How to take an HDR picture..

[MAXdB]

********I've added a more detailed how-to further down the page******

I wanted to make a quick how-to for HDR pictures... Im definitely not an expert on this so if anyone would like to add anything please do!

So first of all, the program I used was called Photomatix (here is a link to a free trial version I found: http://www.hdrsoft.com/download.html) and to put very simply, you take a shot of the bike (or whatever your subject is) in multiple exposures--I find 3 works pretty well--one at normal exposure, one that is brighter (overexposed)  and another that is darker (underexposed). Obviously you will want to do this with a camera stand so to get the pictures to be fairly similiar. Then you basically put these in the program and voila you get the HDR pic.. Definitely this is an over simplification as there are other things you may want to do such as adjusting the contrast/hue with photoshop or something and not to mention take a good picture of the bike to begin with..
But this is a basic overview to how I made this particular picture of my bike..





Also, you could technically do this with just one picture by using photoshop to make three different versions of the same one by altering the contrast--the original, a darker one, and a lighter one. I did that for these:








Here is a youtube vid I found that may be somewhat helpful: Photomatix Tutorial for Windows


(not mine btw). Some pictures come out better than others so it's worth experimenting.. Let me know if any one has any questions or any pics they'd like me to do the HDR effect on.
 

[junior varsity]

feckin' incredible pics.

[misterburns]

amazing indeed.  Gotta give this a try.

[NoisyDante]

And there's a Mac version as well, very cool.  My first attempt didn't turn out very well, took one image made other versions of contrast.  Got some tips on achieving a great result like yours?

[MAXdB]

And there's a Mac version as well, very cool.  My first attempt didn't turn out very well, took one image made other versions of contrast.  Got some tips on achieving a great result like yours?

why not post up the original and finished product to see what looks like so far and if we can improve on it

[Goat_Herder]

why not post up the original and finished product to see what looks like so far and if we can improve on it

+1.  Let's see the before and after.  Awesome pics BTW.  I would love to duplicate it for my own. 

[NoisyDante]

I will very soon, I want to find some better source material to work with as well, maybe the result will be better.

[numbskull]

Thanks for the info. These pics look great!

[Monster Dave]

I second the compliment  - Freak'n amazing pictures! 

[junior varsity]

FYI. two things you have to do to take such pictures. This should come as no shock to you, but as I walked out to the garage, it donned on me that i lacked one of the following.

1. Knowledge of adjusting exposure level. (check!)

2. Tripod so the pictures are very closely lined up. (oops. no check)

[NoisyDante]

My studio is creating a new website as part of our new branding effort.  I suggested they do all the facility photos as HDR and turns out they're taking my advice.  They look awesome so far, should be up and live in a few weeks.

Been too busy myself to take my own bike photos for HDR attempt round two.

[junior varsity]

post a link when the site is up!

[MAXdB]

Ok so i had a little extra time and thought I'd add to the how-to:

First of all, you will need at least three pictures of differing exposures to get all the detail from the picture. I usually use jpegs that are about 2000x 1333 and if they are larger I shrink them to that size before proceeding--I personally dont need them any larger than that and the hdr's dont come out right if the pictures are too small. Here are the four that I used.





Next, assuming you have the photomatix program the starting point that I usually have the settings at are as follows:

strength=100
color saturation=40
light smoothing=very high
luminosity=+10
white point=+2.846
black point=+4.012
gamma=1.10
temperature=+5
microcontrast=+10
microsmoothing=0
highlight smoothing=default
shadow smoothing=default
shadow clipping=default
saturation highlights=default
saturation shadows=default.
and dont tick 360 degree view.
 
start with this and try changing each one indiviually to see how they affect the picture (note that the final product may be a little different than the preview image).




next put them in with the above settings and create the HDR. Once I have the hdr picture, I like to stick the picture in photoshop and tweak the hue/saturation slightly to bring out the colors I want and finally, the brightness and contrast to really make the picture pop out. Hope this does a little more in helping those who had trouble with this.. Here's my final product:





again, I'm no pro at this so if anyone has any other advice or corrections, please chime in!

[hunduc]

first feeble attempt.

[hunduc]

another try, thanks MAXdb, this is fun.