HDR, anyone else play?

[lijk604]

Here are three from my trip to Cincinnati:

The I-471 Bridge over the Ohio River


The L&N Pedestrian Bridge over the Ohio River (with the I-471 in the background)


The Covington Cathedral - Covington, Kentucky (and this was handheld)

[moose135]

Great shots, John! The shot of the cathedral is outstanding!

[adam613]

Excellent work...the HDR is done really nicely here...

[Johnathaneric]

Heres my first time doing a HDR photo with Photomatix Pro 3 program.....



Enjoy.....

Eric

[Derf]

Very nice, but you need extreme LIGHT and Dark...Point the camera into the sun and let at it....the show us some of those....If you can take a picture and not under or over expose...there is not much use in the HDR. You did this right, but you will learn much more if you go extreme!!!!

Lights at night are difficult....here was my attempt at some newer ones


This is an HDR when not needed

(I am also king of those usless shots!)

Then a non HDR...


Too HDR or not to HDR.....

[GrummanFan]

Ditto on the "going to the extreme" mantra. If there is a good mix of dark shadows and bright lights, then its probably begging for an HDR. Sunrise and sunset have been the best times for my shots, since you get the most interesting lighting.

A few of my recent attempts...

[Johnathaneric]

Very nice, but you need extreme LIGHT and Dark...Point the camera into the sun and let at it....the show us some of those....If you can take a picture and not under or over expose...there is not much use in the HDR. You did this right, but you will learn much more if you go extreme!!!!

Hey Derf, I did it the right way where I took 6 different exposures from very under exposed to
over exposed.......This day was a very overcast......This is why you really don't see that
much shadow, but you do see alot of detail that I did not get on the regular picture......

And I did go to the extreme my friend.....

Eric

[lijk604]

A very subtle HDR here...

[Derf]

Very nice, but you need extreme LIGHT and Dark...Point the camera into the sun
and let at it....the show us some of those....If you can take a picture and not under or over expose...there is not much use
in the HDR. You did this right, but you will learn much more if you go extreme!!!!

Hey Derf, I did it the right way where I took 6 different exposures from very under exposed to
over exposed.......This day was a very overcast......This is why you really don't see that
much shadow, but you do see allot of detail that I did not get on the regular picture......

And I did go to the extreme my friend.....

Eric

I did not mean to offend, I am not talking about how you did the different exposures and putting it thru the filters and
what..... I was talking about the conditions in which the picture was taken itself.

I am in no way knocking how you processed it, only wanted to say that this type of picture does not fit the need for HDR
as far as I see. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS and I have done many that should not really use HDR as far as the dynamic
range is concerned. I am not trying to beat your shot up, but I will try to explain better were I was going with it.

In overcast conditions there is rarely a need for HDR unless you are trying to make clouds pop but that is only if they have
definition and also if you are looking for a reflection. In the below picture I show both for an example


But the real reason for an HDR is this

Where there would be over or under exposure or both. HDR gathers all the info that can be had so you can make a shot
with little to no data out of range of the sensor.

If you look at the histogram of properly exposed shot you took of the boat, it will be within range and completely
photoshopable.... HDR will help with lowering noise and help with editing if extreme processing is wanted by the editor.

LIKE EVERY RULE IN PHOTOGRAPY..... EVERY RULE MUST BE BROKEN ....ie, to not take pictures into the sun if you want
foreground info, HDR lets us break that rule much more often then otherwise would be done...but it still can be done without
an HDR as shown below with this non HDR (But there is massive overexposure AND underexposure)

If this was HDR, You should see less overexposure and more definition of the sun as well as greener trees (instead of black).

There have been times that I used HDR IMPROPERLY for a look of bringing out the dark areas or just because of the low
contrast look. Like I said, EVERY RULE in photography MUST BE BROKEN to get better. BREAK MY RULES AS WELL!!!! but
understand what I am saying as I process more HDR's then the next 50 guys. PROVE ME WRONG as I have those who
taught me, and that is what will make other people look.

Here are just a few that I SHOULD NOT have used HDR but did.






This would have been a black statue and a white background due to the back-lighting, HDR made this the only way It would
not be a silhouette or the sky would have been white if the statue looked any kind of green




In closing, I just wanted to see pictures like this

turn into this


I hope I am wrong as I would learn more about something I think I have a pretty good grasp on. Thousands of HDR's later
and I have not stopped learning. Never take anything that anyone says as law, just learn from it. Play with extreme and
use what you have learned to show us more....


the only reason I replied back to your post and not others was you said it was your FIRST hdr.... I have no problem as my
firsts were not as good as that, but I have learned since the first and I just wanted you to turn into the sun with the
camera and have more fun that you have been having. Kenny on this forum has had way less experience on his HDR's than
me, and I think his shots are over process and over saturated....YET I and EVERYONE ELSE LOVES THEM. John has been using it allot and Love his work as well. You do what you want your way, but play....ITS ALL GOOD and I was just trying to give you come criticism.... I wish I would have worded it better, I am good at photography (debatable) but not the
English language (not debatable).

I look forward to you showing us more....please post many more for us :)

[Derf]

a new one from last night

[Derf]

And one more from the other Day...HDR and photoshopped

[eric8669]

[lijk604]

Nicely done Eric!

[Derf]

Wow, Nice indeed!

[njgtr82]

Ok I finally have given this a shot. Fred thanks for the info, how did I do?


Bill