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Shooting into the very bright sky on this occasion so I bracketed 3 exposures and processed in Oloneo HDR. The object of the exercise was to make the image look natural. Have I succeeded?
Tripod used fairly close to the ground, though I wish I had gone a little lower.
Phil
| Brand: | NIKON |
| Camera: | Nikon D90  Check out Nikon Nation! |
| Lens: | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Date Taken: | 19 Sep 2012 - 11:08 AM |
| Focal Length: | 11mm |
| Aperture: | f/16.0 |
| Shutter Speed: | 1/15sec |
| Exposure Comp: | 0.0 |
| ISO: | 200 |
| Exposure Mode: | Manual |
| Metering Mode: | Multi-segment |
| White Balance: | Auto |
| Title: | HDR Sculpture |
| Username: | 
Philo |
| Uploaded: | 23 Sep 2012 - 3:55 PM |
| Tags: | Digitally manipulated, Hdr, Henry moore, Landscape / travel, Oloneo, Yorkshire sculpture park |
| VS Mode Rating |
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| Votes: | Voting Disabled |
 | Critique Wanted |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
 | Variant - Before and After |
Comments
Quote: Have I succeeded?
The jury's out with me Phil.
I like the shot but the sky does look manipulated.
Having said that, it sits well with the quirky, slightly distorted effect that you've achieved in the rest of the shot.
So, does it look more natural? No, I don't really think that it does.
But does it work as it is? For me, at least, yes, it does.
Bren.
Mmmm, it would appear that I have failed somewhat with the natural look. Bren, I have uploaded an unedited RAW file so that you can compare the "manipulated" sky with the original.
Nick, I am not sure about the halo you mention. I can see a pixel wide outline around the sculpture but I think this is just a bit of oversharpening on the web version. Is that what you are referring to?
Thank you both for your comments and I am pleased you like the shot overall.
I will continue with my HDR trial and then decide whether to buy.
Phil
The halo is most evident in the blue of the sky around the figure. It is subtle, but I noticed it immediately...it looks like a grad effect radiating from the figure where the software has feathered the lightening used on the dark sculpture.
I can see now why you needed to lighten so much, maybe there is a setting on the HDR software to set the radius of the lightening from the dark outline? Maybe you could burn in the feathered area in PS to lessen it?
Could you have used flash to lighten the figure?
The uploaded mod original is darker than it needs to be...a stop or two lighter will still keep detail in the sky/cloud and give you a fighting chance with the shadows. I'm sure there is a better exposure that you used in your HDR.
Nick
Thanks for the explanation, Nick, I think I can see what you mean but I am not sure if it is present in the original file. Unfortunately there is no way to control the amount of feathering directly, just the strength of tone mapping and detail. Yes I could have used flash, in fact that would have been a good exercise, but I specifically wanted to try HDR.
I have uploaded a version processed from the middle exposure for comparison.
Phil
I see what you mean about the sky Phil. I immediately assumed, incorrectly, that it looked that way because of the processing.
Now that Nick's mentioned it, I can see the white edge too, although I don't think that I would have done otherwise. I'm not sure what it is but it's just visible in V2, the copy of the RAW, if you enlarge it and processing's made it more obvious. I would have assumed it was a part of the reflection.
What software are you considering Phil? Theres nothing in the original shot that needs HDR software, - Ive uploaded a simple Photoshop shadow retrieval as a comparison, and added more at the top, less at the right, removed a couple of spots in the sky. To me it appears more realistic, as it retains your original sky which is spot on.
I dont think it has that slight halo edge either, as its not in the original file, but Nick and Bren can find it if its there.
regards
Willie
Hi Willie, I am trying Oloneo HDR and when the trial runs out I may try Photomatix. As well as the obvious uses for the software I wanted to try it on shots like this where I would normally expose for the sky and recover shadow detail (like your very nice mod). This can, of course, introduce noise.
I accept that the result may not be totally natural but I don't want it to look obvious HDR.
I will keep trying and see if I can hone the technique.
Thanks again.
Phil
PS Your mod has also reminded me how much better the shadows/highlights tool is compared to fill light in ACR.
Quote: I dont think it has that slight halo edge either,
I opened the original in CS6 and enlarged it to silly proportions and it looks as if there's a row of very pale pixels on the edge but as I said, I think that it's part of the reflection.
Phil, - all any of the single shot HDR programmes do is use the same principles as the shadow/highlight/midtone tools you might already have. They become most useful in the multi-shot scenarios. Just a heads up before you spend the cash.
Do you have Photoshop or Corel?
Bren, - I agree that would be normal then, not an issue.
W
Willie, I must have confused you somewhere along the line. I am only using the HDR software for multiple exposures.
V3 has been processed from a single exposure in Adobe Camera RAW just for comparison. I am using CS5.
Quote: The HDR is actually quite good, how often do I say that!
Paul, I will frame this quote
. I didn't think 1/15s was that long but is has been increased due to the use of a polariser.
Thanks,
Phil
Willie, the plan is to try Photomatix once the Oloneo trial has finished and then compare the two. I am using the basic version of the latter which has the same HDR engine as the full blown one without a few bells and whistles. This is half the price of Photomatix.
I tried CS5 but wasn't too impressed and it is really, really slow.
Phil
Tried my hand at this, biggest difference is in terms of saturation, reduced it drastically in my mod. Also tried to tackle the reflections/halo on the statue by blurring the sky/clouds around it.
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