hdr motocross

highland mxc hdr attempt is it any good?

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Its hard to tell its a HDR, which is a very good thing. (Well apart from the logos)

Nice that you froze the bike, but kept some motion blur on the wheels, well done. Its probably not a HDR though, its a single image, you can't bracket 3 shots that quick so its the same range as the original raw, not any higher.

KarlosDaJackal wrote in post #6352281
Its hard to tell its a HDR, which is a very good thing. (Well apart from the logos)

Nice that you froze the bike, but kept some motion blur on the wheels, well done. Its probably not a HDR though, its a single image, you can't bracket 3 shots that quick so its the same range as the original raw, not any higher.

Ditto, Surely must have been 1 frame so can't really be an HDR but is a good image so obviously didn't need the range HDR supplies, plenty of details in there.
In this mode Photomatix was pushing around the tonal balance which you can also get with the shadow and highlight tool in PS

process one image in raw -1ev +1ev and correct exposure then hdr sems to work?

some pictures turn out ok others look too hdr'd,this one has a slight halo effect that spoils it a bit

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gwgw wrote in post #6357970
some pictures turn out ok others look too hdr'd,this one has a slight halo effect that spoils it a bit

Your shots show really good camera technique in terms of focus and capture.
Shame you clipped the front wheel on the 4 bike shot.
The halos appear when you push things a little to far in Photomatix.
What main Graphics app do you use (photoshop?)

these have been done on lightroom 28 day trial version then uploaded to the photomatix trial, i have also processed images with canons zoombrowser slower clunkier but still works.

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gwgw wrote in post #6358216
these have been done on lightroom 28 day trial version then uploaded to the photomatix trial, i have also processed images with canons zoombrowser slower clunkier but still works.

Don't know lightroom at all... That last one is the pick of the bunch and i think the light you are getting really works with the colours and subject.
Did you crop off the back wheel?

adobe lightroom,all the pics have been cropped slightly,the wheels have'nt been cropped thats just the way the photos were shot.some turn out ok others look like hdr's

gwgw wrote in post #6358493
adobe lightroom,all the pics have been cropped slightly,the wheels have'nt been cropped thats just the way the photos were shot.some turn out ok others look like hdr's

411 Is still a fine shot, it could almost be an ad for the bike manufacturer in the way it shows so much detail, you've nailed the focus perfectly.
The thing with photmatix when you process the same RAW shot 3 times with different exposure levels dialled in is that you end up stretching the tonal range to open up the shadows and you get halos especially where the tone changes in the image.
If you had 3 separate exposures covering the full tone range you can go a lot further before it appears but it still will eventually.
In fact Photoshop won't even let you cheat it by tweaking the same RAW shot.
Instead of using the detail enhancer in photomatix have you tried the tone compressor option? The other option is to create a layer of the bikers and bikes and adjust them seperately but i cannot talk on lightroom as i have no experience, don't even know if it has a layers option.

im not sure about layers, i will try the tone compressor next time.heres a before and after for comparison

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I all ways thought you needed to shoot still images on a tripod for HDR...

rooeey wrote in post #6359245
I all ways thought you needed to shoot still images on a tripod for HDR...

For true HDR (don't need a tripod if you can hold the camera still enough) you need to take at least 3 bracketed exposure pictures.

With a single shot he probably adjusted the exposure up and down to get his three "bracket" shots (ie; open pic, adjust exposure down, save file. open pic adjust exposure up save file. Open photo matrix and combine all three saved pics).

gwgw wrote in post #6359190
im not sure about layers, i will try the tone compressor next time.heres a before and after for comparison

In this shot (which i also like) about the only place i can see details that are not in the original, is the sky.
What are you aiming for with Photomatix with this shot
The original is a good image, very well tracked,exposed and focused, in fact the only possible niggle is the fact that the shutter was too fast and frozen all the movement in the spokes.
The overall contrast of the image is flatter but you don't need Photomatix to achieve that and really comes down to a matter of taste.
Nice shot by the way, what camera/lens are you using? you have really got the knack of shooting fast action.

rooeey wrote in post #6359245
I all ways thought you needed to shoot still images on a tripod for HDR...

If you can hold the camera really steady you can get very usable images.
Personally i like HDR sometimes even when pushed hard for that line drawing look, especially with architectural shoots.
The biggest problem i have without a tripod is not rotating the camera, even a tiny bit.