The Photographers' Corner 2013-2020

[seraphim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seraphim Playing with HDR to bring out textures using a single photo. Using photos about -1 EV seems to work more to my taste. Attachment 18772

This is what I'd normally do with the file:

ImageUploadedByEarly Retirement Forum1398439284.367032.jpg

Opinions?

[Jack_Pine]

I like both of those but for different reasons, I guess. To me, the HDR one is more "artsy" and seems like I would want to frame it in my study. I love the colors on the second on and the way it pops.

You guys have sucked me in. I have done a lot of photos as a pastime and was going to go into big time in retirement (1.5 years). I am going to start playing with some bracketing for HDR this weekend. I love some of the stuff you guys have done..

[seraphim]

I get the same feel. I can't seem to bring out the saturation as much in the HDR versions.

Go for it! No point in waiting. During my last years of w$&k I made purchases for retirement, while my income was higher.

There's a free HDR program called Luminance, available for Wndows, Mac and Linux. A good starter program. RAWTherapee is a free RAW editor, and DarkTable is a free Lightroom clone, but it's not available for Windows. I'm really into free open source stuff.

[Jack_Pine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seraphim There's a free HDR program called Luminance, available for Wndows, Mac and Linux. A good starter program. RAWTherapee is a free RAW editor, and DarkTable is a free Lightroom clone, but it's not available for Windows. I'm really into free open source stuff.

Thanks, I think my weekend is now planned.....................

[seraphim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack_Pine Thanks, I think my weekend is now planned.....................

*grin*

[seraphim]

I wonder if I could overlay the two photos in Photoshop?

[seraphim]

Combined

ImageUploadedByEarly Retirement Forum1398446077.754047.jpg

[explanade]

There's a kind of opacity that looks like a computer graphics texture in HDR images.

[Jack_Pine]

I like combined, best of both worlds..................................I can see I need to develop (so to speak) some skills.......................

[Ronstar]

Went out in my kayak for a couple of hours. Not as easy shooting flying geese from a kayak as I hoped it would be.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seraphim Playing with HDR to bring out textures using a single photo. Using photos about -1 EV seems to work more to my taste. Attachment 18772

I'd be tempted to hang that on the wall. DW wouldn't like it though.

[Walt34]

Does anyone use the pen tool much in Photoshop? I've recently gotten somewhat ahead of the learning curve on it and once that's done it's pretty neat, although labor-intensive. But the results are worth it. This is an "afterthought" shot I took while at the roundhouse, of a light fixture on the train station.

I did the cutout of the fixture in about 45 minutes, more practice will cut that a lot. There are some places where the rust on the bottom of the fixture is almost the exact same color as the brick so using a color-based or contrast-based selection tool would be difficult at best. Plus, since the pen tool is based on lines, not pixels, so you get a much cleaner cut when the path is turned into a selection.

Anyway the image with the brick wall included has the path imbedded if anyone wants to play with it. I don't know if other software will read that or not. According to this article almost every image editing program has some variant of it:

Quote:

One of the great things about the Pen Tool is that it’s not something that’s exclusive to Photoshop. Far from it! Virtually every popular photo editing, graphics and page layout program uses the Pen Tool in one form or another , so once you’ve learned how to use it in Photoshop, you’ll already have a good understanding of how to use it in lots of other programs as well!

[Jack_Pine]

So, yeah, I figured out how to do bracketing in my D60 and did a few. That's one step.

Download the Luminance HDR software and now have no clue what to do and am loving it. I really like have to figure this stuff out. If nothing else I know I will be able to keep myself busy when I FIRE.

[seraphim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack_Pine So, yeah, I figured out how to do bracketing in my D60 and did a few. That's one step. Download the Luminance HDR software and now have no clue what to do and am loving it. I really like have to figure this stuff out. If nothing else I know I will be able to keep myself busy when I FIRE.

The basics are easy, but playing with all the possibilities is time consuming. But worth it. Open the HDR software, and add the three photos. If you didn't use a tripod, check the alignment box. Then click 'next'. Then 'finish' You get a selection of possibilities on the right - each made with a different algorithm. Mantuik06 is the one that pops up default. Play with the sliders for detail and contrast, then click 'tone map' for the results.

Have fun

Here's two examples from same image, one created with Drago and the other with Mantiuk06

ImageUploadedByEarly Retirement Forum1398461824.891472.jpg

ImageUploadedByEarly Retirement Forum1398461837.748686.jpg

Neither one saw PhotoShop yet. The original image was one shot, not three bracketed.

[seraphim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Does anyone use the pen tool much in Photoshop? I've recently gotten somewhat ahead of the learning curve on it and once that's done it's pretty neat, although labor-intensive. But the results are worth it. This is an "afterthought" shot I took while at the roundhouse, of a light fixture on the train station. I did the cutout of the fixture in about 45 minutes, more practice will cut that a lot. There are some places where the rust on the bottom of the fixture is almost the exact same color as the brick so using a color-based or contrast-based selection tool would be difficult at best. Plus, since the pen tool is based on lines, not pixels, so you get a much cleaner cut when the path is turned into a selection. Anyway the image with the brick wall included has the path imbedded if anyone wants to play with it. I don't know if other software will read that or not. According to this article almost every image editing program has some variant of it:

Yea - it can be interesting. My son took a family photo - without himself - with a camera with no timer. Then everyone stayed in the same spot, Ben came into the group, and I went and took a second shot. I then cut myself from the first photo and stuck it in the empty space in the second. Viola! I mean, voila!

[Nodak]

If anyone is interested in playing around with bracketing and HDR from an Android smart phone checkout the "A Better Camera" app from the Play Store

[davemartin88]

Don't know the technical details behind my photos- I have a Sony Alpha which is set on Auto for 99.9% of the time. I liked the look of the sky in this one above my astronomy dome. I took about 6 or 8 shots and it was interesting how each one turned out so different in terms of the amount of color, contrast, etc. They were taken over about 10 seconds and only variable was the amount of zoom to frame the image? This red/orange sky is pretty common but still draws my eye when I see it.

[FIREd]

Riding a cable car down Nob Hill in San Francisco:

[Jack_Pine]

Are there any particular settings that are best for a decent HDR result?

For my first shot I am just attempting a shot of a small barn in the late afternoon. I am getting jagged edges on the straight edges after I combine the photos in the HDR software.

I realize I am clueless.........................

[Jack_Pine]

Tell me about the "hows" of the cable car photo. Love the colors.