HDR CC needed

I went out today and shot a train I had my eye on for a while. I wanted to try out some HDR stuff I learned in this book I've been reading and stuff I'd seen on a few different Pod Casts. Let me know what you think.

Thank you!

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I do like this shot. Not having seen the original scene, I would have to say the HDR worked very well for it. The one negative comment I would make though is that the image seems a little soft or oof. I'm not sure if and/or how you applied sharpening or if it was maybe a result of the HDR process, but it really seems like this shot needs to be a little sharper. Otherwise, great color and wonderful composition.

Peace,
Jim

I really don't think it was a candidate for a HDR. Where are the the details highlights or the shadows? There are no highlights or shadows to capture the detail of.

I think HDR has become a crutch for not having a wide-open lens. As a guess I say that a 50mm 1.2 could have done this in 1 shot and probably with a better outcome.

I doubt you could have done this with a 50 1.2 wide open, and I doubt that many of us can afford a 50 1.2.
As for HDR, its not just shadows that your looking to bring out, its just the full range of colors that an eye can see but a camera can't capture.
As for my shot, I wanted to show you the orange, yellow and red of the sunset but also being able to show you the train and highlight the nice color of the taggings. If I shot this wide open you would lose one aspect of the photo.
I think too often people use HDR just to show you these over the top artistic photographs that are unnatural looking. I'm using HDR to show you something natural with a little artistic flair.

Here are some of the originals:

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I used a total of 5 photographs from 1/10 to 1/2000. All of them were wide open at f/3.5 on my sigma 10-20mm lens.

As for the soft comment, I noticed that as well. My sigma 10-20 is a little soft. I'm not sure if its just my lens or if its the whole 10-20 line but I would have to agree, it is soft.

cwmehring wrote in post #6277030
I went out today and shot a train I had my eye on for a while. I wanted to try out some HDR stuff I learned in this book I've been reading and stuff I'd seen on a few different Pod Casts. Let me know what you think.

Thank you!

There is no way that one could judge sharpness on this image, considering that it is 800 x 531 pixels. No matter what you look at and at what magnification, it is pixellated. That's it, end of story.

As to the HDR processing, there is much too much negative criticism of the use of HDR as a tool. It is there for whatever one wants to use it - not just for scenes with dynamic range problems. It should be looked at no different from dodging and burning or putting in fake skies. The late A. Aubrey Bodine was manipulating his images for the Baltimore Sun before most people on the forum were born.

Robert,


You look like you need a Dr. in front of your name. You could be a Dr. of Photography. I won't tell anyone that your not.

Other than a few halos that are a bit on the bright side, I think that you did a very good job of capturing details in the image at a time of day when the shadows are rather deep and the sky is still bright.

This image is a good example of when HDR can be applied to best advantage because it is not being subjected to some of the things that can be problematic in HDR images such as grass and trees moving in the wind, water waves such as on a lake or ocean, or people and vehicles moving through the scene and producing a wispy blur.

cwmehring wrote in post #6283714
As for HDR, its not just shadows that your looking to bring out, its just the full range of colors that an eye can see but a camera can't capture.

I am not sure that you said what you meant here, but if the camera can't capture it, then HDR can't bring out colors that weren't captured.

If you meant using HDR to be able to capture a wider range of colors than a single exposure when the dynamic range of sight in the scene exceeds the sensor's range, you are correct to a certain extent, but it is sort of a mixed bag. Digital SLR camera sensors do have a wide gamut that is larger than the AdobeRGB colorspace, but not close to the full range of colors that the eye can see. In any event, after creating an HDR image, it has to be processed to a simpler image that will fit within the display capability of a monitor or within the color gamut of a CMYK printer onto a paper with a brightness range that is smaller than what can be displayed on a monitor. For most monitors and printers, you can't get anything better than something that lies entirely within the sRGB colorspace. The end result is that the range of colors will need to be compressed into a smaller subset and in many cases, colors may be clipped when being compressed into a smaller gamut.

A couple of comments:
First I think that the image is a little noise that can be done because you used more images than what you needed for the HDR.
Second I think the shadows lack some detail, this probably means you need to take an extra overexposed shot (more overexposed) to bring that detail.
I like the composition and the idea, the tonemapping is overdone but that is good for this particular scene.

Luigi

The obvious haloing takes away from the final product IMHO and I wish the top of the railcar terminated in the upper right corner (instead of top-center).