Posted by Dan Truong on January 30, 2007 at 1:37 AM
I took bracketed pictures this week-end, and I'd like to use them to generate HDR photos with PS CS2.
I've tried, and the composite photo obtained after a HDR merge has colors that look totally artificial. The highlights became medians, medians bright, and darks stay dark. Am I missing something?
Posted by Daniel Buck on January 30, 2007 at 12:34 PM
I usually blend the exposures manually, with soft masks. "tone mapping" is what you want to look for, there are a few programs that will do that. Yes, they can quite often give you artificial looking colors, which is one reason why I like to blend by hand instead.
Posted by Dan Truong on February 1, 2007 at 4:51 AM
How many stops difference is there between the shots that you merge? Since I was hand-holding, I just used bracketting at 1f-stop.
I do not quite understand the need for blending the exposures by hand: the tool should have all the infos needed to do the matching (aperture/speed/iso/white balance):
If the 2 photos are too radically appart, then there could be a range of brightness that's not covered (blown in one, and black in the other) causing a gap that'd become a band with no definition.
Am I missing something?
Posted by Daniel Buck on February 4, 2007 at 2:45 AM
the need for blending exposures by hand? I just like having the control. Most HDR tonemapping programs I have tried end up with odd ringing problems, or a very 'painted' look to the image. When I blend by hand, I have the control to make transitions as soft as they need to be, in key areas that need to be softer.
The only software I have used that never has this ringing problem is our high end compositing program at work, "Nuke", made by D2 Software (Digital Domain)
When I can, I use Nuke on my HDRs, but if I'm at home I just blend them by hand. I haven't tried any new tone mapping programs in a while, so maybe my hand blending isn't are not needed anymore.
Discussion
3 repliesI've tried, and the composite photo obtained after a HDR merge has colors that look totally artificial. The highlights became medians, medians bright, and darks stay dark. Am I missing something?
I do not quite understand the need for blending the exposures by hand: the tool should have all the infos needed to do the matching (aperture/speed/iso/white balance):
If the 2 photos are too radically appart, then there could be a range of brightness that's not covered (blown in one, and black in the other) causing a gap that'd become a band with no definition.
Am I missing something?
Example:
Normal (corrected from raw though)
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/album04/1284193_G_002.png
HDR from 2 photos (also corrected after fusion)
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/album04/1284193_HDR.png
Nothe the top-left sky is blown in both photos. HDR was meant to bring forth details in folliage.
The only software I have used that never has this ringing problem is our high end compositing program at work, "Nuke", made by D2 Software (Digital Domain)
When I can, I use Nuke on my HDRs, but if I'm at home I just blend them by hand. I haven't tried any new tone mapping programs in a while, so maybe my hand blending isn't are not needed anymore.