HDR First Attempt

This was my first attempt at HDR with my 7D.
I think im going to like shooting HDR.
I shot this looking out my front door, behind the glass.
C & C always welcome.
Thanks

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Looks like someone spread coal dust all over the snow.

Looks good

I think it was volcano ash

Whats happened to the snow in the foreground........its pretty white across the road??

Not sure.
Maybe cause I shot this through the front door glass?
If you can guide me how to fix it, Im all ears!
Thanks

Open the bloody door!

Looks like a cool place to live!
Wish i could move to Canada...I live in South Africa.

The gray is from Photomatix and the combination of strength and smoothing settings. Post the original image sequence and we can get to the bottom of it. As is, the image demonstrates many of the classic artifacts of photomatix overprocessing.

Kirk

Thanks Kirk
I played with the settings and came up with this.
Question:
In Photomatix, when I save as jpg, I cant import it into Lightroom 3.3
I have to open CS5 then save it as jpg, then I can open in Lightroom.
Any help?
Thanks

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Shawn,

Check this guy out, he has alot of info on HDR: captain kimo

And here is one of my HDR images processed in B&W, let me know what you think.

Joe

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Thanks Joe
Great shot!

Shawn - are you saying the original image posted was photomatix output generated from a single exposure? Was the exposure made in RAW or JPEG? Either way, this likely explains why everything turned gray. Photomatix makes blown highlights gray, especially so depending upon the strength and smoothing settings. Reults like yours typically indicate that the exposure (sequence) was not sufficient to provide useable highlight data.

This is the underlying concept behind shooting an HDR sequence - capturing the full dynamic range of a scene. If you don't you end up with a whole lot of artifacts.

Try reshooting the scene but with multiple exposures planned to cover the dynamic range of the scene. In a scene like yours, you have shadows in the areas between houses, in bushes, etc. and highlights in the sky as well as the skylit snow. If you really want a challenge, move the camera back inside your house and frame the shot to include the interior of your house, which will be in deep shadow compared to the outside. This is the quintessential test shot for anyone learning HDR - the interior with bright exterior captured simultaneously. You need more than one exposure to capture the detail in the shadowed interior and brightly lit exterior.

Give it a shot and see how you do.

Here is a laundry list of tips and tricks to help you get started:

http://www.hdrlabs.com​/tutorials/index.html

Good luck!

Kirk

Thanks Kirk.
I used these exposures on my 7D, shooting RAW.
+3 to -3 and
+2 to -2 minus the duplicates in Photomatix.
And thanks for the link

I'm not sure I understand.

Are you saying you shot multiple raw exposures at:

-3, -2 , -1, 0, +1, +2, +3

where 0 was the average of the scene?

Sorry, if I didn't get your explanation. I can't figure out why you would shoot "-3 to +3" and then repeat the "-2 to +2" part of that range, assuming you are covering the range in 1EV increments?

Kirk

PS - the second image you posted is a world of difference.