Best method to produce a HDR photo?

So I was doing some readings over the weekend and I'm under the impression that there are two "good" ways to produce HDR photos. One was to take 9 pictures at difference of 1 EV each. The other was 5 pictures at a difference of 2 EV each. Which one do you guys feel will produce the better result and capture enough dynamic range for the HDR picture?

I suppose 9 photos would give you more data to work with and less noise, but it's a lot of hassle (to me at least).

http://www.stuckincust​oms.com/hdr-tutorial/

9 shots 1 stop apart gives about the best final image in Photomatix. More is useless as the image does not get any better. Less and there is increasing amounts of noise. Also, it does depend on the scene and 3 or 15 frames, it still requires some work in Photshop to finalize it.

Can you just make changes to the RAW image in DPP?

canonloader wrote in post #7198214
9 shots 1 stop apart gives about the best final image in Photomatix. More is useless as the image does not get any better. Less and there is increasing amounts of noise. Also, it does depend on the scene and 3 or 15 frames, it still requires some work in Photshop to finalize it.

I kind of want to set it and forget it. My Nikon D300 can fire 9 shots with 1 EV difference. To maximimize the info in each shot, I'm thinking of even shooting it in 14-bit. Yes, that will inevitably lead to larger files, but I don't care. I have the storage space and a 16GB Cflash card.

I always shoot at the highest quality my camera will allow. Makes no sense to do anything else. Of course, post processing for me is more than half the fun of photography.

You can also take three shots at +/- 2, but you might get more noise that way.

Or, and some may argue this isn't a real HDR, you can shoot one shot in RAW and save all the images you want from that with different exposure settings. This comes in handy for moving objects that it would otherwise be impossible to get three or more shots off at

canonloader wrote in post #7204013
I always shoot at the highest quality my camera will allow. Makes no sense to do anything else. Of course, post processing for me is more than half the fun of photography.

is 7 shots with a difference of 1 EV sufficient too?

Will noise really be a problem if base ISO was used with 5 shots at a difference of 2 EV each?

Noise comes from a lot of things, not just high ISO's. Usually it shows up un dark areas of under exposed images. If your originals have any noise, so will the render.

Has anyone done any testings to compare 7 shots with differences of 21 and 1 EV with 9 shots 1 EV?

So how do you actually get 3+ images from 1 RAW file?!!? This is confusing me!

Do I need special software or will Elements or DPP be sufficient?

Your help would be much appreciated!

mav

I'm not sure about Elements, because I've never used it. I have Photoshop CS3.

When you open a RAW (at least with Photoshop) it will bring up a box with all kinds of different ways to edit your RAW. Exposure is one of the options. Set the exposure to +/- whatever it is you want, usually 1 or 2, then save the image as a jpeg. Then do the same thing again, saving the image three, six, eight, however many times you need to. You'll end up with multiple different exposures of the same image.

cgatto wrote in post #7232249
I'm not sure about Elements, because I've never used it. I have Photoshop CS3.

When you open a RAW (at least with Photoshop) it will bring up a box with all kinds of different ways to edit your RAW. Exposure is one of the options. Set the exposure to +/- whatever it is you want, usually 1 or 2, then save the image as a jpeg. Then do the same thing again, saving the image three, six, eight, however many times you need to. You'll end up with multiple different exposures of the same image.

Thanks cgatto,

I assumed that was the way, but i couldn't work out how to do it, now i know, i shall have a go methinks!

Mav

lsquare wrote in post #7194486
So I was doing some readings over the weekend and I'm under the impression that there are two "good" ways to produce HDR photos.

That is incorrect. There are many ways to achieve "great" HDR photos.

lsquare wrote in post #7194486
One was to take 9 pictures at difference of 1 EV each. The other was 5 pictures at a difference of 2 EV each. Which one do you guys feel will produce the better result and capture enough dynamic range for the HDR picture?

With the amount of time / hassle, I prefer to stick with the 3 images at 2 EV's apart.

Go > > HERE < < to see 2 of my images that were created from 3 RAW files using Photomatix.

I have seen excellent results from 1 single raw file. This is said to not be true HDR, but pseudo HDR. The results can still be breath taken

I suggest trying out AEB mode with 3 shots and going from there......