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Old 04-09-2014, 08:13 AM   #841
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Haven't tried HDR yet. Don't understand the attraction - how it can affect photos...
What mathjak said. If you are going for realism rather than 'effect', it can really help - basically it can keep the highlights from blowing out, and pull details from the shadows. A little technical background:

You usually need a tripod, then you take multiple shots of the same subject, varying the exposure in steps from under-exposed to over-exposed. Some camera have a setting to do this automatically (bracketing).

The HR software use the highlights from the under-exposed areas (where they still have detail), and the shadows from the over-exposed areas (where they still have detail), and blend them into one photo. It's a powerful technique to extend the limits of the dynamic range of the camera. For pure realism, it shouldn't be needed unless the subject is beyond the limits of the camera.

It can also be used to change the look of the photo. As I said earlier, this can get 'cartoon-ish', and it can look very beautiful, but not to everyone's taste - it comes across as 'artificial' to some, in some cases.

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Old 04-09-2014, 11:36 AM   #842
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...as surrealistic as you want...
They have pills for that...

Generally, if the shot is in focus, and no fingers are in the way, any critiquing I would give would be more about aesthetics than "technique". Also, any advice would be worth what you paid for it...
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Old 04-09-2014, 03:28 PM   #843
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FIREd

Take photos for yourself, not others.
That's where I went wrong. Over the weekend, my wife reminded me what prompted my interest in photography in the first place. It was a tool that allowed me to document my life, where I've been, what I've seen, what I've done, the people I've met. Some people write a journal, some people blog about their life, I take snapshots because I am an unenthusiastic writer. The pictures go in a photo-journal meant to be a private pictorial record of my everyday life. As it turns out, that is my only aspiration as a photographer. After browsing photography forums for the past few days, I realized that I am no more interested in photography itself than the masses who post their iPhone pics on Instagram. Which is probably why I never spent more than a few hundred dollars on a camera.
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:27 PM   #844
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i am a photographer because i suck at painting.

every time i go outside the lines of the smurffs head i get so frustrated.
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:39 PM   #845
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Haven't tried HDR yet. Don't understand the attraction - how it can affect photos...
What it does is allow you to get all the lights and darks within the range of the photo. The human visual system adapts quickly and there's a lot of mental processing going on that the camera cannot do.

Anyway, here's an example (poorly done, I know, I didn't spend much time on it). Start with one normal exposure, one underexposed, one overexposed, and combine them. The last photo is the HDR, done quickly in Photoshop.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Creek_water-1.jpg (93.7 KB, 4 views)
File Type: jpg Creek_water-2.jpg (195.0 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg Creek_water-3.jpg (192.6 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg Creek_water-4.jpg (278.5 KB, 5 views)
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:47 PM   #846
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So it's nothing more than automatic layering, which Photoshoppers have been doing for decades?
Seems like it has advantages, since it only requires one shutter activation, but the effect looks a bit odd. But thanks for the explanation and demo. It explains how mathjak made a couple of images with that effect. Guess I'm an old dog, though, and the new trick doesn't interest me lol.

But Walt - that first exposure has all the detail you need, if you PS it and tweak the histogram and saturation. Maybe tweak the exposure as well, lastly. To me, that's almost an ideal exposure from which to make an image.

Dark areas tend to hold detail better, which can be discovered with 'shopping.
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:53 PM   #847
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So it's nothing more than automatic layering, which Photoshoppers have been doing for decades?
Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, and admittedly the process/math is way over my head. As noted some can look garish and some can look very nice. I just found this one that I worked on some time ago that came out better. Perhaps a bit more color saturation for some tastes.
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:55 PM   #848
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i am a photographer because i suck at painting.

every time i go outside the lines of the smurffs head i get so frustrated.
That explains it. A lot of your landscape photos look like paintings to me (that's the HDR effect I think).
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Old 04-09-2014, 04:57 PM   #849
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hdr can work nice in black and white too, you can get some interesting looks .

on the last one you can see what hdr can do. we have white snow and yet you can see in the barn.







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Old 04-09-2014, 05:02 PM   #850
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That explains it. A lot of your landscape photos look like paintings to me (that's the HDR effect I think).
i don't shoot hdr that often , it is just to much work dealing with as many as 7 huge d800 files.

i do like to use other techniques on most of my stuff. i rarely really like what i see at the scene.

i like my stuff to look the way i wished it did.

after all who needs another photo of the empire state building or some landmark unless it looks unique.

good or bad i usually like a unique look to my stuff.

you all should be happy i moved on from my intense color years lol. now talk about a bad acid trip. ha ha ha
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:03 PM   #851
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Just for information - was having a discussion elsewhere and mentioned a focussing technique some hadn't heard of: it's called back button focussing.

Photographers complain their lenses focus slowly, or focus on the wrong object. DSLRs ( don't know about the mirrorless) have a focus lock button you can use to focus where you wish without pressing the shutter release.

Disengage the focus activation from the shutter button, so the camera doesn't focus when you activate the shutter. Also, disengage the focus lock, which prevents the shutter from activating when the image is out of focus. Both are done from the menus. Instructions can be found online for particular cameras.

Then you can focus on a subject, and recompose and shoot without losing the focus on the subject, without the necessity of holding the shutter release halfway down. It's also great for action photography where you can quickly prefocus on a given distance, then keep shooting knowing the focus won't change. If you know the hyper focal length of your lens, and can estimate distances well, there are many occasions you can quickly set maximum depth of field to infinity by focusing on an item at the approximate hyper focal distance. Especially good for lenses that don't have focusing distances displayed.

Just a thought
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:05 PM   #852
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'i like my stuff to look the way i wished it did.'

That's called art. The HDR looks like it can be used to good effect, though. Your barn shot is reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting. More detailed, but the same feel.

What software do you need to manipulate HDR?
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:08 PM   #853
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these are some color hdr's







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Old 04-09-2014, 05:10 PM   #854
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'i like my stuff to look the way i wished it did.'

That's called art. The HDR looks like it can be used to good effect, though. Your barn shot is reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting. More detailed, but the same feel.

What software do you need to manipulate HDR?
i use either the nik hdr pro or photomatix. even though i helped develop hdr darkroom i like the other 2 a bit better.

if you are wondring how i use it with people and animals that are moving i combine my hdr image in photoshop with a good neutral image from the stack and replace the blurry people with the shot of the peoople captured fine in one of the single shots.

they blend great.
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:12 PM   #855
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Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, and admittedly the process/math is way over my head. As noted some can look garish and some can look very nice. I just found this one that I worked on some time ago that came out better. Perhaps a bit more color saturation for some tastes.

It does appear to open up a wide variety of possibilities with a single shutter activation..
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:14 PM   #856
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I'm hearing cash register noises, and they ain't pretty. Stopped taking photographs because the challenge seemed to be gone.. This might open up possibilities...
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:16 PM   #857
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"if you are wondring how i use it with people and animals that are moving i combine my hdr image in photoshop with a good neutral image from the stack and replace the blurry people with the shot of the peoople captured fine in one of the single shots."

So the the HDR camera is actually shooting multiple frames, then, not just digitally separating data from one shutter opening? Rhetorical question...
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:18 PM   #858
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boy we find the more we learn the more we don't know. everything becomes a challenge to us as we get better.

we really do not consider ourselves much beyond advanced amateurs in the scheme of things.
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:19 PM   #859
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"if you are wondring how i use it with people and animals that are moving i combine my hdr image in photoshop with a good neutral image from the stack and replace the blurry people with the shot of the peoople captured fine in one of the single shots."

So the the HDR camera is actually shooting multiple frames, then, not just digitally separating data from one shutter opening?
yep, i do 7 high speed shots at 1 step intervals. i end up going as high as +3 to minus 3 and then blending them into a super exposure.
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:19 PM   #860
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