Natural HDR - Churches & Cathedrals

[Jeff Lee]

Wow. Very nice use of a not too well understood tool.

 

[NikonConvert]

Thanks for the kind comment Jeff =)

Ok, didn't know people make a difference there, since exposure blending in my eyes is using the higher dynamic range of multiple exposures. The difference is merely that one does the compression of the dynamic range by oneself using layer masks, so I didn't came to the idea to call it differently.

I know exactly what you mean, technically this is using a higher dynamic range just like the other HDR techniques, it's actually harder too which is why most people don't bother with it. I actually really like this method and I should do it more because it can be treated a lot more like using grad filters, just with more possibility of control.

The only thing that really annoys me is when people call an image tonemapped from a single RAW file an HDR.

 

[davidwcramer]

I still use this method sometimes because it is an easier workflow when the dynamic range is not too high. This is usually refered to as 'exposure blending' rather than 'HDR' though, not that this makes it any less relevant of course but just to clear things up for people who haven't tried it before. 'Photoshop HDR' processing is also quite different to tonemapping too, I found tonemaps to be much more powerful and was generally able to get much better results from it.

A word of warning though, the 'Photomatix' tonemapping seems to have a rather serious bug. About 50% of my images have brightly coloured pixels in areas of darkness. These areas, although dark in the 32bit file, still had information and when the tonemap takes effect it makes these pixels the opposite colour to what they should be. If the area was dark orange bright blue pixels appear in a digital noise lake manner. I have not heard of other people complaining about this but it has happened with every version of PM I ever used. The good news is that this is easily fixed with layer effects.

Edd - I'm planning on giving this a try. I'd appreciate more info about how you fix the bugaboo with layer effects. Thanks again for your explanations.

 

[CliffB]

Beautiful work on all of those shots. I have been toying with the idea of buying Photomatix. You probably just convinced me that I should.

 

[NikonConvert]

Edd - I'm planning on giving this a try. I'd appreciate more info about how you fix the bugaboo with layer effects. Thanks again for your explanations.

Your most welcome David =). Ok a brief explanation on how to fix the bright pixel error in Photomatix, if you get it of course:

• Open the 32bit EXR and drop it to the bit depth of your Tonemap (PS HDR)
• keep the tones fairy neutral - not too dark, not too bright (Rough guide)
• Copy this in to a layer above the tonemap
• Set the layer type to 'Darken'

The theory behind this is that all the parts of the tonemap that are a lot brighter than the new layer will be replaced by that new layer thus overriding the colour and brightness of the pixel errors. If it doesn't quite work try to figure out how you need the Photoshop HDR to look and reprocess it from the EXR again.

 

[DanielD]

For those who are interested in blending exposures in Photoshop (I'm using Gimp but the technique is the same), I recently ran across this video tutorial. Although the effect would be more visible if he'd be using some of my pictures :wink: he's explaining the blending technique with layer masks very well. Worth a try!

 

[Catz]

Gorgeous work Edd! I enjoyed them all.

 

[RFCGRAPHICS]

I have tried HDR but have never been very successful. Your series is really beautiful. Cograts

Regards

RFC

 

[NikonConvert]

Thanks to Melissa and Robert for the kind feedback =)

For those who are interested in blending exposures in Photoshop (I'm using Gimp but the technique is the same), I recently ran across this video tutorial. Although the effect would be more visible if he'd be using some of my pictures :wink: he's explaining the blending technique with layer masks very well. Worth a try!

Thanks for the tutorial link Daniel. I thought it was rather long and drawn out but he does get the point across =). Some rather pointless details about Macs too, as you shouldn't really use shortcuts in a video tutorial but hey.

 

[misupix]

Amazing work!

:Shocked:

 

[fishlips]

Edd:

Thanks for the details. I have been playing with Photomatix tone mapping in several of my HDR panos. If I can just get the reference points set in PTGui, I'll be able to make use of your settings. Thanks again.

 

[JPS]

Thanks for the tips, Ed ! I'll certainly try it as soon as possible ! Cheers, J-P.

 

[Bob Mohr]

I think you've done a great job with these; very natural looking.
I downloaded a copy of Photomatix, but havn't purchased because I don't have the hang of it yet.

 

[redemptioncalls]

it hurts so good to look at them. it hurts trhat i havent a clue how you do what you do, but im enchanted by the visual drama