Recent talks with Sandy Corless have reconstituted how I capture HDR images. Sandy has taken Dan Burkholder’s HDR workshop, then developed her own HDR style, as usual!
Revised
Revised
What Cha’ Lookin’ At..? Two images – the 0EV manual capture at f/11, ISO 200, shutter speed 1/180 sec.
The 2nd image is the resulting full range HDR where shutter speeds ranged from 1/6 to 1/6000 secs. The 11 raw files were captured at 11 AM. Our colorful result has gone thru Photomatic and Lightroom to become the ‘Best It Can Be…!’
In A Nutshell
I shoot with a Nikon D300 – it handles 14 bit raw images and allows me to manually change shutter speed at constant aperture and ISO. If I set my shutter speed to 0.5EV per click, two clicks, up or down, can change my EV by +/- one setting.
On manual setting, I choose depth of field (aperture), set ISO (200), and estimate the first capture. By moving my viewfinder dial to +5EV (10 clicks left), I estimate the initial HDR range. If the histogram shows only a small amount of signal, with most being blown out, e.g. the upper 10% of the histogram shows data, that’s my beginning HDR image. If Magic Hour tonal contrast is larger, I must continue searching until my initial HDR histogram only fills the upper 10%.
I then methodically begin decreasing my EV 2 clicks at a time moving right on the shutter speed dial until I show only 10% of the lower histogram remaining. Of course, you want to take a shot each 2 clicks, examine the histogram, then move onto the next capture!
For a near sunset or sunset Magic Hour capture sequence, this may take 15-20 images…
Photomatix Pro
Lightroom has a Photomatix Plugin which lets you select the range of images, then ask PP to assemble a 32 bit .hdr file. I always ask PP to perform all functions in assembly – Align, Reduce Chromatic Aberrations, Reduce Noise, and Reduce Ghosting Artifacts. PP plugin returns a 16 bit tif file.
Time has shown 2 issues; the resulting 16 bit tif file usually contains noise _and_ ONLY Tone Compressor at Default Settings allows me to retain the original bi-modal histogram in the 32 bit file.
An 11 shot HDR (RHS in final image above) took ~ 7 minutes on a dual CPU 32 bit 1.8 Ghz PC.
Lightroom’s Initial Tone Mapping
I apply Basic, Curves, and Detail panels to allow tone mapping to the final 16 bit tif, making copies for each separate Develop function in case of later modifications.
Detail panel actually allows me to perform 2 functions; noise reduction and sharpening.
Noise Reduction – PP usually leaves noise. By clicking on the Masking slider and moving to the right, I can see how much sky noise appears. I then move the Luminance slider until that noise is minimized.
Sharpening – I then apply an appropriate sharpening preset, modifying the Masking slider to produce the most pleasing HDR image.
If it’s a competition image, I might also choose to apply Pixel Genius’ Photokit Sharpener for its more complete sharpening tools…
If additional refinement is warranted, I open the Lightroom image in Photoshop to perform specialized tasks not presently available in Lightroom…
You can find a basic workflow either on Pathways of Light under Full Manual Range HDR capture or as a downloadable PDF here.
Enjoy…
The 2nd image is the resulting full range HDR where shutter speeds ranged from 1/6 to 1/6000 secs. The 11 raw files were captured at 11 AM. Our colorful result has gone thru Photomatic and Lightroom to become the ‘Best It Can Be…!’
In A Nutshell
I shoot with a Nikon D300 – it handles 14 bit raw images and allows me to manually change shutter speed at constant aperture and ISO. If I set my shutter speed to 0.5EV per click, two clicks, up or down, can change my EV by +/- one setting.
On manual setting, I choose depth of field (aperture), set ISO (200), and estimate the first capture. By moving my viewfinder dial to +5EV (10 clicks left), I estimate the initial HDR range. If the histogram shows only a small amount of signal, with most being blown out, e.g. the upper 10% of the histogram shows data, that’s my beginning HDR image. If Magic Hour tonal contrast is larger, I must continue searching until my initial HDR histogram only fills the upper 10%.
I then methodically begin decreasing my EV 2 clicks at a time moving right on the shutter speed dial until I show only 10% of the lower histogram remaining. Of course, you want to take a shot each 2 clicks, examine the histogram, then move onto the next capture!
For a near sunset or sunset Magic Hour capture sequence, this may take 15-20 images…
Photomatix Pro
Lightroom has a Photomatix Plugin which lets you select the range of images, then ask PP to assemble a 32 bit .hdr file. I always ask PP to perform all functions in assembly – Align, Reduce Chromatic Aberrations, Reduce Noise, and Reduce Ghosting Artifacts. PP plugin returns a 16 bit tif file.
Time has shown 2 issues; the resulting 16 bit tif file usually contains noise _and_ ONLY Tone Compressor at Default Settings allows me to retain the original bi-modal histogram in the 32 bit file.
An 11 shot HDR (RHS in final image above) took ~ 7 minutes on a dual CPU 32 bit 1.8 Ghz PC.
Lightroom’s Initial Tone Mapping
I apply Basic, Curves, and Detail panels to allow tone mapping to the final 16 bit tif, making copies for each separate Develop function in case of later modifications.
Detail panel actually allows me to perform 2 functions; noise reduction and sharpening.
Noise Reduction – PP usually leaves noise. By clicking on the Masking slider and moving to the right, I can see how much sky noise appears. I then move the Luminance slider until that noise is minimized.
Sharpening – I then apply an appropriate sharpening preset, modifying the Masking slider to produce the most pleasing HDR image.
If it’s a competition image, I might also choose to apply Pixel Genius’ Photokit Sharpener for its more complete sharpening tools…
If additional refinement is warranted, I open the Lightroom image in Photoshop to perform specialized tasks not presently available in Lightroom…
You can find a basic workflow either on Pathways of Light under Full Manual Range HDR capture or as a downloadable PDF here.
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