HDR

Seven images with the D800 and Nikon 14-24, blended with Nik HDR. Regards: Oscar

I like it!

looks very natural...

Very nice effort. Fortunately, you did not go 'over the top' with your HDR.

That has the perfect look to it Oscar. Please tell me about your shooting technique. Use in-camera bracketing? Recently I shot a bracketed series using LV, which locks the mirror up. Perhaps that is what you did. To me, it was a cool revelation to put it in CL or CH, hit the trigger on the cable release in LV, and have it squeeze off the bracketed series fast and smooth. Life is good huh? Was this shot for a client? Looks almost too clean to belong to an artistic type....

--
Ernie Misner
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erniemisner/

Nice pic.....lots of detail.

Tony

Thank you Ernie: Responding your question:

I set the camera I manual mode.

Mount the camera level on the tripod.

Connect the external release and put the camera on MUP.

Disable Auto ISO.

Lock focus for desire DOF.

On SPOT mode I take the first shot to brighter point, normally will dark everything else.

From there I star taking shots opening exposure (normally decreasing the speed) three clicks at the time until the entire frame is fairly over exposed...

Done and to the Capture NX2 converting the files to TIFF.

Then I go to PS and run Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 at that time I select for the best EV transitions.

Now the trick is not to go over the top and work judiciously to obtain the final look.

The rest is normal PS work.

Regards: Oscar

[No message]

Best regards: Oscar

Love these $$$ shots. Keep cranking.

Thank you Steve. Warmest regards: Oscar

Great work as always Oscar.

Thank you for the HDR info Oscar. It sounds eerily like what I have been doing with great results also. I think in some HDR instances it might be better to shoot the frames off real fast and let the camera bracket. For one thing I don't really like the idea of touching the camera between the shots although the software does line things up supposedly I know. For landscapes though where clouds or waves are moving I think it will be better to put it in LV, CH, and let the camera rip them off real fast. The mirror stays up the whole time which is cool. Yes, good to check the histogram and make sure the that highlights or shadow end is not blocked up. How long do you think it will be before we have a sensor that will make all of this look silly.....;-) Again great photo and the processing is perfection.

Oscar Rico said:

Oscar Rico wrote:

Thank you Ernie: Responding your question:

I set the camera I manual mode.

Mount the camera level on the tripod.

Connect the external release and put the camera on MUP.

Disable Auto ISO.

Lock focus for desire DOF.

On SPOT mode I take the first shot to brighter point, normally will dark everything else.

From there I star taking shots opening exposure (normally decreasing the speed) three clicks at the time until the entire frame is fairly over exposed...

Done and to the Capture NX2 converting the files to TIFF.

Then I go to PS and run Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 at that time I select for the best EV transitions.

Now the trick is not to go over the top and work judiciously to obtain the final look.

The rest is normal PS work.

Regards: Oscar

Click to expand...

Oscar Rico said:

Oscar Rico wrote:

Thank you Ernie: Responding your question:

I set the camera I manual mode.

Mount the camera level on the tripod.

Connect the external release and put the camera on MUP.

Disable Auto ISO.

Lock focus for desire DOF.

On SPOT mode I take the first shot to brighter point, normally will dark everything else.

From there I star taking shots opening exposure (normally decreasing the speed) three clicks at the time until the entire frame is fairly over exposed...

Done and to the Capture NX2 converting the files to TIFF.

Then I go to PS and run Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 at that time I select for the best EV transitions.

Now the trick is not to go over the top and work judiciously to obtain the final look.

The rest is normal PS work.

Regards: Oscar

Click to expand...

Hello Oscar

First I must say that you do excellent work on your photo. I recently upgraded from a mid-level Nikon APS-C to the D800 and am amazed at the performance and dynamic range of this camera. I have been doing HDR for the past four years and appreciate if you could educate me regarding 2 items.

1. I have been using aperture priority bracketing with either function C3 (self-timer) or Interval timer shooting. What is the advantage of shooting in manual and turning the dial risking movement of the camera. I have not yet tried using live view for HDR.

2. "On SPOT mode" which i would think is spot metering on the brightest point. That would be the ambient or interior light. If you used 1 full stop for each picture shouldn't your lights be blown out. Was there that much detail in the "lights" that you were able to bring them back.

Thanks and look forward to seeing more of your work, Mike

Thank you Ernie: Fast bracketing is also nice alternative especially on sudden variable conditions, for indoor I like my way because I can control the stops, bracketing is limited and varies between cameras. It is always various ways to accomplish things and I do not think that one is better than the other, most probably both are ok using properly for the presented circumstances. Best: Oscar

Thank you Full Frame: I like to control the camera and not the camera to decide for me, that is the beauty of manual mode. The first shot that I take is on the highlight and secure that the picture is very accurate, the rest will follow in place accordingly. Regards: Oscar

>>> 2. "On SPOT mode" which i would think is spot metering on the brightest point. That would be the ambient or interior light. If you used 1 full stop for each picture shouldn't your lights be blown out. Was there that much detail in the "lights" that you were able to bring them back.>>>

Full Frame: you can spot meter on the highlight area or use matrix metering or whatever - but check the histogram and make sure that on this exposure none of the highlights are blown out. You can adjust the exposure on this frame before continuing. Oscar's method of spot metering will get you there quicker. As you add more and more exposure with the bracketed set, yes, the highlights will be blown out on those particular frames BUT the HDR software will reject the highlights from those frames and use the increased shadow material. That is the beauty of the software. Oh, and if you check the histogram on the frame with the most exposure, look at the left side of the histogram and the shadow areas should not be blocked up. So on your first (least exposure frame) frame look at the right side for blown highlights and on the last frame look at the left side for blocked up highlights. Make sure your exposures include this correctly, otherwise delete them, tweak the way you are bracketing and start over.

Very nice. I'd be interested in seeing the originals before the HDR was applied, perhaps not all 7 but the most under-exposed, most over-exposed, and the middle exposure. It's difficult to see how much HDR has contributed to the overall effect without seeing them.

Thank you Oscar and Ernie. Appreciate your help, will try both methods on my next HDR photo.

Mike

It is nice to see that HDR pictures like this (which look like real pictures) get praise. Lots of details without being surrealistic or crancked up.