HDR Photography Just for Fun

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Well, it looks like the Macro Photography thread has dwindled away, so is anyone interested in contributing to an HDR thread? It can be any version of HDR, whether it's HDR in the purist sense or a little more interpretive.

I'll start off this thread with an HDR I did recently of a '48 Packard...

Please let me know which version you prefer - Cropped or uncropped?

Melanie

http://photos.spiffypix.com/img/v6/p128089570-3.jpg

http://photos.spiffypix.com/img/v4/p104344318-4.jpg

[John Erwin]

Definitely uncropped; you need the context of the bumper in my opinion. Beautiful picture! Wow!

[Jeff Russell]

Very nice pictures. I like both.

Jeff

[Chris Kennedy]

much better uncropped

[Greg Campbell]

Me like bumper!

The tonal mapping looks quite natural for a synthesized HDR image. Good job!

[Jim Saueressig]

I think it works great for capturing rays from a sunset as well as catching the varied contrasts. I am hoping to remember to start shooting more sets for HDR while photographing structure.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/3082879700_9fd31a0da5.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansashorizons/3082879700/sizes/o)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3073/3059494881_f0343a2e1c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansashorizons/3059494881/sizes/o)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3255/2569882160_49366fe616.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansashorizons/2569882160/sizes/o)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/3050534813_e43b101114.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansashorizons/3050534813/sizes/o)

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Wow, Jim, those are some real stunners! Anyone would love to hang those on their wall. The colors are perfect! Not too saturated at all; Just right.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback re: the Packard photo. Looking at it again, I agree that the bumper should stay.

More to come...

Melanie

[Jim Saueressig]

Wow, Jim, those are some real stunners! Anyone would love to hang those on their wall. The colors are perfect! Not too saturated at all; Just right.
Melanie

Thanks. Actually the top 3 are pretty accurate but the last one is more saturated by the HDR effect as it was late after the sunset. I haven't had much luck yet finding scenes with clouds like yours to shoot. I like how they turned out. The full version is better to me. Nice shots.

HDR
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/3050534813_e43b101114_m.jpg

Actual
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/3036822446_9de94c3ecf_m.jpg

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I strive to produce photos/artwork that comes close to comparing to yours, Jim. Fantastic stuff.

I definitely go for the impressionistic look w/my HDR; It's just my style.

Here's the interior of a 1958 Nash Metropolitian.

http://photos.spiffypix.com/img/v1/p765106176-4.jpg

[Ryan McGinnis]

I've got some HDR photos in a Flickr gallery here (http://flickr.com/photos/digicana/sets/72157594345135413/). Most of them were done with CS2, CS3, or CS4 -- I wrote a pretty easy to follow tutorial for Photoshop HDR work here (http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html).

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2306/2307023424_3f98430264_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/426332595_6b24028377_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/109/251654417_b5c464eab2_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2074/2165468586_b4228fe80d_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/88/251654419_9da54b25de_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/426332593_d704b1fdb7_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/251047033_a041c24d34_o.jpg

[Brian Emfinger]

I have found I do not enjoy post processing of my images (at all!) but I gave this a try:

http://www.realclearwx.com/images/hdr12070801.jpg

I didn't play around with it too much but it was pretty fast to do and easy so I probably will do this more.

thanks to those in the hdr storm photography thread who provided tips and made it easier to do...

[Steve Miller OK]

Ryan wrote:
I wrote a pretty easy to follow tutorial for Photoshop HDR work here (http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html).
I had no idea this was on your blog and I've been looking for information ever since I installed CS4! Thanks for referencing the post. I'll pay better attention from now on.
Great photos folks!

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

If anyone really wants to get into HDR photography hard-core, you might want to check out this guy:

http://thebestofben.com/

Click on galleries at the bottom of the page. He also has a training DVD. He also gives classes on XTrain.com. It's $15/month but you can cancel anytime.

And since we're talking about tutorials, feel free to check out my crappy BS tutorial here: :D

http://www.photosig.com/go/journals/read?id=1696&forward=userjournalentries

It's definitely a trial/error kind of process. I've refined my process over the last few months but I'm still learning.

melanie