HDR Help Requested

[Arthur Morris]

This lizard-scape was created with the handheld 15mm fish-eye and the EOS-1D MIV. It is a five frame HDR processed first in Photomatix--it looked really lousy after that--and then in Photoshop. I am particularly interested in learning if I could have done better with the HDR stuff in Photomatix; I am pretty much flying in the dark there.

But feel free to comment on the image as well as on the HDR aspects or lack thereof :)

Don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

ps: I did check the remove chromatic aberration box

[Michael Pancier]

artie, what were your settings in photomatix?

[Arthur Morris]

Not sure if this is what you were looking for. In Tone Mapping:

STR: 70
Color SAT: 52
LUM: 7.0
Microcontrast: -.5
Smoothing: High
White Point: 0
Black Point 0.092
Gamma 1.0
temp: 0
Sat Highlights: 10
Sat/SH: 0

I only knew because they came up as Preset: Previous

[Michael Pancier]

artie do you have the smoothing settings too? for shadow/highlight and clipping?

I'd like to give it a try. could you post the 5 exposures in lo res jpg so I can give it a try? and then we can compare settings using my std. preset.

[Arthur Morris]

I think that I set the Smoothing to 7 and then when I clicked on the Light Mode Box it switched to "High." I don't really get it. Will post the five JPEGs in five Panes below :) Thanks for trying to help an HDR dummy.

[Arthur Morris]

Number one.

[Arthur Morris]

Number two.

[Arthur Morris]

Number three.

[Arthur Morris]

Number four.

[Arthur Morris]

Last one.

[Michael Pancier]

artie, here is my attempt. i noticed when I loaded the 5 files into Photomatix that the files were 2 1/2 ev's apart with the darkest image registering -5Ev. I changed the spacing to 1 Ev difference per image.

I don't know if this is truer to what you saw or if it makes a difference doing the HDR on jpg rather than the raw files as I usually do (i have noticed generally speaking that HDR works best with simple scapes and no animals or people in them).

In any event, these were my settings:

Strength 92
Sat 74
Lum + 3.4
Micro Contrast +7
Smoothing Max (I usually use high, but Max gave a more natural feel I think)
WP - 2.199
BP .604
Gam .705
Temp + 0.9
Sat high - + 2.6
Sat Sh - 0
Micro Sm - 12.0
HS - 37
SS 52
SC 35

[Judy Howle]

It looks pretty good to me. If you put light smoothing on the next one down from high it gets rid of gray halo effects that look like dingy clouds. I'm not an expert at HDR but I am a moderator for the HDR_Software yahoo group and I created a website with input from the group with lots of good HDR resources including links to many excellent tutorials for Photomatix as well as for the new HDR Pro in CS5. BTW, Photomatix 4 is in beta and is supposed to be a big improvement over v. 3. stuckincustoms.com has a writeup on it, he's a beta tester. Also there's a new product by Nik coming out (see sneak preview on their site). And there's the new HDR Expose which came out July 12 and replaces their HDR PhotoStudio. http://www.unifiedcolor.com/hdr-expose I watched a webinar on it and it looks good. They strive for natural looking HDR images. I have not tried the demo yet. I find I end up using Topaz Adjust on a single image with better results sometimes than the ones I process with Photomatix + Photoshop. Also many people, myself included, use Topaz Adjust to finish off flat looking HDR images. It works great and is fast.
Judy

[Fabs Forns]

Hard to work on jogs. I only used 3 exposures, 1265, 1264 and 1267, since there was no need for more, IMO. Trick to capturing HDR is the darkest histogram should not have any white clippings and the lightest, no black clippings. That way you have the whole tonal range covered. If you can have that in 3 images, fantastic, like 0-+2, _2. No indoor/outdoor here, so no need for such a big tonal range.
Here's what I came up with, will include the PM settings. Linear contrast and selective sharpening in PS.

[Fabs Forns]

Here's the PM settings

[Dave Mills]

Hi Art, I won't comment on the technical end of HDR's since I haven't worked with it. Compositionally it's well divided with a strong foreground,interesting middle and stormy backround. You have managed to get good detail throughout and in this case I like the curvature caused by the fisheye. I was thinking about lightening it a small amount(foreground) just so the lizards are a bit more dilineated but would have to try it myself to see if it works or not.
Otherwise an interesting and creative image...

[Dick Glover]

Just to echo Fabs guidance on not using more images than needed to cover the exposure range, especially when handholding. Many people also seem to think using the Strength adjustment at close to 100 is the way to go, but I find it differs with each image depending on what I am trying to achieve. I have also found that the Tone Compressor sometimes gets closer to the image I an after, than the Details Enhancer, but when there is a sky with a lot of contrast like this image, the Details Enhancer is usually best.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Artie,
Can't help with the HDR....but do want to comment on the colors and comp. I think the colors in your OP looked pretty good....yes, like an HDR.....but I sometimes like the look. My big issue in the curve of the fisheye......you mention HH......wish you had used the bubble level. The skewed horizon.....leaning left is what is killing this image for me......I think this one needed to be dead level so the curve was equal. I still think you can fix it with a rotation....but will add a bunch of additional work. Very cool concept.....just doesn't quite work for me.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for your help. I am a bit more confused now :) Fabs, of the reposts, yours looks the best. Dave, I am with you on lightening the foreground some more. I have already lightened it and increased the contrast....

I am confused as to how 3 exposures could be better than 5..... Micheal, Thanks for the effort. I do not understand what you meant by "changed the spacing."

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Artie,
Can't help with the HDR....but do want to comment on the colors and comp. I think the colors in your OP looked pretty good....yes, like an HDR.....but I sometimes like the look. My big issue in the curve of the fisheye......you mention HH......wish you had used the bubble level. The skewed horizon.....leaning left is what is killing this image for me......I think this one needed to be dead level so the curve was equal. I still think you can fix it with a rotation....but will add a bunch of additional work. Very cool concept.....just doesn't quite work for me.

Hey Roman, I teach folks to use a bubble level even when hand holding a fish eye.... I got away lucky here as I was able to level it more than 2.5 degrees and then lightened the foreground a ton. I am thinking that it is looking pretty good right now.....

[Michael Pancier]

Micheal, Thanks for the effort. I do not understand what you meant by "changed the spacing."

I meant the number of stops between each image. Rather than having them at 1 stop difference or 2 stops difference from the base image. The program calculated the difference in stops in the unprocessed images at -5 for the darkest image with each subsequent image 2 1/2 Ev apart. I changed it to 1 Ev difference between image.