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View Full Version : Panther, EasyEd, et al, my favorite method of creating an HDR image.



Cazzie
November 23rd, 2010, 12:25
Now bear in mind, this for an initial HDR image, not tone-mapped, but an image to be tone-mapped.

I have tried several techniques, using the bracketed HDR feature on the camera, which requires a tripod, using an HDR image feature on the K-x, which give what is supposedly an HDR image, and finally, just shooting one RAW image. The RAW image can have the Ev Sensitivity adjusted in the PENTAX software, like it would be as if shot through the camera. So I can create as many adjusted Ev Sensitivity photos from the RAX image as I like and save them in a 16-bit TIFF format to be merged and tone-mapped in Photomatix. It is by far the best method I have found and produces the richest HDR images in the end to work with. Much better than dealing with .jpg images. It takes boucoup more time processing, more programs involved, but the long run is, on a six mile hike like I took today, I do not want to be lugging around a hefty tripod!

Caz

Old Ball jar and tub shot on the Crooked Stock single-track bike trail at Anglers' Park. One image shot in RAW format, from which five images were made adjusting the Ev Sensitivity by 1 step in both over exposure and under exposure and saving the fine image in a 16-bit TIFF format. These five image were merged into an HDR image using Photomatix and tone-mapped in the same program. Rather than use the Tone Enhancer, I used the Tone Fuser and increased contrast and added saturation to the colors. The finished image was saved in an 8-bit TIFF format and opened in Photoshop. In Photoshop a duplicate mask image was made and the brightness darkened. The duplicate image mask was erased on the bottom leaving only the sky, as this was all i wished to deepen. After a Sharpen and Unsharp mask, the image was saved in a large .jpg format and another resized and saved for the Internet.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/tub_1.jpg

EasyEd
November 23rd, 2010, 19:55
Hey All,

Nice pic Caz but I don't understand the rationale behind creating artificial + and - evs. They add no additional information - you have to over and under expose in the field to get that. Doesn't Photomatix simply let you take one image into an HDR format for tonemapping?

I totally agree with you about the tripod - I don't want to carry one either. I'm hoping that if I can get high enough ISO performance I can shoot fast enough braced or on a post or rock or somesuch to get 2 or 3 different EVs for HDR. The K-5 allows for 2 images for HDR - just depends on what is needed.

-Ed-

Cazzie
November 24th, 2010, 16:37
I don't understand the rationale behind creating artificial + and - evs. They add no additional information - you have to over and under expose in the field to get that. Doesn't Photomatix simply let you take one image into an HDR format for tonemapping?



-Ed-

Ed I got this hint from this article: http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/

To quote:


"There are two main ways to create the source images needed for HDR. You can either use AEB, auto exposure bracketing, on your camera to take 3 images while you are out, or you can use RAW to take 1 image and then use a RAW editor to produce 3 shots back at your computer."

My PENTAX Editor does exactly that, I'll have to take some screenshots to show you. It has the Ev Sensitivity adjustments et al built in, anything I can do bracketing when taking an image, I can do in the editor after the image is taken, providing the image is in RAW format.

Read the article and you will learn why RAW is the best format to shoot initial HDR images in.

Caz

EasyEd
November 24th, 2010, 17:51
Hey All,


You can either use AEB, auto exposure bracketing, on your camera to take 3 images while you are out, or you can use RAW to take 1 image and then use a RAW editor to produce 3 shots back at your computer

I get this Caz but won't Photomatix simply let you tonemap one image or do you need to "fool" the software by creating 3 (or more)? AEB adds information (detail) in either the dark areas or the light areas to the image as you see more detail in either the dark areas or light areas due to different exposures of the original scene. Simply changing Ev in software to a single image adds no information as it wasn't there in the first place (only exposure). You can still get great images but I'm just a bit surprised you need to "fool" the software in the first place.

-Ed-

Cazzie
November 25th, 2010, 03:57
Hey All,



I get this Caz but won't Photomatix simply let you tonemap one image or do you need to "fool" the software by creating 3 (or more)? AEB adds information (detail) in either the dark areas or the light areas to the image as you see more detail in either the dark areas or light areas due to different exposures of the original scene. Simply changing Ev in software to a single image adds no information as it wasn't there in the first place (only exposure). You can still get great images but I'm just a bit surprised you need to "fool" the software in the first place.

-Ed-

You're not fooling the software Ed. Before, unless you cleared all EXIF info in your camera, Photomatix would recognize it as one image, but after Version 2.5 (I have Version 4.0), Photomatix incorporated tools that recognized such and make the appropriate adjustments to EXIF info.

Try it yourself if you have the latest version of Photomatix. Use the camera's software RAW editor to change the Ev and make 16-bit TIFFs. Because of the superior quality of 16-bit TIFFs you'll see a pronounced difference in the initial merged HDR image, much clearer and resolute than bracketed .jpg images.

Caz

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