A shot at HDR realism.

[weezerisrock]

Tried to do nothing more with this shot than make it look as real as I saw it. I think it came of pretty good.

Before



After



The How:

Used one raw file and made the different exposures from -4 to -2 to 0 to +2 to +4.

Used photomatix to create the HDR photo. Used the built in tone mapping called Tone Compressor to make it look fairly real.

After that I still had to do some small editing in photoshop to make the colors as real as I could make them. Of course thats on my monitor... hope it looks close on yours!

[carl yeomans]

Weezerisrock, i really dont mean to sound funny here ,but you could get the same result just using levels and curves on this shot. To be honest, there isnt enough dynamic range in this type of picture to warrant a HDR process.
Regards Carl.

[weezerisrock]

nah, you don't sound funny. I knew this wasn't the best shot for an HDR, but my shots were limited today. It was more for practice than anything else. I am still pleased with the results though. I need to get out more in lower light, not the glaring light of midday.

[Loose_Canon]

I agree w/ Carl. The advantage of HDR is to bring out shadow detail. There is no important shadow detail in this photo. The original appears to have more shadow detail and truer colors. And it just looks more green to me. Sorry...

Can you try it again on another subject?

[weezerisrock]

Hmmm, looking at it from my work monitor it looks like you're right.... does anyone know a good monitor calibrating program? Looks like I may need it.

[jiminyClickit]

weezerisrock,

Just another thought:

"Tried to do nothing more with this shot than make it look as real as I saw it. I think it came of pretty good."

How would we know that? What you saw is so unknowable to us. What you photographed, though, is so much asphalt and so linear that I found it hard to see your HDR results.

Take more time, and especially look at what others have shot that impressed you once HDR was applied. To learn from and use others' ideas is fine (for now) and helps you grow faster in your experience. Better choice of photo = better results in PP.

[Loose_Canon]

Originally Posted by weezerisrock

Hmmm, looking at it from my work monitor it looks like you're right.... does anyone know a good monitor calibrating program? Looks like I may need it.

There are several out there.
www.datacolor.com/Spyder3 (ColorVision)
Monaco Optix XR
X-Rite ColorMunki & Eye-One
Google is your friend.

[weezerisrock]

Hey all, thanks again for the thoughts, and Loose Canon, sorry for making you my personal google. I'm not usually lazy. (at least not online) I should have asked, do you prefer one over the other?

Jiminy, I didn't expect you to know what I saw, and I was just trying to explain what I was trying to do while asking what people thought of the general shot. I can see how this would be a bad shot to try HDR with, and I'll look toward more dynamic lighting to practice HDR on in the future. I appreciate your comments.

Back home on my monitor, and the after pic sooo doesn't look green. lol gonna go grab one of those monitor calibrators and see what happens. Thanks all!

[weezerisrock]

Well can't afford a full on calibration unit at the moment, but I went thru some stuff online and at least can see the green tint in the second pic now.

Now to go thru my photos and see how weird the others look :S

Thanks everyone!

[Father Bob]

It looks green to me too.
I use Spyder 2 for calibration and it seems to work fine for me.
When I remember to use it any way. LOL