CC: Barnhouse HDR using Layers & Curves only

Took this picture this afternoon.... HDR (from a single photo) using layers in photoshop. Took about an hour to do it, but I'm very happy with the result. Printed on an 8x11 looks great. Also zoomed in at 100% looks great, and you can see all the detail on the roof and in the shadows.

No polarizer... just my 30D and 24-105 f4L IS lens, and Canon UV/Haze lens filter...

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Hardly a HDR shot. I lighten shadows and darken highlights on almost all of my shots and I don't consider that "hdr". There are too much shadows to call it what people like as "hdr", sorry.

If you're referring to glowing buildings and cartoonish-looking shots, that's not what I'm after. I don't prefer those kind of shots. Maybe you, but not me.

HDR is a process, not a "look".

I do believe your shot is fantastic though

Sorry to be ignorant but what does HDR stand for?

Hellashot wrote in post #1996168
Hardly a HDR shot. I lighten shadows and darken highlights on almost all of my shots and I don't consider that "hdr". There are too much shadows to call it what people like as "hdr", sorry.

If the OP is using multiple exposures, it could be considred hdr, but hdr is a way of automating getting the most range out of a photo.

fivefish wrote in post #1996797
If you're referring to glowing buildings and cartoonish-looking shots, that's not what I'm after. I don't prefer those kind of shots. Maybe you, but not me.

Done properly an HDR shot should be indistinguishable from a normal picture. These with glowing buildings, or strange tonality are not what the tool was designed for. To be honest, I've had better luck lately just taking 2 or 3 exposures and combining them by masking too dark areas out.

mlc wrote in post #1997511
Sorry to be ignorant but what does HDR stand for?

High dynamic range. Instead of storing the color values as discrete numbers (0-255 or 0-65535), its stored as a floating point value, allowing for a great amount of range. Of course, this range cannot be represented on the screen, so it must be compressed into the ranges shown above. Note that 16 bit does allow for a significant amount more color information, it is not considered HDR. HDR is theoretically able to capture details in the very darkest shadows, all the way to the brightness of the sun. By compressing the resulting range, you can do what was traditionally done with a graduated neutral density filter, and beyond.

HDR images are also being used by some 3D rendering packages to add realism to a scene. Bright highlights in the photo act as light sources, just as they would in the real world (and I think this is where HDR really shines)

The glowing edges you see in some HDR images is actually the result of improper technique with the local adaptation method of range compression. Local adaptation works by isolating areas and adjusting the level of that small area accordingly. If the right radius and threhold are picked (in photoshop, not sure about others) there should be little to no haloing.

I didn't understand HDR (actaully, never heard of it) until this post and the above explanation. Based on that, I can see the effect in the barn against the backgound- especially at right of the barn. If I'm wrong, that's my own ignorance. Overall, I think it's a great shot. I love the brightness of the colors and the overall composotion of the shot. If you own the barn, you might want to plant a tree/ bush (even temporarily- unless you can plant one there in PP) to hide the meter (or whatever it is) behind the pond; it looks out of place.