HDR: Lake Superior Before/After with Photmatix

[miles]

Took this shot last spring, I only stopped for about 20 minutes to shoot as I had been driving all night.

Before:


After:


Which do you like better? I am thinking of buying the license for photmatix but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Thanks!

[Canadian Mum]

very nice... you have brought out the colours in the second one very nicely... I barely noticed the orange plant at the bottom in the first picture...

[Digidave]

I did the same thing. Didn't want to spend that kind of money. You did a great job with that photo! Spend the money!

[Alex168]

U can see some halos around the 2nd image (not really that intensive tho) But i think this affect can also be achived by using photoshop and applying digital layers and playing around with the curves a bit . But photomatix sure makes it easy for you. Is it just one shot?

[miles]

Originally Posted by Alex168

U can see some halos around the 2nd image (not really that intensive tho) But i think this affect can also be achived by using photoshop and applying digital layers and playing around with the curves a bit . But photomatix sure makes it easy for you. Is it just one shot?

I noticed the halos as well. It is one shot (RAW) with -3,-2,-1,0,+1,+2,+3. It's an old shot that I just used as an experiment.

The photo looks much better in Lightroom, than in Firefox (firefox doesn't render colors as well).

Thanks for the comments!

[Alex168]

The good thing on the other hand with Photomatix is that you can also render HDR images (not really HDR tho) with a single jpg file...if ur intrested i could share how to, a freind of mine tought me how to do this.. here it goes. The author name is Ed or Photoj the review can be read on cameralabs.com

The original photo is my!

Starting image:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/...71cde223_o.jpg

Step 1: Save your image as a 16bit TIFF - to do this with CS3, go under Image > Mode > 16bit.

Import your 16bit TIFF into Photomatix. Select Automate and Single Batch Processing and convert the TIFF into a Radiance RGBE. This generates a new HDR file.

Open the HDR file in Photomatix under HDR > Large File Processing, and then hit preview. This shows your HDR. Select preview size to 1024 for a larger working space. Your screen should look like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2152/...d22cb355_b.jpg

You can compare it with your version of the HDR on the screenshot - I did this with my secondary monitor on as well - the extra workspace really helps on editing. (You can just about make out my ballroom photos on the right monitor from the weekend that I was working on before doing this mini-walk-through).

Now back to the HDR - we will stick to the Details Enhancer. Here you can play around with your settings. Once you're happy with what you see, then save as a TIFF and go back to your photoediting software.

Here is the Tone Mapped HDR I finished and saved as a TIFF in Photomatix:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/...f7d6d8db_o.jpg

EDIT: seems as if some one edited my images, guess they where to big srry!

[Atlas88]

@miles: I like what you've done with this photo and it addresses an issue I always seem to have when taking outdoor shots. They tend to look drab and uninteresting. I'm intrigued by what others do to get these types of photos to 'pop'. I am considering getting a polarizing filter, but perhaps I can do more with post processing as well.

[miles]

Originally Posted by Atlas88

@miles: I like what you've done with this photo and it addresses an issue I always seem to have when taking outdoor shots. They tend to look drab and uninteresting. I'm intrigued by what others do to get these types of photos to 'pop'. I am considering getting a polarizing filter, but perhaps I can do more with post processing as well.

Hey Atlas, I would love to share some tips with you, tomorrow when I have more time I would love to write out some tips and such. I do most of my work in post, because of money limitations (to buy filters), but the key is to get a good shot out of the camera (or try to). Then bring out the colors and such in post, have a look at my flickr and if there are any images that stick out that you really like, I can try to walk you through what I do.

Take care hope to hear from you!