Tag Archives: HDR images

Trying it Again

09 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Landscapes, Photography, Seascape

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My phone’s alarm went off at 3am, though I set the bedside clock, I didn’t turn it on, so the phone woke me up and the realisation that I forgot to turn the other one on kept me awake.  At four both daughters were woken up, they both wanted to come.  One because she loves road trips and the other because she wanted to drive.  She did get two more hours of night, or dark driving, so she is getting very close to having her hours up so she can go for her license.

Before SunriseWe went back to Lorne.  I had hoped to get there even earlier than last time, but I actually got there at the same time, though the sunrise happened about 15 minutes later, so I got some before sunrise images, and this is one.

The Tip of SunriseYou can almost see the top of the sun in this image.

Sun RisesThe ocean was a lot rougher than it had been last time and the tide, whilst it was a low tide, was a long way in.  I was really surprised when I got there that most of the rocks were under water.

Rough Waters at SunriseWaves were crashing all over the rocks, but I didn’t capture any in this photo.  All the photos today are HDR images, and I may try do some of the images as single images soon.  I did get a single image of this and you could see the waves.  So maybe if people want to see that I might put it up another time.

Calm Surrounded by TurmoilI was surprised to get this still pool of water, especially as the tide was coming in slowly.  I had to run for it a couple of times.

It was a gorgeous morning, not cold, not yet hot, but you could feel the warm in the sun and the potential for a lot heat.  On the drive home there were hundreds of cars heading down to the beach.  No doubt to try and cool off from all the heat we have been having.

Going back was interesting, it still isn’t easy getting up that early, though I like the results a lot more this time.  I got more of a sunrise this time, which was better, but the water was so much rougher.  I am exhausted now and think it might be time for a nap.

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Hot Day for HDR Trials

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Photography

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It is hot here, 38C or 100.4F, in both temperatures that is hot.  With 2 days to go to the official start of summer, it was bound to happen.  Still, I’m not happy about it.  It is too hot to go out and take photos, so I have been going through my photos.  I wanted something cool today.  I wanted to work on some photos that weren’t taken when it was hot.

This is a three image HDR created using Photomatix Pro.  The colours are quite natural, though the sky may be a little over done.

Here is the same image done with HDR Color Efex.  This image hasn’t worked as well, it is too grey, there isn’t enough tonal range in it.  There are so many more things to play with in this software, and that may be the problem.  I will have to keep playing.  It took me months to work out Photomatix, so I am sure I won’t get HDR Efex overnight.

I have to say, that for this image, the Photomatix Pro version wins.  I should have mentioned as well, that no other processing was done to them other than combining the images into HDR’s.  I decided that it was a better test of the software if I just used that, and did nothing else.

Awards 

I have been honoured with two more awards.

jmsanchezbenitez has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

My Travels & Photography has nominated me for the Blog of the Year as well.  I have two stars now.

I would like to thank both people, I feel very honoured.

 

High Dynamic Range in Software

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Melbourne, Photography, Review

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It is everywhere.  Everyone is doing them, but to do HDR images, you need software, specific software that will process your images to give you the High Dynamic Range that is required.  Well, you need it if you do it the way I do.

I first started doing HDR images last year, I don’t know when, but probably about 12 months ago.  I started with the HDR option in Photoshop.  Then I started seeing other people with their HDR images, and theirs were so much better than mine.  The software that I was recommended was Photomatix Pro.

This image was processed in Photomatix quite some time ago.  I love the colours of the image, and as I used the software more, I started to understand it more.  I also began to know what each of the sliders did and how it affected my image.  I have almost said good bye to halos.

Recently I was approached by a company for an affiliation with their HDR software.  The software was HDR Darkroom, produced by a company called Everimaging.  I had never heard of it before, but I decided not to dismiss it out of hand, to try it out.  As I have previously stated I also have an affiliation with Photomatix, not that you would know looking at my bank account, I wondered about having another one with another company.

Same images have been used to produce this, and though the results aren’t the same, it isn’t too bad.  I found there weren’t as many things I could control in this and I found that a little bit limiting.  Though I would imagine for someone just starting out, it is probably not bad and pretty easy to use.

This next image was produced with some software that was recommended to me by lensaddiction, the software was Oloneo.  So I downloaded the free trial of the HDR PhotoEngine and had a play in it.

The Oloneo one has come out quite well.  It probably is the best of the three.  Though I found it far harder to use, and I think my experience with HDR imaging helped me, so I don’t know that I would recommend it for a beginner.

Another Image

The Manchester Unity Building in Melbourne.  This one was processed with Photomatix Pro.  I found the way the software darked the building toward the top quite annoying.  Though, I was left with a sky and plenty of detail.  No halo, so that was good.

This has come out better than the Photomatix Pro, the building is a little dark around the top edges, but we haven’t lost the top of the building to darkness.  I have to give HDR Darkroom a massive tick for this image, out of the 3 software packages, it got the best image this time.

This one was done with Oloneo, we lost all detail in the sky.  the building isn’t too bad, I did try to darken it some, but it didn’t work too well.  I wasn’t really happy with this image.  Then again, today is the first time I have used it, so I imagine if you are going to use it you might find ways to make it worse.

Last Image

One of the issues I have had with Photomatix Pro is how it produces funny colours around the trees.  If you look closely at this image you may see that.  I have worked out how to get rid of a lot of it, but sometimes I can’t do anything.  Though, what I have started to do in situations like this is not do a HDR image, but just work with a single image.

It should always be about the image and how that looks, not how you got there.

You can see what I mean about the trouble around the treetops in this one.  This was done with HDR Darkroom.  That isn’t too bad, it would probably annoy me, but then again, as I said, it did the same sort of thing with Photomatix Pro.  It has processed the image quite well.

I don’t have an image done with Oloneo for this one.  When I took this image I was hand holding the camera, so there are some variations between each image.  I found that Oloneo could not get rid of the ghosting, and the image wasn’t very good. I tried all the different ways of doing it, but in the end I had to scrap it.  That was very disappointing.  Both Photomatix Pro and HDR Darkroom had no trouble with de-ghosting the images.

My Conclusions

I still love Photomatix Pro, it is priced at US$99, which isn’t too bad, and if you use the coupon code I have, you get an additional %15 off, that is fairly good.

HDR Darkroom, my first attempts weren’t great, but I have been impressed with it today.  It is very easy to use, and I think if you were wanting to try HDR images, but didn’t want to spend a lot then the US$58 price tag isn’t bad.  You are limited with what you can do, but for some images, it is very good.

Oloneo, the most expensive of the three, at US$149, it is more complicated to use.  I don’t know that I would buy it, not being able to do that last image was a concern. Since I like to hand hold my camera more than use my tripod, it may be a problem.

I can’t help thinking they all are pretty good for certain images, but you can’t purchase them all.  I have Photomatix Pro and I will stick with that.  Though I was hoping to also try out HDR Efex Pro 2 from Nik Software, but as I have already had a free trial, I had to get a new code for another one and it wouldn’t work.  So I am sorry to say I wasn’t able to compare that one as well.

My thoughts, if you are new to HDR imaging and don’t want to spend a lot to test it out and try, then I would recommend HDR Darkroom.  It is probably a toss up for more advanced, but I think I would come done on the side of Photomatix Pro.

New Releases

Nikon have announced the release of the new D5200 and WR-R10/WR-T10 Wireless Remote Controller.

It looks really interesting and would be a great camera to own.  From what I can tell it is in a similar market to Canons EOS 600D.  It has a few similarities.

The press release states, “Boasting a 24.1 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor, a class leading 39-point AF system, a 2,016-pixel RGB sensor and a high resolution vari-angle LCD monitor. “

I have to say, WHAT.  I understand some of that, but really, what does it all mean to us.  I got four pages in the press release.  Considering the camera is one of their entry level cameras, why don’t they write these things in a language for the entry level photographer.

From what I can work out, you get good resolution with the images, so that is fantastic, means you can print images really well, it also boasts less noise at the high end of the ISO range.  The DX-format, means it isn’t full frame, so the sensors are in the middle of the image, and that is where it takes its readings from.  It has lots of great features, and I am sure if you go to Nikon or Nikon Australia’s website you can see what they all are.

I haven’t used the camera, so I can’t really comment on what it is like.  You would just have to take Nikon’s word that it does what it says.

It comes in red, that is pretty cool.  The screen on the back flips out, apparently this is so you can do “selfies”.  Apparently so many people are taking self portraits that the camera companies are even making DSLRs so you can do them.  Interesting.

No Running in the Corridors

21 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Another photograph from the closed school today.  I hope you won’t be disappointed, after the images from Point Lonsdale, though there will be plenty more.  Today, I have an image of the hallway.

The hallway has been destroyed, much like the rest of the school  This school is on three levels, and the hallways are very long on each level.  This is on the second level.  You can also tell that it is curved, well I hope you can.  There is so much stuff all over the floor, mainly broken glass from the windows on both sides, the windows to the outside, and the windows into the classrooms.  Even the windows in the door are broken.  Wearing solid shoes was a must.

To process this, I started with a HDR image processed in Photomatix Pro, which is the image below.  I have done the usual layers, and I also added some blur layers.  I wanted your eye to go to the doors and then through them to the hallway beyond.  I also darkened the image and then lightened some of it.  I have really liked the way I have been processing the images from Point Lonsdale, the softness, so I thought I would add some if it here.  I don’t know if that worked or not.

I want the school images to not just have the feeling of being closed, but left behind, that no one cares about it anymore.  It no longer exists in anyone’s mind any more.  I am rabbiting on here, sorry.

I have a couple more copies of the image as well.  I decided to, once again, try it out in black and white.

I like this a little more.  There is something different about an image after it is stripped of its colour.  Though, I remembered the reworked image on Friday, so here is the same image again, but with a sepia toning.

Does it help give it that abandoned look, or does it still look too modern?  It isn’t a bad idea to try your images with different finishes, sometimes just trying something can lead to something really unique and quite extraordinary, I might find that one day.

Doing the images in black and white also leads very well into tomorrows tutorial, I thought we might have a look at doing black and white images, my way of course.

The Beautiful Blogger Award

I have been given the lovely honour of being nominated for this award two times today.  Here are the links to each of the blogs that have nominated me.

http://yeehawranchmamasheri.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/2304/

http://frombraintobrush.com/2012/10/20/the-beautiful-blogger-award/

Thank you very much, I feel very honoured.

From the Point

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Today is Saturday, and I usually do a photo from the school, but I started processing the photos from Point Lonsdale and well, I couldn’t stop.  I really like some of the images and if you don’t mind, I would like to show some more.  Hopefully, I will have the school photo for you tomorrow.

The lighthouse with the jetty in front and the rocks.  I was a little disappointed that the sunrise wasn’t great, but the clouds were wonderful and maybe that is going to become my thing, moody landscapes, I do like them.

I moved further away from the jetty for this shot, and included the rocks to give it more of a story.  I have also tried to process it much the same way as I did the others, and I hope it does look softer.  I like that softness, almost dreamy.  I did something else and you might have noticed already, but I found the images quite cold, so I added a photo filter of orange, and then toned it down.  I just wanted to warm the image up a little, but not make it to unnatural.

This was one of the first shots that I took when I got down there.  You can see that there is almost no colour in the sunrise.  I have processed all these images as HDR images, and while I was doing it I upped the saturation levels to try and bring out as much of the colour as I could.  I don’t know how successful I was, but it does stand out a little.  I love the jetty, it is so nice, and I can’t wait to see it when they have finished working on it.

This was taken on the other side.  You can should be able to see a ship in the distance heading towards the docks at Melbourne.  It is right at the end of the jetty.  Except for the previous shot, all these images were taken with a neutral density filter. I wanted to try and slow the water down a little.

The last image for today, the jetty again, more colour in the sky and the rocks in the foreground.  They are the same rocks that were in the first image.  Again, the photo filter was used to warm it up and hopefully, as with all the images, they are softer.

I had so much fun taking the images, and I would really like to go back some time and explore it more.  It isn’t that far away, that it really is possible to do it.  Though, I would never do it before going and photographing a cycling event all day.

The images from Barwon Heads are great, well I like them, but you might have to wait for those.  I have so many images I want to show right now, and there just aren’t enough days.  I have a great stock of images right now.

Have been thinking about putting some of these on my website, people have really liked looking at them, so have wondered if others would be interested in purchasing some.  So if you are looking for something for your wall go to www.leannecole.com.au

School Bench

13 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Time for another photo from the school.  I went through the images this morning and I decided on one that I could play around with and do some different stuff.  I wonder if you will be able to figure it out.

This was done as a HDR image with Photomatix Pro.  I think it was with 4 images.  I have started noticing some things happening with the HDR processing, which perhaps has always happened, but I am only just starting to notice.  I need to keep an eye on it more.  I keep getting areas which are grey and sort of washed out.  I will have to keep trying stuff to see if I can stop it from happening.

I had to change some things on it.  It was very crooked when I first took it.  Actually, you wouldn’t believe how often my shots are crooked, I just don’t seem to be able to make them straight when I am shooting.  I always get it wrong.

When I straightened the image I was going to lose the bottom of the bench.  I had to make up the right bottom corner.  It is great being able to do that.  I wonder if you have been able to see what else I did.

I did some of the other processing, like blurring, but I really tried to make it softer.  I have been toning down some of the processing that I have been doing.  I have been trying some new stuff and not being so heavy.

I saw some work this morning and it got me thinking about the work always being in colour.

How could I not have a go at making the image black and white.  I quite like it, I don’t know what you think.  I would like to try doing more black and white.

Did you work out what I did?

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

benleeirene has nominated me for the above award.

The post can be found here http://benleeirene.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/very-inspiring-blogger-award/

Southbank Being Reworked

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Last December I did a field trip in the city to take some night photos along the river.   It is a great spot for night photos.  Along there in front of the casino are some gas chimneys and at certain times of the night they light up.  They do it for a little bit of time, and then stop.  I hadn’t set out to take photos of it at the time, but when it happened as I had the tripod set up, I quickly turned the camera around to capture it.

This is the original HDR image I did from the series.  I had taken 5 images in a series of bracketed shocks.  I did this not long after I started doing HDR’s and before I purchased Photomatix Pro.  It has that halo and the colours look fairly unnatural.

After seeing this again, I decided to try doing it again.

I redid the HDR with Photomatix Pro, then I cropped it, I didn’t really like the composition in the top one.  Not really sure what I was thinking there.  I think the cropped version is better.  I also added some blur layers, so the only thing that isn’t blurred is the chimney.  I also added some gradient.  That was about it.  I think the rework works a lot better.

Awards

I have to address the awards I’ve been nominated for.  I have ignored it for too long.  I think awards are great, but they are also time consuming to reciprocate.  I have been given quite a number over the last few months and I haven’t reciprocated any of them.  I feel bad about this.  My blog takes up a lot of my time and I am always planning stuff for you and writing.  My husband wants me to get a job, anyway that is another story.

I have decided that from now on, I will include the blog that has nominated me, so they are acknowledged, but I won’t be doing all the other things that are required for the award.  I hope this is alright with everyone.  I am going to give you the blogs for this week, and from now on, I will put them on if I receive any more.  I would like to apologise to everyone who has nominated me previously and I haven’t done this for.  I just can’t find all of them.  So please accept my apology.

I have four blogs for you to check out today.

http://tchistorygal.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/ligo-circle-of-appreciation/

http://liviamihaelafirinca.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/liebster-blog-award-one-lovely-blog-award/

http://nettrobbens.com/2012/10/10/happy-dancing-reality-blog-award/

http://opreach.org/2012/10/11/a-little-something-about-blog-awards/

ReWorking a Bridge

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Photography

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The image I have chosen today is one that I have never been happy with.  I thought it may have been because the light was crap, or because it was a horrible overcast bright day.  Here is the image.

This image was taken on my birthday, we went into the city for lunch and had yum cha with some friends.  While we were wandering around I took lots of photos.  The original post is here.

I hated how grey it was, and there seemed to be a plasticness about it  It was a HDR image, though it was processed in Photoshop CS5, it was before I had Photomatix Pro.  I really like the structure of the bridge, but it just seems a very bland image.  So I had another go at it.

It is like a completely different image.  I redid the HDR process, with Photomatix Pro this time, and then I did a lot of work on the light in the image.  I did enhance the details a little for the bridge in Topaz Adjust 5.  Seriously though, all I did was play with the curves on different parts.  I did add some photo filters to the wood work on the bridge.  That was about it I believe.

My daughter prefers the first HDR image, and I prefer the second.  I expect there will be lots of different opinions and I look forward to hearing what you all think.  I really like the surreal aspect of the second and also think it is more natural.

I am off to the market at St Andrew tomorrow morning.  My daughter has been wanting to go for some time.  I am trying to decide if it will be worthwhile taking my camera, I guess it can’t hurt.

The Cathedral – ReWorked

07 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Not having the internet working properly has been a little depressing.  Other things have been happening as well and I am asking myself those questions of why do I do this.  When I realised it was Friday and I would have to find an image to rework, I didn’t feel very inspired.  I went though a lot of stuff, and came up with this one.

I think the last time I showed this was in the post I wrote about photographing architecture a week or so back.  I suppose there isn’t a lot wrong with it, but as with most of the HDR images I did around this time I did tend to over saturate the colours.  I wondered what it would be like if I redid the HDR processing and then did some more work in the image.  The original post for this was from a field trip back in March, you can see the post here.

The HDR’s were all done with Photomatix Pro, so the same program for both, but the second time I tried to make it more realistic.  Here let me show you.

You can’t really tell from this rework what the HDR did look like, but one of the things I wanted to do was put more emphasis on the isle of the church and the Altar at the end.  I think the first one does that too, but I found the pews on the left side a little too distracting.

I have done quite a bit of layering with this one and I have highlighted certain parts and darkened others.  I think you still get a sense of the Cathedral, but I hope you just go to the end of it.

I was unsure if this constituted a real rework, so I have done another one for you today.  It is also from the Cathedral, but from a different time.  I first posted it in a post called Worshiping Places back in February.

This was an interesting image, I always thought.  The man repairing the floor in St Paul’s Cathedral.  I thought it was great, but when I did the HDR image, I wasn’t too sure about the colours.  It has that greyness about it that many images have when people start doing HDR images.  It has a surreal quality.  The man’s hand is also sort of ghost like because I didn’t know how to stop the ghosting in Photoshop.

The second time around, I’ve processed it in Photomatix Pro and the ghosting hand is gone, here take a look.

To me this is more realistic and his hand looks so much better.  There is more of a solidness to it.  I hope you agree.  That is pretty much all I did to it, just redid the HDR process and changed the curves a little.

So two for one, both reworks done differently.  I do love reworking these images.  I wonder if I will ever do them again.

I am really hoping to get out this weekend and get some images done, I have a couple of places I really want to visit, so will have to see how I go.  Hope you have a great weekend as well.

Track Worlds – ReWorked

31 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Cycling, Photography

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It is Friday again, do I start every Friday post with that statement?  I have done 3 images for today.  I wanted to redo three images that I did for the Track Worlds back in April.  I had done some images from it back then, and I was so happy with them at the time,  but as time has moved on my processing has improved, or as my knowledge of it has, then I have been less satisfied with these images.

This is the image as I originally posted it.  It has qualities that I really like, but the colours are saturated quite a bit and I really don’t like the halo that you can sort of see around the riders.

Both of these images, actually all the images for today, were processed as single HDR images.  I am processing those images in Photomatix Pro and, I think, much better now.  This image is less saturated and lighter.  I think then processing it with camera raw in Photoshop is also a great idea.  It made it better, and after that I tried to draw out the detail in the track, the wood is so lovely.

Here is a great example of what I was talking about.  I find it really hard to look at this image.  It is so yellow and that halo drove me mad.  I have wanted to redo this image for so long, and here is the second attempt.

I think this image looks more natural, and how it actually was, or how I remember it.    That horrible halo appears to have gone, the colours are more natural and not so over-saturated.  I have lightened it up some, especially his face.  I like this one a lot more than the previous one.

Again this image was done as a HDR image and then opened in camera raw where most of the processing was done.  I really like camera raw, you can fix up a lot of stuff in it, not that you can’t do the same sort of stuff without it, but it is easier.

When I first did this image I was so happy with it.  I loved what it conveyed, the fact that it was of Victoria Pendelton didn’t bother me, the thing that did bother me was the halo all around her.  This was the first image from the Track Worlds that I really wanted to change.  Another chance to see if I could rid it of that halo.

Now that halo is definitely gone.  I think this is much softer as well.  The colours are more natural and while I did bring out the detail, I am so glad that it really only brought it on the boards that are reflected in her helmet.  I am much happier with this rework.

I haven’t done a lot of the technical stuff, because really the only thing I have done is redo the single HDR images.  Once that was done, there wasn’t a lot left to do.  It is so nice to redo images and not have to do much to make them better.  I have quite a few that I want to do, and who knows, I might even redo them again when I have learned more.

On another note, I found out about the other two images that I entered in the Better Photography Competition.  I received another silver award and another bronze.  I entered 5 images and was awarded with 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes, which makes me think that everyone gets awards.  I should find out.  I will finish todays post with the silver award.

Chocolate Cake with Tea – ReWorked

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Photography

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When I was trying to decide which image I should do for today’s rework so many came to mind.  I went through lots of photos and this next one really stood out, see if you can see why.

This was one of my first-ish attempts at HDR images.  I was using Photoshop to do them.  The original post was also called Chocolate Cake with Tea and I did it back in December.  I remember doing it, I had to make the cake, then ice it and then set up the still life.  I hadn’t really used the cups and saucers before, so it was nice to get them out for this.  They seemed to go so well with this set up.

I used 5 images for this and I think it is fair to say that I over, over saturated the colours somewhat, even the cake looks too orange.  The lighting looks too strong as well, I really don’t know what I was thinking when I did this.  Though to be fair, I think it was inexperience and not really knowing what I was doing and not being sure.

This image is pretty much a straight HDR image, once it was processed I really didn’t do much else to it.  Back then processing as a HDR was pretty much it.  I didn’t try and find anything else to do to the images.  So in order to rework the image, it meant I had to go back and find the images I used for it.  I used Photomatix Pro this time.

This HDR image is so much closer to the original colours of the tea set.  The cups and saucers are not that bright orange that is in the first image.  This image has also been processed with camera raw in Photoshop.  Other than that, nothing else really.

Of course I had to have a go at trying some other stuff on it as well.

I don’t know if this really worked, but I wanted to try and see what I could do to it. I didn’t do a lot, just added a couple of layers of blurring, darkened it some and then tried to highlight the cake more.  I think it has turned out too dark, and maybe sometimes images should just be left alone.

I need to go and get some things ready for my class tomorrow.  I can’t believe it is here already.  I am really looking forward to teaching, but I am also a little worried about how I will go.  What if I get asked a question I can’t answer?  What if I stuff everything up.  I need to prepare now, so enjoy the post and see you tomorrow.

HDR Images My Way

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Photography, Tutorials

≈ 74 Comments

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If you ask people who they do HDR images, they will all tell you something different.  When I first started doing them in Photoshop, I used a “recipe” that I read about in a book by Scott Kelby. I was reasonably happy, but I knew I could do better,  Then David, over at csd’s Daily Photo, recommended Photomatix Pro to me, and I haven’t looked back.  Over time I have worked things out and have come up with my own way of doing them.

Before I start this tutorial on how I do them, I want you to understand that I am not claiming to be an expert, far from it.  I do things my way. I’m not a highly technical person and tend to do things more on instinct and what I think looks good.

The first image I am going to work on is one I did for Christmas.  I shudder when I look at it now. The image is very gray which can happen with HDR’s.  Too much gamma, or something, not sure what.

The other problem with this image is the ever present halo.  I don’t know how many times I see HDR’s on the internet and you can tell what they are, they have a grey coating, I don’t know how else to describe it, they also have the halo around solid objects, and the over saturated colours.  I am not sure why it seems appropriate to oversaturate the colours in HDR images. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like the bright green grass I see in many of them.

There is a detail of that image to show you what I mean.  It is really annoying and really makes the image stand out as a HDR image.

Admittedly this was done in Photoshop.  As I said, I now have Photomatix Pro, here is what it looks like when you open it up and press load images.

Remember you can click on any image and get a bigger picture.  I have made the Photomatix ones larger for that reason.  Hopefully you will be able to see them.

So in the image above you can see, we are ready to load our images, for the sake of this tute, we are using more than one image.

The three images I needed for this HDR image are there in that folder.  I highlight the 3 images and press open.

Here are the three images loaded.  There are a whole heap of pre-sets that you can use on the right, or they are underneath if the image is in landscape mode, but I find them too surreal or hyper-real and I don’t like them.  I click on Enhancer – Default.  It is also a pre-set, but is probably closest to the more natural image.  From there I go about changing all the pre-sets that are available on the left.

You can see the sliders have been changed on the left. I change the strength to over 80, depending on how I am feeling.  I don’t touch the saturation, I turn the luminosity down but no further than -4.  The details I go up about 2 or 3, be careful with this one, it can make the image quite dark. One thing I do do, which does really seem to change the image, well for me, the lighting adjustments.  I move it, most of the time all the way over to the right.  It nearly always gets rid of the halo.

More options, I don’t really do that much more, I do smooth the highlights sometimes, but more on that soon.  I change the gamma as well, you have to be really careful about gamma.  It can also darken the image.  If you do it the other way, it will lighten it, but again, be careful.

Once you have done that press process.

It is still very grey, but I suspect that is the scene more than the HDR process.  I hope you agree that this one is a lot better.  That is the difference, after viewing it again, I realise, it isn’t as luminescent.

I thought I would do another image as well, and show how to adjust for that halo.

Here is an image of the silos that are near my mum’s.  I have done this before, but as I was looking at it recently I realised how bad the halo was around it.  I will show it at the end, and you can compare the two different HDR images.  I have opened it up and clicked on the enhancer-default setting.

I have started making changes here, you can see the halo forming around the silos, and the lighting adjustments is still on 0.0, it is also still quite dark.

The lighting adjustments slider has been moved all the way over to the right, and you can see the image has lightened up a lot.  I also upped the smooth highlights as well, which really does help even it out as well.

So here is the image the first time I did it.

Here is the second time.

The first image has had some post processing, but I think the lighting in the second one is more natural and is a good image to begin post processing with.  I hope you agree. I am hoping you notice that the halo is gone.

That is about all of it now.  I don’t do a lot, but I think it is important to develop your own style.  I play with the settings, and I would recommend you do the same. Work on a copy of your image if you are worried about messing up your image, but you don’t have to save it if it doesn’t work.

Playing with the settings is really the only way to understand how each of the settings work and what they do.  I don’t really know what they each are, I won’t pretend, but I have a pretty good idea what each of them will do to my images.

If you have been following my blog you will know, that this is usually only the first step in processing my images.  I go on to do a lot more to it in Photoshop and with Topaz as well.  HDR images are not always necessary, but I nearly always take bracketed shots, why not, and then do the HDR.  I don’t think it hurts, I have a pattern now and it doesn’t take me very long at all.

I hope you understand all that.  Teaching isn’t always easy and explaining what you do can be really hard.  I am hoping to do one a week.  I am also hoping that Photomatix will come on board and offer you a 15% discount if you want to purchase it after this tutorial.  Next time, we might look at putting watermarks on your images, something I have been asked about a lot.

Update on  Photomatix Pro by HDRsoft .

Here is the coupon code for your 15% discount – LeanneCole15, it is not case sensitive.  I am told that you click buy, you will be taken to the order form where you can enter the code where it says Coupon code.  I hope many of you will take advantage of this, it is a great deal.  I would like to thank HDR Soft for this opportunity.  To purchase the software you can click on the Photomatix Pro link above, or go to their purchase page here.

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