required tonal range at that stage.

edit: To clarify, you can't do HDR on a *single* JPG. You could however use a number of bracketed JPGs.

Message edited by author 2007-11-02 22:31:10.
 11/02/2007 10:30:06 PM · #3
If you want to use a single exposure you'll want to start with a RAW image. There's much more data in those.

You can draw quite a bit of detail out in HDR using a RAW file. However, the best way would be to either learn the bracketing funtions of your camera or simply manually over and underexpose a few frames using exposure compensation.
 11/02/2007 10:30:13 PM · #4
I have tried using one raw photo and saving it in three different exposure settings and didn't get anything half decent. Should I be using more that 3? I'm not really sure what I should be doing with it once I have it in PS3 either. Have played a bit but get really drab results. Does anyone have a work process that I can follow that outlines steps and what I should be trying to tweak as well as any handy hints?
 11/02/2007 10:33:28 PM · #5
Once you have got your image out of the PS merge to HDR, you'll want to either switch it to 8 or 16 bit colour and mess with the dialogue box that pops up or run it through Photomatix Tonemapping to draw all of the colours out of your HDR image. Just converting to HDR will give you very drab results as you say.

A good starting point if you don't have photomatix would be to read the HDR tutorial on this site.
 11/02/2007 10:33:55 PM · #6
I find that the HDR tools (Photomatix and PS3's import HDR or something) are a lot of work for the results.

I like to use CS2/CS3's Shadow/Highlight adjustment, which mimics an HDR process. And if you import your RAW file at 16-bit into PS, you get all the data bits without exporting multiple exposure brackets.

This is my experience, but I have to admit have haven't played with the multi-file HDR a lot. Too much of a hassle. =)
 11/02/2007 10:34:02 PM · #7
Ideally, it's best to use 3,5, or 7 different exposures of the same shot. Using a single image and tweaking the values won't yield the same results.

I would suggest learning how to bracket your exposures, because it is definitely something every photographer should learn. If you can't find the information you need, feel free to PM me.

Here is a link I found helpful in learning how to put together an HDR image in Photoshop. I'm sure you will find it helpful.

11/02/2007 10:35:16 PM · #8
linky
 11/02/2007 10:36:14 PM · #9
Actually, I believe this is more correct:

- I think Shadow/Highlight is a tone mapping technique.
- Importing RAW into PS at 16-bit should glean all the data from that RAW.
- If you physically take more than 1 exposure in the camera, then you could benefit from multiple file imports.

Someone let me know if I'm wrong. =)
 11/02/2007 10:46:03 PM · #10
Importing at 16 bit will save much of the data. Thousands of extra levels versus 256 with jpeg (I think those are the numbers).

But I don't think it will save it all.
 11/03/2007 12:47:59 AM · #11
Originally posted by jhonan:
You'll need to start with a RAW. You can't really do HDR on a JPG because it's only 8-bits and you've lost the required tonal range at that stage.

edit To clarify, you can't do HDR on a *single* JPG. You could however use a number of bracketed JPGs.


actually it is possible to do it from one jpeg, but it wont turn out as good as a multi tone group of jpgs would
11/03/2007 01:00:20 AM · #12


I very quickly converted this to HDR using Photomatix Pro.

A couple of pointers:

Empty sky with no clouds does not work well in HDR. This is becuase the software tries to make everything an equal brightness which does not work well with large empty patches in a photo. You can see that the top left hand corner of this photo doesn't work well after HDR for this reason.

HDR is not a wonder cure that will make a badly taken photo look amazing. You still need to think about good light and composition.

Oh yeah, one more thing... this image is hideously oversharpened. The HDR process sharpens photos as part of what it does, so you definitely should not sharpen before this step.

Message edited by author 2007-11-03 01:02:47.
 11/03/2007 01:19:15 AM · #13
Heres my go at it, bob i dont knwo what happened to yours:P, but its grusum. no offence:P if you want to know my style pm me and ill explain it, but its alot o type and explain in a post.
 11/03/2007 03:33:37 AM · #14
Here's my go, done in Paint Shop Pro. I haven't had much time to play around with the HDR yet, but this is a similar effect using clarify filter (and a little extra editing). I think if you are starting with an 8bit JPG, clarify is probably just as good a result as true HDR.

Edit - Ooops, forgot the linky...

Message edited by author 2007-11-03 03:34:02.
 11/03/2007 11:33:47 AM · #15
HDR is well and good, but it's not your only tool. This image strikes me as needing more help in the color and oversharpness departments than anything else. Here's what I would do with it:



Cheers,
-Jeff
11/03/2007 12:37:33 PM · #16
the worst thing i can see in this picture is having them trees go into the sky and the sky is one flat color its very hard to get inbetween all those leaves to get a good color tone of the sky, unless you make a fake cloud or somehting
 11/03/2007 01:00:26 PM · #17
Monique, when I'd like to HDR a single shot, I open the raw version with CS2. I determine a reasonable range of exposure settings (e.g. from -1.00 to 0.50) and then save the resulting file as TIFF for a number of exposure steps in between (e.g. -1.00, -0.50, 0.00, 0.50).

I then process these TIFF files with Photomatix (HDR -> Generate and then HDR -> Tone Mapping). You can tweak quite a few settings in the tone mapping step.

Next I save the image again (as TIFF) and finally open it in CS2 for the remaining processing.

Hope this helps. The results are better if you start with a number of differently exposed images (either using exposure bracketing or manual adjustments). This works great for landscapes and still life when you use a tripod.
 11/04/2007 06:34:08 AM · #18
Hi Monique,

I've been playing around a bit with the proper HDR feature in PSPX2. Here's a couple more images for you...

First, a straight HDR. Started with the basic image, and adjusted to a couple of stops up and down to have a range of images to HDR. Then HDR merged it...



Interesting result. Typical of HDR, it ends up a little washed out and strangely saturated, but it's a good start.

So, did some manual burning, a 50% opacity sepia overlay, more burning, some darkening using a multiply layer around the edges. Don't look too close, because the burning will show up blotchy. My main aim in the burning and darkening was to darken most of the image, particularly the left under the tree, but to leave the cottage light to draw the eye. Also a few lines around the hut to help re-define the structure after the HDR. A little dual-layer USM on the hut (darken layer at 100%, lighten layer at 20%), a slight blur on the rest of the image (gaussian blur 0.4 pixels), et voila...



I don't know if this is to your liking at all, but feel free to ask me about any editing steps if you are interested.
11/04/2007 07:16:23 AM · #19
Hi Monique, I don't know if this is what you are looking for with your tonal wishes but i took your 150k image (not recommended) and run it through a few filters.

photomatix pro, convert to HDR, tonemapped very lightly to enhance black areas and the contrast mid tones

saved then opened with photoshop, curves for blacks then used lucisarts filter to highlight the shadows, curves again, selective colour to get thing looking how you want it then a small blessing with noise ninja and used history brush to replace the sharpness in the shed.

The sky looks freaky but it was only a small file to start with.

11/04/2007 09:28:18 PM · #20
WOW, didn't open my computer for a day, (I've got 2 sickies in the house) and look at all the help. I really love some of the results. It has inspired me to sit down and spend the time to give it a go. This picture was straight out of the camera and I sized it down to DPC size and yes I did hit the sharpen button before I saved it. I particularly like yours MAK. This is sort of the effect I wanted to get. I will give it a go and post a result, but it may take a few days. I just love the way everyone pitches in to help out ones like myself who are trying to improve their techniques. You guys are always dependable. Hope one day I can pass on the favour to someone else.
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