2 Quick Questions (Time lapse & HDR)

[compleks]

Just a few quickies guys.

I've just got my hands on Photomatix to experiment with some HDR (don't hate, just curious). This is my first attempt, but when I merge my 3 images I have a heavily blue temperature image which I can not seem to restore towards anything practical.

I'm trying to use this as a guide:
Part 1: High Noon Light Ingo Meckmann Photography – The Blog

I'm shooting is raw. But they come up as .NEF in LightRoom. Not sure if that means anything.
I'm also shooting my bracketing as 0 / -1/ +1/ in that order. If that matters?

Also. I'm interested in some time lapse photography.
Does my camera (D90) have the ability to do this, or must it be controlled from a remote shutter device?


Thanks for any help!

[milosh]

Do you adjust white balance before merging them to HDR? Do separate photos also have that blue tint?
If not, then it's something which happens during later processing. If you're following the exact steps from that tutorial, you could first save the photos to your hard drive (in tif format for example) and then open Photomatix separately and load them. As far as I remember, you will have an option to set white balance prior to merging.

.NEF is just a format/codec for Nikon raw files, that's normal.
How much you bracket your shots only influences the exposure range you're gonna get from your HDR. Different scenes require different number of shots to cover the whole dynamic range. Make sure all your photos have same white balance settings before you start merging them.

[compleks]

Thanks for responding milosh.

I did not adjust whilte balance, but the individual photos were fine. This is why I'm confused. I cannot follow the tutorial exactly because I have an older version of Photomatix, and his later steps require additional software and much more skill.
But I'm stil stuck back at the start so it's irrelevant I guess.

I'm trying to upload a sample as I type.
Hopefully I will be able to show the original HDR merge (the tinted one).



I managed to throw it into LightRoom and play with the temp/tint and basic controls to restore it's colour. Or at least improve it.



Nothing special. I just wanted to experiment with the process and see if it's something I could use in the future.

I'm still not sure why the images are turning out tinted. Has happened with 3 different sets I have experimented with.
Any help appreciated.

Cheers.

[meckimac]

I'm not sure what could have caused this green tint but it might be a preset that you once used in Photomatix and Photomatix always uses the last settings when you open up a new bracketed set. A screenshot of your Photomatix settings would be helpful in that matter.

Cheers
-Ingo Meckmann