Pic Request: HDR photos

[bishop375]

HDR done with jpgs...
look at the paint on the car in both. HDR jpgs have a grainy texture.

Honestly, I think HDR only really works well in lighting like you have in these pictures. A lot of daytime HDR stuff looks really washed out, IMO. And some of the "hyper real" look just looks PS'ed to me.

But lower light HDR shots like the two Soobie pictures and Alex's shot of that SilFro going down the ramp are perfect examples of when HDR is done right.

 

[Redlineracer12]

Honestly, I think HDR only really works well in lighting like you have in these pictures. A lot of daytime HDR stuff looks really washed out, IMO. And some of the "hyper real" look just looks PS'ed to me.

But lower light HDR shots like the two Soobie pictures and Alex's shot of that SilFro going down the ramp are perfect examples of when HDR is done right.

I would agree with the daytime pictures being less appealing. They seem to turn out much better when there are lots of colors and certain lighting. Sometimes I like the "hyper real" stuff, sometimes I don't. It all comes down to the person looking at them. I don't think there's any one way to an HDR, much like other forms of photography.

 

[Pre98]

The entire point of HDR photography is to capture every detail of bright lighting as well as every detail of shadows, whereas a 'normal' photo does not capture both. Once an HDR photo starts to really overcompensate for these things, your shot was off. A common misconception that a lot of people do not follow through with, is that you still need to shoot the photos with the scene in mind. You can't just, take three or more blown out photos and expect an awesome HDR shot. It doesn't happen like that.

I definitely want to get back into it and post back here to elaborate what I'm saying, though I think Mikes shots are the perfect balance. Anything further tone mapped and the shots begin to look like paintings (which, for photo-realism, is bad).

 

[AliasJerk]

A common misconception that a lot of people do not follow through with, is that you still need to shoot the photos with the scene in mind. You can't just, take three or more blown out photos and expect an awesome HDR shot. It doesn't happen like that.

yes, exactly what Bill said

HDR basically takes all of the different exposures and captures every element of the picture lighting wise and puts it in one photo, which is why T-red in HDR looks so cool, T-red is a metallic paint which shines differently in different lighting, so if you get the right lighting with a good location for a photo, and take 6-10 different exposures (using a tripod of course) and combine those photos together (using a program like photomatrix) and tonemap it a bit the photo can look outstanding, but some of these guys just do HDR in expectation to have a photo that instantly looks stunning, I have seen plenty of HDR photos that look like ass, only because they were in poorly lighted locations, or because they were taken outside of some guys garage.

 

[Snipey]

I have seen plenty of HDR photos that look like ass, only because they were in poorly lighted locations, or because they were taken outside of some guys garage.

talking about hdr photos that look like ass... i tried it out for the first time.. tone mapping confuses me

anyone got any advice on how to get rid of that damned photomatix label? :wink: