My First HDR
Last Saturday, on the way up to Cameron Highlands, I read the Digital Camera magazine (Issue 33, September 2008), which Andrew had in his car.
All this while, I like photo shooting but not really very enthusiastic in learning the Photoshop or post processing skills, just because I'm lazy.
To my surprise, from the magazine, I got to know there is something about merging underexposed and overexposed photos together, and get the essences out of them!! I always thought we can choose only 1 (which means 1 must be sacrificed). So, I decided to try it out.. I already knew I'd experience the problem during the trip.
The next morning, when we were out for morning shots, I took a scene with different exposures...
At exposure -1.3. Underexposing will bring out better cloud details and vibrant colour in the sky (anyway, the latter is not so obvious in this trial).
At -0.7 stops.
At neutral exposure.
At +0.7 stops. The greenish tea farm looks clearer now... okay, it was not due to time change...
At +1.3 stops. Losing more details of the upper/sky part.
The final one at +2.0 stops.
I followed the magazine and downloaded a free trial version of Photomatix from www.hdrsoft.com. In the past, when someone first mentioned HDR to me, I was like knowing nothing about it. Nowadays, after browsing through Shutter Asia and seeing more samples, I get a better idea about it. But have not tried any photo editing into HDR.
The 5 easy steps:
Go to the Process tab in the top menu. Click the Generate HDR option (Ctrl+G), You'll be presented with a new window. Click on Browse. This will display a new pop up where you can open files.
Select all the files to be used to your HDR image then click Open. At the "Generate HDR - Selecting source images" window, click OK.
Check Align Source Images. Click OK.
(Click to enlarge the picture above) If you are processing lots of images, put the kettle on as it takes a while for Photomatix to merge the images. Once the images are merged, click on Tone Mapping.
(Click to enlarge the picture above) Play with the different settings on the left and click on the Process button once you are done.
My final output is as follows. There is a Photomatix watermark, as I'm using the trial version.
For better comparison, the difference is shown in thumbnails:
I'll try more in the future. Technology is amazing, and humans are the ones making it great :)
P/S: Click here for HDR using CS3.
All this while, I like photo shooting but not really very enthusiastic in learning the Photoshop or post processing skills, just because I'm lazy.
To my surprise, from the magazine, I got to know there is something about merging underexposed and overexposed photos together, and get the essences out of them!! I always thought we can choose only 1 (which means 1 must be sacrificed). So, I decided to try it out.. I already knew I'd experience the problem during the trip.
The next morning, when we were out for morning shots, I took a scene with different exposures...
At exposure -1.3. Underexposing will bring out better cloud details and vibrant colour in the sky (anyway, the latter is not so obvious in this trial). 
At -0.7 stops. 
At neutral exposure. 
At +0.7 stops. The greenish tea farm looks clearer now... okay, it was not due to time change...
At +1.3 stops. Losing more details of the upper/sky part. 
The final one at +2.0 stops. I followed the magazine and downloaded a free trial version of Photomatix from www.hdrsoft.com. In the past, when someone first mentioned HDR to me, I was like knowing nothing about it. Nowadays, after browsing through Shutter Asia and seeing more samples, I get a better idea about it. But have not tried any photo editing into HDR.
High Dynamic Range photography is all about punchy, vibrant images that can be as close to real, or as surreal as you want them to be; the results are down to personal choice.
The 5 easy steps:
Go to the Process tab in the top menu. Click the Generate HDR option (Ctrl+G), You'll be presented with a new window. Click on Browse. This will display a new pop up where you can open files. 
Select all the files to be used to your HDR image then click Open. At the "Generate HDR - Selecting source images" window, click OK. 
Check Align Source Images. Click OK. 
(Click to enlarge the picture above) If you are processing lots of images, put the kettle on as it takes a while for Photomatix to merge the images. Once the images are merged, click on Tone Mapping. 
(Click to enlarge the picture above) Play with the different settings on the left and click on the Process button once you are done. My final output is as follows. There is a Photomatix watermark, as I'm using the trial version.
For better comparison, the difference is shown in thumbnails:
I'll try more in the future. Technology is amazing, and humans are the ones making it great :)
P/S: Click here for HDR using CS3.
7 comments:
I'll pass you the Photomatix version i'm using on Monday if you want. That one no watermark ...
You can try GIMP too, GIMP is an open source graphical software like photoshop. With exposure-blend plugin, you can do the same.
http://tir.astro.utoledo.edu/jdsmith/exposure_blend.php
Its in my blood, to promote open source software.
haan, maybe u can try to use lens shade plus a p.filter, it might balance the explosure on the spot. Price = not expensive.
thanks guys for the suggestions. obviously my laziness has stopped me from knowing lotsa useful applications :)
andrew, u r like telling the world "i've a pirated software!!" :)
surface, make sure your blood is not open source.
kai, i have no more else apart from a UV filter (for the kit lens only, don't have one yet for the zoom lens). reckon that the next things to spend $$ on would be either (1) a UV filter for the Sigma lens, or (2) a spare battery for the camera. u have one to lend me play play?? :)
Very good!
Wah! The outcome is very nice, can be used as postcard :)
this is really useful, thanks for sharing. I shall try it out one day...
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