HDR Landscapes

[DocSkalski]

Camera: Canon T2i (550D)
Camera Mode: Av (Aperture Priority)
F-Stop: f/22.0
Aperture: f/23
Focal length: 20.0mm
ISO: 100

When taking an HDR landscape photo, it is important to keep in mind the basic rules of landscape photography, (i.e. the rule of thirds, foreground, subject of interest, etc) but because you have so much more control over the final product with the compiling software (I use Photomatix) there are some other things you must consider.

It is important to know if your image will even look better in HDR vs. single exposure. Because of the nature of HDR photography, which brings out the details in an environment's highlights (the underexposed image(s)), the details of in it's lowlights (the overexposed image(s)), and the details of its mid range tones (normal exposure), it helps to have a lot of contrast in the picture/environment. Here you can see that there is a lot of depth and contrast in the clouds, trees, water and train tracks which made for an especially amenable environment for me to use an HDR technique. At the time I mainly considered using HDR to try to capture the true color of the brilliant blue/turquoise water which draws millions of people to Banff National Park each year. Using HDR did accomplish this, but what makes it a pleasing image is the contrast and detail everywhere else (especially the clouds, which is usually the case with HDR), and special attention to not over process the image.

I find many new HDR photographers over-utilize the tools at their disposal, and over process the image (I know I did, and still do!). In landscape HDR photography, it is important to maintain the natural characteristics of the environment to convince the viewer they are seeing the natural landscape, as if they were actually there. One of the most telltale signs of over processing is the halo that will silhouette the horizon, where the landscape meets the sky in the image, or just an overall grainy image (unless you just took the pictures using a high ISO). Avoid this by increasing the the "luminosity," decreasing the "strength" somewhat, and increasing the "smoothing" and/or "micro-smoothing" if you are using Photomatix.

I hope this helps.

P.s. This is my first post on this site, so please be nice, but constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged

If you are interested in buying a print of this work, or viewing other work by me you can follow this link: http://www.deviantart.com/print/1442...ThisPrint-Left

[GaryC]

WOW!!

It's shots like this that tell me I have a lot to learn about propper processing especially with HDR. (HDR and long exposure, night and motion capture are my favorite right now)

Amazing shot!

Welcome to the boards. I'm fairly new here but seems everyone is awesome, always willing to help out!

[karma]

This is really nice. Do you find the a two stop bracket is most effective? I have only tried one stop bracketing.

This makes me want to go out tomorrow and experiment!

[mostlywater]

Ver-hey Nice.
How do you merge the photos so as to get the components from each original photo that you are interested in.
I am using CS5.
thanks,
M

[DocSkalski]

Thanks for your comment, and good luck with your photo work!

[DocSkalski]

Originally Posted by karma

This is really nice. Do you find the a two stop bracket is most effective? I have only tried one stop bracketing.

This makes me want to go out tomorrow and experiment!

Yes, I've found two stops to be the most versatile. You can always decrease the HDR strength in processing, but you can never increase it past the range you captured. Good luck!

[lilmaster]

Nice capture.

Thanks for giving info about HDR processing. It's useful since I'm still experimenting HDR.

[DocSkalski]

Originally Posted by mostlywater

Ver-hey Nice.
How do you merge the photos so as to get the components from each original photo that you are interested in.
I am using CS5.
thanks,
M

There is a Photomatix plugin for photoshop, but it does not work quite as well as using the actual photomatix software.

In Photomatix there are 15 parameters of control over the image, but four give you control over the components of the exposures that show up in the final image. These parameters are: Strength, Luminosity, Microcontrast and Smoothing. Admittedly these do not let you select specific exposures and make them more prominent, but they allow enough control to make the image more or less similar to the neutral exposure in either direction while maintaining HDR. Play with it a bit and you'll get the hang of it. Good luck!

[DocSkalski]

Originally Posted by lilmaster

Nice capture.

Thanks for giving info about HDR processing. It's useful since I'm still experimenting HDR.

You're welcome, good luck!

[mostlywater]

Originally Posted by DocSkalski

There is a Photomatix plugin for photoshop, but it does not work quite as well as using the actual photomatix software.

In Photomatix there are 15 parameters of control over the image, but four give you control over the components of the exposures that show up in the final image. These parameters are: Strength, Luminosity, Microcontrast and Smoothing. Admittedly these do not let you select specific exposures and make them more prominent, but they allow enough control to make the image more or less similar to the neutral exposure in either direction while maintaining HDR. Play with it a bit and you'll get the hang of it. Good luck!

Great,
I will start dabbling...
thanks
M