HDR Challenge

[jonrayner]

Not sure what to do with this or whether the shot is no good.

I shot this from my bedroom window and bracketed the shot. The first one is at 0.00 exposure Compensations, the second one at -2.00 and the third one at +2.00. Not sure whether all shots should be blended together or just the first two, or some other solution.

I was hoping to accentuate the sun rays........

I also was not able to take the shot with a tripod. it was taken using a bean bag. I have processed the RAW file into PSE so that I could save the file down to a acceptable size for the web, but have made no amendments to any file.

[ladyups]

I can't help you on this, Jon...I don't have a clue how to do HDR...but there are plenty folks here that know how. Me, I love the neg exposure one. Those sun rays are beautiful!

[coffee]

Hey jon. I started giving it a go, but your second darkest image doesn't line up exactly with the others. Nice images though.

[jonrayner]

Thanks for having a look Joseph, it is the penalty for not using a tripod with the images not lining up; I would have needed a tripod 7 foot high to get this shot!

[owenmorris]

Hey Jon a quick one done in Dynamic Photo HDR had to re-align images slight movement in frames.

I could of toned the blue out a little but just a quick of all 3 frames blended.

Owen

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3582/3477550584_9818aa7c51_o.jpg

[dickr]

hi jon,
have just done a quick job of it in photomatix, im not the best at this sort of thing, it's a cracking shot, love the sun rays.

[ladyups]

Wow guys....you both did great on these...I like Dicks best but they are both pretty awesome. Those are some great rays!

[ladyups]

Hey Jon...I just realized...this is the same shot as the sunset silhouette, isn't it...I recognized the tv antenna and the roof. I think you did good for not having a tripod. That 'castle' doesn't look like a castle now that I can see it in daylight....

[jonrayner]

Hey Jon...I just realized...this is the same shot as the sunset silhouette, isn't it...I recognized the tv antenna and the roof. I think you did good for not having a tripod. That 'castle' doesn't look like a castle now that I can see it in daylight....

Yes, it is the view from the front of our house; the first was taken outside through a blossom tree and the ones on this thread are from our bedroom window. My own interpretation of this sunset on this thread is in the landscapes section, basically the second one cropped! These shots were taken on different days though.

[jonrayner]

Thanks Owen and Dickr for doing that - good job. It is good to see what can be done. Is photomatrix a good piece of software?

[dickr]

hi jon, its not too bad, its fairly easy to use and you can download a free trial.

[dickr]

hi jon, its not too bad, its fairly easy to use and you can download a free trial

[StephenK]

I really like this shot Jon! :)

I've tried working with HDR software in the past and decided it's so much better to just do the blend manually in photoshop.
I'll start with the Auto Align in photoshop and then set masks for the top two layers and blend accordingly. After which you
can then use all the tools that are so wonderfully available for any photo in photoshop to better enhance and further sweeten the image. :^)

[jonrayner]

I really like this shot Jon! :)

I've tried working with HDR software in the past and decided it's so much better to just do the blend manually in photoshop.
I'll start with the Auto Align in photoshop and then set masks for the top two layers and blend accordingly. After which you
can then use all the tools that are so wonderfully available for any photo in photoshop to better enhance and further sweeten the image. :^)

Thanks very much.

I really like your version, spot on.

I too, and only in the last few weeks, have been using Photoshop for HDR work. I have been trailing the free trial versions and found that it gave the shot too much of an 'unreal' look to it so was never quite happy. I since found a tutorial to do the same thing in PSE6 and since then I have been practicing that method. I am better pleased with this latter method.

I have enclosed one that I have been practicing on, see what you think.....

[coffee]

Hi jon looks good. Could you please post the link to the PS HDR tutorial. I too have been using 3rd party HDR programs in trial format just to see what works for me, and so far none do. I would rather do it myself in PS too if I have a good HDR workflow. Thanks

[jonrayner]

Hi jon looks good. Could you please post the link to the PS HDR tutorial. I too have been using 3rd party HDR programs in trial format just to see what works for me, and so far none do. I would rather do it myself in PS too if I have a good HDR workflow. Thanks

It was from a photo magazine called Photoplus. They have an article in the magazine and they also have a video lesson. I followed the video lesson which i found very easy to follow and it explained it well and you can also follow the clicks on screen etc. I have not followed the article in the magazine, as i find it easier to follow the video and the printed version does not go in to as much detail. Enclosed are shots of the printed version. The video lesson is 80Mb so is going to be quite large. If you know of anywhere i can put it for you to download, let me know.

[StephenK]

I have enclosed one that I have been practicing on, see what you think.....

Sweet! Beautifully done Jon!!! :)
And I easily agree with Joseph about the third party HDR programs!

I was reading the article you posted and see some similarity in our approaches...
The process I've settled-on is fairly simple from a slightly different angle.

Import the images into photoshop: File>scripts>Load images into stack

Then Auto Align the images: Edit>Auto-Align Layers

Place the darkest on top and the lightest on the bottom.

Place a white mask in the upper two

Then blend down through the three layers to taste...

At this point you're mostly working with luminance values

After which you can apply blending modes, vibrance layers, ect..

You can always go back later-on and change the "original" blend.

-----------

Along the way... if you want to just treat it as a simple image you
can select the top adjustment layer and then use the following shortcut (assuming you don't know this already):

Ctrl-Alt-Shift and the letter "E"

I Absolutely adore this shortcut! :^)