Archive 2009 · Fun With HDR
p.1 #1Fun With HDR
I'm posting this purely because it amuses the hell out of me... not because its particularly a brilliant shot. I wanted at least ONE wide shot of the beautiful interior of the church during Alicia & Brian's wedding. However, as noted in the thread, there was an INTENSE pool of direct sunlight beaming on only part of the ceremony. We're talking a 4-stop differential between bride and the groomsmen.
So here is my HDR solution. I found other alternatives as well, but this is just plain fun.
70mm tele shots at 10fps
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr01.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr02.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr03.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr04.jpg
working hand-blended HDR
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr05.jpg
16mm WA shot
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr06.jpg
HDR plugged into the WA shot using CS4's auto align:
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr07.jpg
So here is my HDR solution. I found other alternatives as well, but this is just plain fun.
70mm tele shots at 10fps
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr01.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr02.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr03.jpg
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr04.jpg
working hand-blended HDR
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr05.jpg
16mm WA shot
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr06.jpg
HDR plugged into the WA shot using CS4's auto align:
http://www.onatuesday.com/photography/fm/aliciabrian/hdr07.jpg
Apr 29, 2009 at 10:48 AM
p.1 #2Fun With HDR
wow.. perfect example of when HDR should be used. I like. I'm surprised you were able to get it without anyone moving. I think the area around the bride is just a tad too bright in the WA one. It sort of immediately diverts my eyes to her, and takes away from the rest of the interior of the pic. Maybe a darkening that area around her just a tad bit will work better? My .02 anyway.
Apr 29, 2009 at 10:56 AM
p.1 #3Fun With HDR
Whoa, nice work! Was it like auto bracketing or something?
Apr 29, 2009 at 10:59 AM
p.1 #5Fun With HDR
4honor wrote:
Whoa, nice work! Was it like auto bracketing or something?
Unless he's superman and can change quickly enough
to keep up with 10fps....I'd say auto bracketing is in order.
Whoa, nice work! Was it like auto bracketing or something?
Unless he's superman and can change quickly enough
to keep up with 10fps....I'd say auto bracketing is in order.
Apr 29, 2009 at 11:05 AM
p.1 #6Fun With HDR
WOW! HOw much do you charge an hour for post processing?? Heehee. Wonderful job on these, Evan. Unfortunately your bride wont' be nearly as impressed as we are. But man, that is simply amazing.
Apr 29, 2009 at 11:54 AM
p.1 #8Fun With HDR
HDR? there's no blue sky-you must have mixed up your terms-besdies, you're only supposed to do HDR for the sake of it-it's not supposed to be functional 
alright, enough of that-this is cool-i'm thoroughly impressed-this is the kind of stuff i wish people knew when they were picking a wedding photog-can their photog think through very difficult situations and deliver? if clients had a clue, they would choose very differently...well, many would
daniel
alright, enough of that-this is cool-i'm thoroughly impressed-this is the kind of stuff i wish people knew when they were picking a wedding photog-can their photog think through very difficult situations and deliver? if clients had a clue, they would choose very differently...well, many would
daniel
Apr 29, 2009 at 01:03 PM
p.1 #9Fun With HDR
Your are too much! This is just great! My mind has been blown so I can't think of anything else to say...
Apr 29, 2009 at 01:43 PM
p.1 #10Fun With HDR
Nice Evan, which software/technique did you use?
Chris Miller
www.imagineimagery.com
Chris Miller
www.imagineimagery.com
Apr 29, 2009 at 01:48 PM
p.1 #11Fun With HDR
This is the bee knees Evan. Did you do something similar on #17 of your set from this wedding?
Apr 29, 2009 at 01:52 PM
p.1 #12Fun With HDR
If only the clients knew the work behind the picture. I wonder if this can be puled at 5 fps. Did you just use bracketing?
Apr 29, 2009 at 01:58 PM
p.1 #13Fun With HDR
Thanks all!
Yes, 5 shot bracketing was used on my 1D3 at 10 frames per second. 4 frames were used in the final shot.
The HDR was hand-painted in PS, not actually using any HDR software per-se. I just aligned the layers and started with the brightest exposure, masking down. This gave me more control over ghosting when the people moved, and also resulted in a more (IMO) natural look.
Number 17 in the wedding set was a natural exposure: towards the end of the ceremony the pool of light moved to the right and decreased in intensity as the sun set: in that shot I chose to hide the extreme falloff by shooting from a lower angle and using the pews to hide the unlit areas.
Yes, 5 shot bracketing was used on my 1D3 at 10 frames per second. 4 frames were used in the final shot.
The HDR was hand-painted in PS, not actually using any HDR software per-se. I just aligned the layers and started with the brightest exposure, masking down. This gave me more control over ghosting when the people moved, and also resulted in a more (IMO) natural look.
Number 17 in the wedding set was a natural exposure: towards the end of the ceremony the pool of light moved to the right and decreased in intensity as the sun set: in that shot I chose to hide the extreme falloff by shooting from a lower angle and using the pews to hide the unlit areas.
Apr 29, 2009 at 03:39 PM
p.1 #14Fun With HDR
just genius. I did something similar with a family portrait just this month only to get the right expression on everyone's face and I too was very proud of myself for figuring out how to get the final image I wanted.
Apr 29, 2009 at 07:33 PM
p.1 #16Fun With HDR
HDR is a great technique and it can be used to save impossible lighting situations like this one.
From my experience the easiest/fastest and best method of creating HDR blends is to use the software Photomatix. Much better than the blend mode in Photoshop CS.
You can download a demo and play off their site:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/
If you decide to purchase the program please feel free to use my coupon code Rick Rosen on checkout. That will get you a 15% discount.
Have fun.
Rick
From my experience the easiest/fastest and best method of creating HDR blends is to use the software Photomatix. Much better than the blend mode in Photoshop CS.
You can download a demo and play off their site:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/
If you decide to purchase the program please feel free to use my coupon code Rick Rosen on checkout. That will get you a 15% discount.
Have fun.
Rick
Apr 29, 2009 at 10:53 PM
p.1 #17Fun With HDR
Great example of how this can be used to get the best images possible.
Apr 30, 2009 at 01:47 AM
p.1 #18Fun With HDR
Rick Rosen wrote:
HDR is a great technique and it can be used to save impossible lighting situations like this one.
From my experience the easiest/fastest and best method of creating HDR blends is to use the software Photomatix. Much better than the blend mode in Photoshop CS.
You can download a demo and play off their site:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/
If you decide to purchase the program please feel free to use my coupon code Rick Rosen on checkout. That will get you a 15% discount.
Have fun.
Rick
"easiest/fastest", yes... "Much better", no.... While manual blending is obviously the most time consuming method, it is superior for getting the "natural look" out of an image.
Chris Miller
www.imagineimagery.com
HDR is a great technique and it can be used to save impossible lighting situations like this one.
From my experience the easiest/fastest and best method of creating HDR blends is to use the software Photomatix. Much better than the blend mode in Photoshop CS.
You can download a demo and play off their site:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/
If you decide to purchase the program please feel free to use my coupon code Rick Rosen on checkout. That will get you a 15% discount.
Have fun.
Rick
"easiest/fastest", yes... "Much better", no.... While manual blending is obviously the most time consuming method, it is superior for getting the "natural look" out of an image.
Chris Miller
www.imagineimagery.com
Apr 30, 2009 at 05:32 AM
p.1 #19Fun With HDR
Great use of HDR in an environment where most wouldn't think to use it.
Apr 30, 2009 at 07:11 AM
p.1 #20Fun With HDR
Beautiful work! I agree with everyone else. A great use of HDR and a reminder how much it can help in situations like these!
Scott
Scott
Apr 30, 2009 at 07:18 AM