I assembled my bookcase last night and let the glue cure inside because it was so cold. After reading about HDR photog (on the wrec) I decided to try it out. The latest assembled picture is a composite of (seven?) photos at varied EV. I like the results and think this opens up a whole new door to digital photog that can't be achieved with film (I think?).
Excellent work, and you're correct ... the photography is stunning. Got to check it out.
Thank you Swing! It is really cool. I have been playing around with HDR for the last couple of days and it is amazing what you can do. Only caveat is that you must use a tripod (unless you have a wicked fast camera). I have also found that the results get better if I drive the camera (on tripod) from a laptop. This way there is absolutely no camera movement from exposure to exposure.
Film generally has higher dynamic range to start with, so you can play games at scanning time (if digitizing later) or at printing time (if using wet chemistry).
Rather than driving from a laptop, my DSLR has the option to automatically take up to 7 shots with configurable EV differences between the shots. I can then set it on a 2 second delay before the initial shot to avoid mirror slap issues.
Chris
I have found that one over and one under bracketing is lots. You don't really gain from all those steps in between. I'm glad to see you didn't go overboard with the process. Less is more.
Photomatix Pro will compensate for movement...up to a point and assuming there are some straight lines it can reference too. But you're right, can't beat a good tripod.
That's pretty cool. What are you shooting with? I have a Canon DSLR Rebel XT (with cheap lens). I can bracket shots (one under and over at a 2EV max). I like the idea of the 7 configurable shots.
Neat. I need to look into that. I'm using Photoshop CS2 which doesn't compensate for movement (unless I don't know how to do it).
Maybe for most shots. If you're shooting in a dim room with backlit windows and snow outside you'll need more than one over. :)
Chris
I use a Sony A700. Didn't want to get rid of my Minolta glass.
Checking the specs, it appears I misspoke. It's either 3 or 5 shots, not 7. I haven't played with the HDR options much, but I think I can set it to up to +/-2 stops between shots.
Chris
You may want to dip into the shadows a bit by an extra over exposure (or two) but you're right, in most cases 3 is enough. Tough to keep the noise out of the shadows in any extreme case. (I'm saving my money for an M9...as if...)
Can't lock it up?
Thank you Swing! It is really cool. I have been playing around with HDR for the last couple of days and it is amazing what you can do. Only caveat is that you must use a tripod (unless you have a wicked fast camera). I have also found that the results get better if I drive the camera (on tripod) from a laptop. This way there is absolutely no camera movement from exposure to exposure.
Sometimes it helps on indoor work to move the lighting around between exposures.
I have been playing around with night landscape shots with an open shutter and painting in the exposure with a million candle power spotlight, I think I'll HDR some of those and see what I get.
basilisk
Great picture and the case looks good too. ;~)
You can get away with a 3 pic process on the HDR, since it all averages out from one extreme to the other you may not see any difference when taking more pictures.
BUT what else are you doing...to get the DHR effect? Usually there is an HDR tool...
Your picture is really well taken..
For a bit of inspiration take a look at the links below.
This guy's photographs are what lured me to using HDR a few years ago and he really has a way of pushing the limits to make the photographs have a painting appearance.
awesome!). Thanks.
I've been stuck in the stone age of photography since my old Pentax SLR, that I bought in Hong Kong in the mid 60's, was stolen some years ago, with nothing but cheap digital point and shoots in the interim.
I hate to open another Pandora's box (Festool'ed hell outta the budget last month), and although I've done some beautiful pieces, doing justice to the beauty of the wood for presentation purposes has always been problematic for my limited equipment and skills. Judging from your example, HDR is indeed something to explore in that regard.
It simply never dawned on me to explore HDR in that light (no pun intended) and the planning going into a new web site for the company at present makes it even more intriguing.
Thanks for the inspiration!! ...
The A700 doesn't have a separate mirror lockup. If you set a 2 second delay then press the shutter release it locks the mirror up then after 2 seconds trips the shutter.
However, you can't mix the delay with the auto bracketing, so if you want to use mirror lockup with HDR imaging you have to either touch the camera or drive it via a computer.
I think the A900 has true mirror lockup. It's also a 24MP camera and costs mucho dinero.
Chris
Pretty cool, the links got screwed up, you don't need an account IIRC.
Here are a couple I took with HDR and "with out". I screwed up the lighting on the HDR, of course, the back lighting lightened the left side of the foot board.
Maybe these will work better..
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