Hdr

[D40]

Originally Posted by yodels

Hi
I'm new to DSLR photography and I've only just started adjusting my images to make them look better. I saw some of the HDR images on here and flickr and was intrigued, so I gave it a shot. Here's my first go (well, my first that I've liked enough to put on flickr anyway).

nice picture !

[rikkersc]

Anyone have any tips for creating HDR with Elements 5?

I took some great (I think) sunset photos (some are bracketed for exposure), but when I look at them I think it might be missing something and would like to try HDR to see if it would make it even better. I am hoping for the more subtle HDR effect. I would like it to look more like what I saw and was hoping HDR would help with that.

[baseballboy828]

Don't bother. I don't even think it will do it. Just buy Photomatix Pro (for Windows or Mac).

[RussHeath]

First off, although I have never used photomatix, I believe baseballboy is right that it's best. (Based on zero experience, but reading lots of tutorials for HDR.) That being said, I've not yet been willing to shell out the money for it.

QTPFSGUI (see link) is a freeware program that can create very nice results. To use, download both the program and the DLL package from the website and follow instructions in the readme to install. For some tips on using it, read my reply to Peeper in her post "little peeper party." Here are a couple of examples using QTPFSGUI. They are admitedly a little "overdone," but it is intentional and could certainly be toned down:

Lost Lake:


Turret Arch as viewed through North Window:


Good luck!

[xxpinballxx]

QTP...is a great program for HDR! Photomatrix makes it so darn easy but for the money try the QTPFSGUI. Great little app!

[porterd2nz]

The problem with HDR is that it is easy to do with the current crop of software applications, but that it is not easy to do well. I'm afraid to say that I've seem way too many bad examples.

PS: Gustave Le Gray. (French, 1820-1882) made a photograph print titled 'The Great Wave, Sète. 1856.' [Albumen silver print from glass-plate negatives, 13 1/4 x 16 1/4" (33.6 x 41.3 cm)] that used at least two negatives; one exposed for the sea and ground and the other exposed for the sky. I only mention this to show that photographers have always cheated with their imagery right back to the dawn of the technology.

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by porterd2nz

The problem with HDR is that it is easy to do with the current crop of software applications, but that it is not easy to do well. I'm afraid to say that I've seem way too many bad examples.

Too true I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by porterd2nz

PS: Gustave Le Gray. (French, 1820-1882) made a photograph print titled 'The Great Wave, Sète. 1856.' [Albumen silver print from glass-plate negatives, 13 1/4 x 16 1/4" (33.6 x 41.3 cm)] that used at least two negatives; one exposed for the sea and ground and the other exposed for the sky. I only mention this to show that photographers have always cheated with their imagery right back to the dawn of the technology.

Very interesting! Thanks for pointing that out. I mean, I don't doubt that people did such things even way back when, I just hadn't seen a concrete example

[winterminute]

I've been meaning to toy around with HDR. How photos should you take?

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by winterminute

I've been meaning to toy around with HDR. How photos should you take?

Either one raw format, or anywhere from 3-7 jpegs. I personally perfer the look I get using jpegs, but you have to be careful not to move the camera between shots.

[winterminute]

Does the 3-7 number depend on how many differently exposed areas are in your shot?