HDR

Rob Bedows said:

Rob Bedows wrote:

A quick general question for D300 folks about HDR. If shooting around sunrise or sunset on a clear sky to maybe hazy landscape scene around sunrise or sunset, would you usually try 3 or 5 frames to merge to HDR and in general, how many stops of exposeure would you use between those shots? Thanks.

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Hello,

When I started trying HDR a few years ago I used to do 5 frames with a 1 stop difference between each step.

After some trial and error I found that I could get everything out of 3 frames with a +/- 2 EV. It is worth giving that a go as it cuts down on a lot of time editing and you will probably find that this 4 stop difference will give you a more than sufficient DR (depending on the subject).

Not sure how you edit your HDR photos, but I would recommend doing it manually using layers as the automatic programs tend to give quite 'false' looking results and, similar to any of the automatic settings in cameras/software, they give the result a software programmer thinks is right, rather than what you want. Usually automatic settings 'play safe' but at the expense of creativity or individualism.

Regards,

Gary

--
http://garymurisonphotography.co.uk

Thanks Gary. I've only tried it once or twice, hand held without a tripod on the Pacific coast. I used CS5's HDR auto setting just to see what might result and it was interesting. This time I hope to bring the tripod and get a bit more serious about thinngs. I really don't like the heavily ove rprocessed HDR look but have seen many examples in these forums of the process carried out really well. Thanks again. I like your work BTW! Rob

Rob Bedows said:

Rob Bedows wrote:

Thanks Gary. I've only tried it once or twice, hand held without a tripod on the Pacific coast. I used CS5's HDR auto setting just to see what might result and it was interesting. This time I hope to bring the tripod and get a bit more serious about thinngs. I really don't like the heavily ove rprocessed HDR look but have seen many examples in these forums of the process carried out really well. Thanks again. I like your work BTW! Rob

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Hi Rob,

Thanks for the kind comment about my work.

I am not a fan of the 'overly processed' HDR style either, especially where the processing has created halos around objects. This is often common when the software has done all the processing.

Photoshop's HDR tool isn't as bad as some of the other softwares that I have experienced, but you may find that working manually in layers will give you a much more pleasing result. As with most things in Photoshop, there are many ways to do the same thing. I tend to like using 'layer masks', due to their non-destructive manner.

A steady surface is definitely a big bonus for HDR. Ideally a tripod, but you may get lucky and find a nicely positioned bench, rock, etc

You may know this already, so apologies if it sounds patronising........ when you are taking your '0EV' reading, make sure that the sun isn't in the frame. Perhaps go for the clouds a little above the sun - but it will vary depending on the scene, so a bit of trial and error may be required until you get the hang of it. It may even be that you need a great range than the +/- 2EV, but I think it is a good starting place.

Hope you get good results next time and post them for us to see

All the best,

Gary

No worry about sounding patronising. I'm not new to the D300 but I'm always willing to listen to tips and suggestions. I'm assuming you shoot HDR at fixed aperature?

Rob Bedows said:

Rob Bedows wrote:

No worry about sounding patronising. I'm not new to the D300 but I'm always willing to listen to tips and suggestions. I'm assuming you shoot HDR at fixed aperature?

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I tend to shoot manual for most of my work, so I just dial up/down exposure compensation when doing HDR. I have always used a tripod for it, and none of my subjects are likely to move/change within the time frame of me changing the exposure so it has worked fine for me.

I haven't actually used the camera's bracketing feature, so I am guessing here - I assume that it will alter the shutter or aperture to achieve the +/- EV based on the mode you are using (i.e in shutter speed mode it will alter aperture, and vice versa). I would therefore always use aperture priority for landscapes.

Regards,

Gary

Rob Bedows said:

Rob Bedows wrote:

A quick general question for D300 folks about HDR. If shooting around sunrise or sunset on a clear sky to maybe hazy landscape scene around sunrise or sunset, would you usually try 3 or 5 frames to merge to HDR and in general, how many stops of exposeure would you use between those shots? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I use the auto bracketing, which is 1 stop maximum change but I find that 2 stops is a good increment. So I shoot 5 frames and use three of them.

Thanks guys. I'll look forward experimenting. I have used auto bracket before and it seems to work well.

Agree with Leonard above. I like to autobracket 3 to 7 frames (depending on how dynamic the scene is) at +/- 1.0EV and subtract every other frame to merge resulting frames at +/- 2.0 EV in a software like Photomatix.

Some of my HDR: http://www.dezsantana.com/hdr

Thanks Dez. I've seen a lot of your shots before. Nice, as always, particularly because they don't have the HDR overprocessed look.

Shoot raw - NX2 can handle it in one shoot.

Just use the exposure compensation in quick fix menu

I do shoot raw or raw plus jpeg. Martin Evening has a pretty good discussion of HDR techniques in his CS5 book and he discusses using exposure comp vs. layering at different exposures. He seems to think that there is less noise and less loss of highlights by varying exposure times as opposed to just using the exposure comp slider. I've got NX2 and CS5 and use both for Raw processing, depending on what I want to do with the photo. Photoshop obviously can do a lot more than NX2 but NX2 works pretty well with D300 shots. I'm looking forward to experimenting more.

jsbaekke said:

jsbaekke wrote:

Shoot raw - NX2 can handle it in one shoot.

Just use the exposure compensation in quick fix menu

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Not if the scene is too dynamic for the D300's sensor to handle. A 14 bit Raw file can do in some cases but exposure bracketing will reduce highlights and fill in those noisy shadows.

Thanks. I like the natural look and on occasion may push it. But I try to duplicate what my eyes saw

If you use spot metering measure the darkest and lightest areas of the scene, figure out the difference in exposure and then determine how many shots and the ev difference.

Also, set your camera to CH mode, use a remote cable release, and when you hit the shutter you will fire off a burst of shots, but only as many as you have set up in the bracketing. This is also a good way of doing handheld HDR's.

Mike

Interesting...I'll have to play around with CH and see how that works out.

i wish i knew about this CH option before- cant wait to try it out.

I always forget to clear the bracketing function, next minute im taking a bunch of shots with dodgy exposures!

Going with CH will be a good reminder to reset everything after doing a bracket set.

Also does anyone know if when doing a bracket set the camera locks the white balance?

Thanks for the tip!

Mike Walters said:

Also, set your camera to CH mode, use a remote cable release, and when you hit the shutter you will fire off a burst of shots, but only as many as you have set up in the bracketing. This is also a good way of doing handheld HDR's.

Mike

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The usual wisdom is to have two stops between threee frames and this should be OK for early morning or late afternoon. [on the D300 that means shooting five frames at 1 stop difference and then ditching frames 2 and 4].

BUT sometimes If I want to shoot directly into the sun at around midday I would use up to the nine frames possible on my D300 with 1 stop in between and either use all nine frames or through away the ones in the middle [eg. 2, 4 and 6]