A Small and Cute Guide of How To Prepare HDR Images..

[sourabhdasimages]

1. Human body are prone to vibrations, hands even vibrate with heart beat. So, its advisable to use Tripod Stand.
2. Camera Settings - In many camera there is facility of Exposure Bracketting, which takes only 3 images at 3 different exposore levels.
This can be used. But if you want to get more details you need to take many more shots. My cameras (Kodak Easyshare Z1015IS) lowest exposure level is -2 and highest is 2. So I can take as much as 13 shots (-2, -1.7, -1.4, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1, +1.3, +1.7, +2)
3. If you are taking a shot of human being then its advisable to use Exposure Bracketing which will take 3 shots automatically at 3 different exposure leves. Because Human being cannont maintain their position Rock Steady for a long time.
4. Come Back Home.
5. Open Photoshop (CS2 or higher version is recommended). A lower version will not have "Merge To HDR Pro" functionality. In that case u can use Photomerge functionaltiy but it has some limitations on the resultant picture.
6. After opening Photoshop, File -> Automate -> Merge To HDR Pro.
7. Select all the photos of the same object/subject and press ok.
8. Go and have a cup of tea.
9. After coming you will see a window with HDR image and few refining controls on the right hand side.
10. Use them to refine your picture. And press OK. Go to toilet and come back.
11. After coming back, you will see the Image ready, then do your stuff like applying canvas or resizing, whatever.
12. Remember to Save the PSD. While saving as jpg, use file type as Large. Also have a look at the file size.
13. Take shots of different Points like this. Process it as mentioned above. Select the best 1 or 2 shot and Print it in Large Format. Minimum 8inch by 10 inch. You will come to know what you have shot and you will improve next time.

Please post your comments on above 13 points. I welcome you to post any point if I have missed out.
Even I am LEARNING.

Regards,
Sourabh

[tuxcomputers]

I use GIMP, it doesn't have the function.

[sourabhdasimages]

Originally Posted by tuxcomputers

I use GIMP, it doesn't have the function.

yes you are right.. GIMP does not have the Merge To Hdr function.. You need to arrange Photoshop and that too CS2 or higher version.

Check my flickr link below.

[Murtasma]

Personally I find HDR images of people to look awful more often than good. The tone mapping process tends to really mess with skin tones in images. If anyone out there has good examples of people done in HDR please share.

I'm looking for something natural, if there is any muddiness, over saturation or halos in the image it's never looks natural and just ends up distracting me from what could have probably been a great image if it was just properly post processed with out any HDR or tone mapping at all.


BTW once the HDR image is generated you need to change the bit depth to 16 bits. This is when you can use the local adaptation to tone map the image. In CS5 HDR in photoshop has been greatly improved but I still think some of the 3rd party tools are better.

[Zulu109]

Originally Posted by tuxcomputers

I use GIMP, it doesn't have the function.

Are you aware of some of the plug-ins that GIMP has for doing HDR stuff?

[jml79]

I have experimented with one called exposure merge. It only takes 3 photos but it seems to work. I will double check the name and post my experiment later tonight when I get home. It's not the best but maybe some of us gimp users can get together and figure out a decent process for gimp.

On that thought, how many of us are there that use gimp? I wonder if a small alternative software section would be worth while.

@OP great simple tutorial.

[Zulu109]

Originally Posted by jml79

I have experimented with one called exposure merge. It only takes 3 photos but it seems to work. I will double check the name and post my experiment later tonight when I get home. It's not the best but maybe some of us gimp users can get together and figure out a decent process for gimp.

On that thought, how many of us are there that use gimp? I wonder if a small alternative software section would be worth while.

@OP great simple tutorial.

I use GIMP for some stuff. It really depends on what I'm doing. I used the Advanced Tone Mapping plugin for the moonshot that I posted last night. It came out just about the same as the results I got from Dynamic Photo HDR, I guess since I was only using one image. I usually use GIMP for post processing that can't be done in DCU.

[sourabhdasimages]

Hi All,

Generally, HDR is more often used for scenaries or steady objects which does not move.

Its fact that human body shakes, vibrates or moves even with heart beat.

May be this is why, HDR are found very rarely taken for human being..

But what Murtasma, has mentioned, I will try to do that.. It will be fun and interesting..

Dont know which person will suffer.. for giving a rock steady pose for long time..

[Murtasma]

Here is a portrait I did using 3 exposures of a person. You just have to tell the person to remain still while taking the images. Depending on you’re normally exposed shutter speed I would think in most situations you can take 3 bracketed images within a second or two. Are you able to sit still for a second or two? Most certainly, but you won't be able to use this technique with any type of action.

I post processed this image before I had color corrected my monitor so the reds (especially the sand) I feel are over saturated leaving the image looking a little more fake then I would like.


Back when photography was first invented the film speeds were very slow, Back then people had to stand very still if they wanted to have their picture taken. I seem to remember reading somewhere due to the speed of the first films portraits where mostly done with dead people in a pose to appear life like.

I think before you explore the realms of HDR and tone mapping it’s very important to understand which situations it works well and which situations to avoid. Also how to properly process your images without HDR / Tonemapping is very important as well. After you generate your HDR file and tone map it you’re not finished at all you're really just starting. Now you need to load the image in your favorite image manipulation program and continue to tweak the image to get it to look natural. Sometimes you even need to merge the tone mapped image with the normally exposure image to bring some realism back into the image.

More often than not I think people resort to using HDR as a method to try and make their images pop more without first following the common guidelines of good composition, exposure, color, contrast, emotion / story telling. I also think most people don't spend enough time or learn how to properly post process their images. Many times just knowing how to process an image correctly will bring more than enough pop into your images without having to resort to tone mapping an image that usually results in something that looks over processed, cliché and frankly lazy.

If you don't understand why a certain image might benefit from the use of HDR it's not going to make your images magically better in most situations. If you have no other means of controlling the lighting or your going for the tone mapped look only then would I continue down the road of setting up bracketing my camera.

The first thing you should think about when taking any picture is why am I taking this picture? What’s before me that's capturing my eyes enough that I'm considering taking an image? What can I do with the camera to put emphasis on my subject and reduce distracting elements in the picture? How do I want to exposure the image? What do I want the final image to look like? What elements are critical in my exposure, am I taking that into account when setting my ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed. Where am I placing the shadows and highlights within my exposure? Do I have any other tools I can use to help create the light or stylized look I'm looking for? How do I plan on post processing this image, is there anything I can do now with my feet and camera before I press the shutter button to make my life easier when post processing?

I loved HDR and tone mapping when I first discovered it but I've grown to dislike it more because I think it hurts more people than it helps.

When I see a tone mapped image with a boring subject, poor composition or elements that could have been corrected in camera I think...

LAZY PHOTOGRAPHER

:: end rant::

[sourabhdasimages]

Wow.. Murtasma.. wow..


What a lovely short you have shared.. amazing.. thank you.. But i disagree to it that it is a portrait .. .. the person sitting there is not facing the camera.. neither was your subject the person.. You subject was the scenary..

Yes I do agree, as I have mentioned in my starting post, you cannot take too many shots in different exposures for a person.. But yes.. its possible to do it using exposure bracketting.. but if you do exposure bracketting, there are only 3 images..

See the below image.. I did not use exposure bracketting.. I used 10 different exposure levels..



Regards,
Sourabh.