HDR : Tutorial And Information Links

[russellsnr2]

A few web sites to help those with questions on HDR.
There has been a lot of buzz recently about HDR photography, but many people assume that it's only limited to professional photographers. The reality is that just about anyone can take and process an HDR photo with most cameras and proper HDR software.

Good site tutorial
http://abduzeedo.com/how-create-hdr-photos-hdrphotomatix-tutorial

Photomatix website were you can download a free trial of the software.
http://www.hdrsoft.com/

Another site for FREE HDR software
http://www.hdrlabs.com/tools/links.html

HDR Tutorial and the Texture Tutorial
This tutorial below on HDR is free. Free as a bird

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

Hope someone else can place more info for those who need to no.bw!

[Mr B Snappy]

Ever wondered what all the controls in Photomatix did?
http://beforethecoffee.wordpress.com/photomatix-tutorial/

[russellsnr2]

Ah good old YOUTUBE.
Here is a lesson on HDR lasts about 10 minutes.
Ideal for the question What is HDR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAdF4maoxQ

[JJD.Photography]

Can someone post a link or "How-To" get multiple exposed .jpgs from a single RAW. I know this can be done but have no idea how to do it :(

Thanks!

[russellsnr2]

Hi, Not sure if this what you are looking for but if it helps!!
Extract from site (
Camera JPG or generated JPG?

If you’re still reading, thanks for sticking with me this far. This is what I was really wanting to test out. Are there noticeable results between exposures generated in camera, and exposures generated using Photoshop’s Camera RAW plugin from a single RAW? Using the Camera RAW plugin for CS3, I can generate JPG files with various exposure values ranging from -4 to +4. For the intent of this test, I created a -2EV and +2EV from the 0EV RAW file out of the camera, and used the 0EV JPG from the camera as well. Below are comparison shots of the in camera EV JPG files (on the left) and the Photoshop generated EV JPG files (on the right). The top image is +2EV, the bottom -2EV.)


Site about 1/4 wat down page under 4th bonnet pic. :- http://digital-photography-school.com/an-introduction-to-high-dynamic-range-imaging-hdr

[shaolinmonk]

is photomatrix a better choice for HDR vs. photoshop?

[russellsnr2]

100% YES

[René Damkot]

HDR tutorial using Photoshop. (http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/rh0706_1.htm)

[Beau Hudspeth]

100% YESAgreed. Of course, I do open the final photomatix image in p-shop just to fine tune the good results. :)

[mservis]

Here is a great tool that you can use to create HDR from one jpg file. Dynamic-Photo HDR http://www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html This is the easiest tool I have seen to use and it has great filters that you can use with it too. The program is only $55.00 and is a great product for us that want to see what some of our old photos would look like with HDR. It does standard HDR too for future photos.

[Flashstudio]

Thanks for the great work, I have been looking for a while on information on HDR!

[Liomar]

Does anyone have experience with Qtpfsgui?

Link: http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/

Oh, and to keep on the topic, there's a tutorial there.
:)

[Scottes]

Here's three of the best tutorials that I've found:
http://beforethecoffee.wordpress.com/photomatix-tutorial/
http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/
http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr_tutorial


This blog post lists a bunch of HDR tutorials for different software. Looks like a valuable resource.
http://tutorialblog.org/hdr-tutorials-roundup/


Here's a list of free HDR software: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-high-dynamic-range-hdr-software.htm


HDR Software Comparison from the PanoTools Wiki:
http://wiki.panotools.org/HDR_Software_overview

[Scottes]

From gmitchel850

Photomatrix HDR Walk-Through
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=713056


Exposure Blended Panorama Walk-Through
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=715220

[petriej]

This may be a redundant question as I am a newb and don't know all of the in's/out's of the RAW format. Can you use different exposures and take multiple images with the RAW format? If so, will Photomatrix recognize RAW files?

Ultimately I want to know if I can take the multiple exposures in RAW and then PP them with Photomatrix.

[Scottes]

Photomatix will accept raw files for input, but they recommend that you process the raw files with a dedicated raw converter and then send the resulting TIFFs into Photomatix. The Photomatix raw converter is not as good as something like Lightroom or DPP.

[Epic Eric]

is photomatrix a better choice for HDR vs. photoshop?

Yeah, most people touch it up with photoshop after its been through photomatix

[Ngoface]

These helped a lot, thanks

[jonneymendoza]

bookmarked this thread. very good

[marcus riley]

you can drag a raw file into photomatrix and it will come up with an HDR from the raw file. I will say that this seems less than ideal though (just like if made 3 jpegs out of a raw file and then loaded them to photomatric) simply because it's already hard to keep the noise under control, and if you are pulling 3 exposures from 1 raw file, you're bound to end up with more noise than if you had 3 properly exposed files. But it can be done and sometimes it comes out better than I expect.

[nes_matt]

anyone know of a gimp plug in for HDR (that's compiled for windows)?

[Mr. Blue]

100% YES

Agreed. Of course, I do open the final photomatix image in p-shop just to fine tune the good results. :)
What advantages does Photomatix have over the Photoshop HDR Plugin?

[Karel Bata]

Some good tutorials here http://hdiclub.deviantart.com/art/HDR-TUTORIALS-96200962?q=boost:popular+hdr&qo=49

and this one HDR Best Practices Guide: http://brianmatiash.com/blog/hdr-best-practices-guide/hdr-best-practices-guide-%E2%80%93-part-i-in-the-field/

[jason324]

The best Free HDR Video Tutorials are here:

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/

Best,
Jay

[Quba]

there is a good program: http://www.sns-hdr.com/

[Quba]

http://www.yohdr.com/

[jason324]

In this NEW Video tutorial series I just finished yesterday, we will go over everything you need to know about HDR Pro in Photoshop CS5. We will tackle a variety of images and go over all the features in detail. Then as a bonus we will go into Adobe Camera Raw and Enhance our HDR composites using all sorts of tips. tricks, and techniques I've learned over the years.

HDR Pro is an amazing program and complement to Photoshop CS5! After you watch these videos, I'm sure you will agree

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/?p=8

Bonus Videos on Enhancing your HDR's in Adobe Camera Raw:

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/?p=28

As always, any questions fire away emoticon - smile

Best,
Jay

[Spike44]

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......hdr_pro_1.html
http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......hdr_pro_2.html
http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......hdr_pro_3.html
http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......hdr_pro_4.html


http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......era_raw_1.html
http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/......era_raw_2.html



Jay - you might want to fix your links....none work as they point to "...." instead of the full link. Use the "insert link" in the compose message box.

EX
http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/tutorials/photoshop/pscs5_hdr_pro_1.html

This points to full/correct link.

[jason324]

Thanks Spike!!:) Sorry about that anybody that tried to click them!!

Best,
Jay

[jayriihi]

New to HDR and have a probably stupid question. Is there a difference between taking a photo with AEB, and taking a raw photo and then changing the exposure and saving under and over exposed versons of the same photo?
Thanks
Jay

[jason324]

New to HDR and have a probably stupid question. Is there a difference between taking a photo with AEB, and taking a raw photo and then changing the exposure and saving under and over exposed versons of the same photo?
Thanks
Jay

Yes, there is a huge difference!! It all comes down to dynamic range and having different parts of the scene exposed properly. With multiple exposures each with there properly exposed areas in it, you can then create a real HDR. In other words, lots of dynamic range captured if the scene requires it.

You can certianly take 1 raw file and create 3 exposure's, but you will introduce a ton of noise and enhance other flaws ect.. Not to say it doesn't work and work well in certain situations where you have no choice ;) I use it from time to time!

Check this out to get yourself familiar with HDR Photography ;)

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/?p=280

Best,
Jay

[bettyn]

Anyone use Topaz Adjust to process one shot? In landscapes, I can't seem to get the sky looking right or eliminate halos no matter what I do.

[jason324]

Yeah, it's a pretty good program. I find though that it's better for final touches than hardcore processing like your doing though. I never got anything that good out of it, but final polishing it does a great job.

Halo's are caused by the smoothing of highlights in relation to a high contrast area. Topaz can only do so much with 1 image.

Just my thoughts anyway...

Best,
Jay

[Gary McDuffie]

Agree. I use it on many of my photos just to give them a little punch. As for trying to make a real HDR, use multiple images and HDR software.

[Monito]

Basic Definitions:

HDR = High Dynamic Range: High Dynamic Range. Techniques for capturing a greater dynamic range than what the camera can capture in a single exposure. The human visual system can see a greater dynamic range than a single camera exposure.

Tone-Mapping: Converting one set of tones to another set of tones. Tone-mapping includes conversion of a regular photo to monochrome (B & W) with or without filtering.

All HDR images are tone-mapped for viewing and printing. Most tone-mapped images are not HDR.

True HDR images are captured by multiple exposures (bracketed shutter speeds) and then merged into a single image that has 32 bits per channel (represented as floating point decimal numbers). These are then tone-mapped to a regular 16 bit or 8 bit image.

Note: Running a single exposure through a tone-mapper like Photomatix is not HDR because the dynamic range possible is no different from any other single exposure. Tone-mapping can also be achieved by converting a single exposure in Photoshop to a 32 bit image and then converting it back (tone-mapping it) to 16 or 8 bits. A faux-hdr look can be achieved by combining local contrast techniques with super-saturation.

I thought these basic definitions were missing from the first post or early in the thread, so better late than never.

.

[Gary McDuffie]

bw!
Someone needs to sticky that one.

[dave5977]

This question has probably be answered in the thread already, but there is so much information here, that I will just ask it anyway.

I have a Canon T2i and the software that is packaged with it.

With the Canon Software and let's say, Essential HDR software from http://www.imagingluminary.com, would that be all I would need to create HDR images?

Thanks...

[loudog443]

There seems to be some resistance to HDR, but overall I think it looks awesome.

[mrgooch]

Is a tripod mandatory?

[Spike44]

Is a tripod mandatory?

Not mandatory - I never use one....but others swear by it.
Alignment and ghosting is handled very well by software - it will not compensate for movement by the wind or natural motion.

[mikewinburn]

This question has probably be answered in the thread already, but there is so much information here, that I will just ask it anyway.

I have a Canon T2i and the software that is packaged with it.

With the Canon Software and let's say, Essential HDR software from http://www.imagingluminary.com, would that be all I would need to create HDR images?

Thanks...

that, and some actual pictures taken with the T2i :)

[JJD.Photography]

When capturing multiple exposures (AEB mode) is it best to use a shutter release or the 2 second timer? I've tried capturing each exposure with the shutter release / mirror lock up which takes a large amount of time. This can be bad if objects in the image are moving such as clouds or change of light.

[jason324]

I use the 2 sec timer most often and never bother with the mirror up or anything. I also always try and use a tri-pod, but if I don't have one it's hand-held!!

Best,
Jay