couple of my car - HDR trials

[blam]

couple of tries at HDR

http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3hdr.jpg

http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3hdr02.jpg

C+C appreciated

thanks for looking.

[JBaz]

Very nice. The 1st one is killer. The 2nd one looks a bit overexposed a bit. How many pictures are you compiling from?

[poah]

does not work for me. very little contrast in the images and colours seem way off. the first one had promise in terms of compostion, move the camera a bit to the right to give a bit more space behind the car and reshoot it. maybe needs better tone mapping.

[NZDoug]

I like the second one for the buildings, but I lik the car angle in the first.
True, grunt up the second shot.
All in all, SWEET!:D

[blam]

thanks guys

poah: i had some spacce behing the car in both shotsm but ther was a lamp post I cropped out. thanks for the suggestion. I will give it another try sometime.

[PhotosGuy]

and colours seem way off. I agree, but it's an interesting effect.
I'd try moving the car to see if you can get rid of some of the tree reflections in the side, & try to shoot later so you don't need the HDR. Seen this?
A few Car Lighting Tips (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=70290)

[I Like It Sideways]

I am a fan of HDR, even if they don't look realistic, or the colors look off. I like both shots. The composition could be improved upon, but I still like what you've done.

[blam]

I agree, but it's an interesting effect.
I'd try moving the car to see if you can get rid of some of the tree reflections in the side, & try to shoot later so you don't need the HDR. Seen this?
A few Car Lighting Tips (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=70290)
yup, seen that.
I did that HDR because I like the effect, not because of lighting restraints.
this was done at 5:30am, kind of impromptu and was lacking sleep so I wasn't paying attention as much as usual (hence the close crop on the rear end)

thanks, sideways

here is the original:
http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3.jpg

this was done with 3 exposures. not sure why, but I can rarely get the color of my car to show properly. :/ time to start doing custom WB again

[PhotosGuy]

time to start doing custom WB again That should give you the "correct" WB, but it may not be the "right" WB for the shot? Sometimes you want the warm sunrise/sunset colors in at least, part of the shot. Layer Masks can help with that:
A question about sky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=338140)

[blam]

I will give the layer masking a try., I was never any good at that. thanks frank

[MichaelAlan_Photo]

What software are you using? I have Photomatix Pro which I like because it produces a darker side of what photoshop does...

For example: As seen on my "Photo of the Week" from Calumet Photo:
http://www.michaelalanphoto.com/images/harborinhdr2.jpg

[blam]

I use the same, but I like to use curves to make hte photo a bit on the brighter side.

[sirsloop]

Its not bright... its just WAYYY blue. Pull out (darken) the blue and it'll look more realistic.

[funkybuddha]

hey are you on the mazda forums?

[blam]

hey buddy. sure am. met you at the red deer meet back in april

[blam]

Its not bright... its just WAYYY blue. Pull out (darken) the blue and it'll look more realistic.

tried that, uploaded them

the 2nd one looks a bit better, but the 1st one I can't get it to pull out the blue to a point wher eit doesn't look odd.

[Robert_Lay]

They are very dramatic images for a variety of reasons.

However, as examples of HDR processing they seem to both have the same problem - massive loss of shadow detail. HDR is supposed to eliminate that problem. Frankly, I don't even know where to begin when you have a subject in motion, but it certainly limits your ability to actually capture the entire range of tones.

The images could be characterized as examples of LOMO more than HDR.

[blam]

interesting comment on the LOMOs, I can see where you are coming from

and subjects in motion? my subject was not in motion, not sure what you mean by that?

I re-did the first pic with proper whitebalance, and I feel it looks much better.

[Robert_Lay]

... subjects in motion? my subject was not in motion, not sure what you mean by that?



Sorry about that. I was so busy looking at the histogram I did not realize the car was parked. Something about the picture gives you the impression of motion.

Have you considered using a tripod and taking at least 2 shots? Two has always been adequate for me, provided you get a large enough spread of exposures.
Step-by-step Tutorial on "Merge to HDR"
Now available at the following Web site:
http://www.zaffora.com/W9DMK/UsingHDR.htm
or as a downloadable PDF:
http://www.zaffora.com/W9DMK/UsingHDR.pdf

Here's a link to an example of how a Merge to HDR should work:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=287931&highlight=HDR

[blam]

there is 3 shots there, and it was on a tripod.

[Robert_Lay]

there is 3 shots there, and it was on a tripod.
Ok - so if one of those 3 has the missing shadow detail, it ought to be possible to avoid the blocking up of the shadows.
However, you obviously feel that you got what you want from it, so it's no good worrying about how someone else would have done it. Either the overall effect is well received or it isn't, and in this case everyone seems to like them the way they are.:D

[blam]

robert,

I am unsure what you mean by lost shadow detail.

I am always open to CC and am all ears when it comes to new techniques and advice

this is the way I see it. I do not mean to sound like a snob and apologize if I do. as you mentioned above, it is the result I was looking for but if there is something you can point out to me that will help me improve in the future, I am all ears.

original w/ PP:
http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3.jpg

sky has lost color, overexposed, wheels are shadowed and over bottom of the vehicle are shadowed. trees and shrubbery have lots of shadow taking away from the color.

do we agree so far?

this is the HDR: (after several attempts and tweaks from feedback from this thread)
http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3hdr.jpg

the shadow around the car is mostly gone and the wheels are much more clear, the sky has more color to it as do the buildings in the background. the greens are greener and looking at the thresholds, there is very minimal blown out spots (mostly from the lights) and most of the shadow left is under the car.

is there something I am missing?

you did a good job in the thread you posted above, but I feel there is very little contrast in the final picture (I bumped up the contrast in my final HDR)

if there is anything you disagree with, please let me know. as I am always looking to learn from others. and I am still curious as to what you mean by loss of shadow detail or blocking of shadow detail.

cheers

[Robert_Lay]

I am looking also at the histogram of your image below. That tells us a lot that one can easily miss in viewing the image normally.

First I remove the black frame that you put around the image - that would distort the histogram.

Then I look for blown out highlights or lost shadow detail (clumps of pixels at either end of the histogram - i.e., 0 or 255).
Any significant pile up of pixels at either 0 or 255 should have been corrected somewhere in the process, which for Merge to HDR is best done with RAW format images.

All of this must of course be kept in perspective. No one should get obsessed over a few pixels, and it's always a judgment call.

I feel that I may yet have failed to explain what I mean by lost detail in the shadows. A pixel with a value of 0,0,0 is pure black. All pixels having that value will show up as featureless and without detail. Therefore, they should be minimized. Ditto on all that for highlights.

[blam]

I don't believe we're seeing the histogram

I removed the border as you said, took a screen cap and pasted the histo

http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3hdrhisto.jpg

[Robert_Lay]

Believe it or not, I'm pretty sure that the radically different histograms are due to the fact that you are probably working in sRGB color space and I am set up for AdobeRGB( 1998 ). That changes the histogram noticeably.

As your histogram shows, there are not enough pixels at the margins to worry about, whereas with the histogram I was seeing you would have to agree that it looks like blocked up shadows.

[blam]

Yes, I agree with you there.

makes sense now I definitely see where you were coming from now. thanks for the patience!

[catz1ct]

I like the first one!

[blam]

thanks catz

[funkybuddha]

hey buddy. sure am. met you at the red deer meet back in april

I dont' even remember anymore haha. Did you have Work wheels on then? I don't remember if you did or not.

[blam]

no, I didn't.

[promo]

I don't believe we're seeing the histogram

I removed the border as you said, took a screen cap and pasted the histo

http://onthelam.ca/mz3/dt3hdrhisto.jpg


Igot the same histo as you. -shrug

[Emberghost]

I really like the second one, some don't seem to partial to them but I really like them. Sweet wheels too, I'd rock that car for sure. =]

[blam]

thanks ember!

[jkoc]

ahhh edmonton !