Am I doing this correctly?

[Eastside]

Hey guys, this was my first attempt at HDR so I wanted to find something worthy.

There's this huge Light Totem on campus, a dazzling light installation illuminating a 70-foot freestanding tower, a 40-foot-long tube within the atrium, and the building's south exterior wall. It constantly changes colors and light intensity so HDR was a perfect fit IMO.

I set my camera to AEB +2,0,-2, but maybe I should have used 5 exposures :confused:.

Anyways, here are my results using a trial version of photomatix. I wasn't sure when to use HDR or exposure blending......and the results varied a lot.

1. This was using HDR and tonemapping, but it seems overdone to me, I just don't how to make it better :o
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3366/3276236026_6504ba5448_b.jpg

2. This one was using exposure blending, the result looks much more realistic IMO
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3373/3275414899_f7199f1f34_b.jpg

3.another with HDR
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3275414257_fa27855324_b.jpg

4. exposure blending
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/3275414475_cc08de37c9_b.jpg

5. HDR.....sorry about the noise, but photomatix noise reducer doesn't seem to work very well.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/3275414115_e564ce9734_b.jpg

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Would you guys say purchasing the complete version would be worth it? I can get CS4, but I just don't know how to use it. I use LR2 right now.

Thanks!! :p

[soren.martensen]

Hi Eastside,
I am by no means and expert, but yes i think you are on the right track. :) I really like #2 and #3. #1 i think, would have benefitted from more exposures.
In photomatix, when you tonemap, the strength slider and lightsmoothing scale go together. The lower the strength and the higher the lightsmoothing the more natural the image becomes, so with higher strength and lower lightsmoothing the photo becomes more "arty".
Have a look at these webpages:
http://beforethecoffee.wordpress.com/photomatix-tutorial/
http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/rh0706_1.htm
they give you some good tutorials. also there are some links at the top of the HDR forum.
I do like Photomatix, haven't tried CS4 (have CS3, but i think Photomatix does a better job).

[Eastside]

Thanks Soren! I'm reading the second link right now, it makes me wonder if I should just install CS4 and forget about photomatix...

[Beau Hudspeth]

Thanks Soren! I'm reading the second link right now, it makes me wonder if I should just install CS4 and forget about photomatix...No! Photomatix is the leader for a reason - but - it does take some playing with to get good results.

From what I see here, I feel that you will have better luck is you can get some shots that contain more dynamic information. Darks and lights as well as color variances. Start with daytime, cloudy shots. Those always seem to give good basic results.

[RiKaN HaVoK]

Thanks Soren! I'm reading the second link right now, it makes me wonder if I should just install CS4 and forget about photomatix...


CS4 tone mapping sucks .. maybe because I dont know how to use it .. however at times the blending > photomatix

[anvilimage]

Good efforts! In the first and last shots where you have lights or really bright areas there are spots that are totally blown out. That happens, but is easily fixed in PS. If you took 3 exposures, layer the middle layer underneath, apply a mask to the HDR layer and paint through the mask with the opacity set about 20% and the flow at 75% to clean up the blown out areas on the wall. For the fronts of the lights themselves, use the same technique, but layer the darkest exposure underneath. Start slow and build up the opacity through the mask to bring out the detail.

-joe

[Eastside]

No! Photomatix is the leader for a reason - but - it does take some playing with to get good results.

From what I see here, I feel that you will have better luck is you can get some shots that contain more dynamic information. Darks and lights as well as color variances. Start with daytime, cloudy shots. Those always seem to give good basic results.
Thanks for your feedback! Yea, I probably should have used more exposures :mad:.

CS4 tone mapping sucks .. maybe because I dont know how to use it .. however at times the blending > photomatix
Thanks for your feedback!

Good efforts! In the first and last shots where you have lights or really bright areas there are spots that are totally blown out. That happens, but is easily fixed in PS. If you took 3 exposures, layer the middle layer underneath, apply a mask to the HDR layer and paint through the mask with the opacity set about 20% and the flow at 75% to clean up the blown out areas on the wall. For the fronts of the lights themselves, use the same technique, but layer the darkest exposure underneath. Start slow and build up the opacity through the mask to bring out the detail.

-joe
Thanks Joe! I wanted to do that, but I've never used masking before, so I was a bit intimidated to start :o.

I'll have to go back and take more shots with more exposures next time! This is a wonderful learning experience :p.

[flaneur]

I really like photo #2. Along with the contrasting colors, the textures and materials stand out too.