How to get the "Ben Willmore" Look

[subxaero]

hey there

i wanna know if anyone can tell me how to get such clean photomatix-hdrs, like Ben does

http://www.thebestofben.com/

one of his "secrets" i know, is that he's doing the tonemapping twice (and then goes to phptshop for manual selectiv desaturation...

but it's the photomatix-settings that i'm curious about, cause when i try to overdo it, it just looks crappy - no clue, what i'm doing wrong

thx already

[Mucker]

Looks like he can tell you himself: http://www.digitalmastery.com/content/view/211/104/

[subxaero]

ya right...spending 70bucks for some photomatix tweaks?

(i know those dvds...it's always lotsa chit chatter and the whole money for just a few minutes...)

so is there noone who can help me out? :/

[jimi62]

Subxero do you have a set of photos ready for hdr? I might be able to help, i've had some success with HDR.

[subxaero]

Originally Posted by jimi62

Subxero do you have a set of photos ready for hdr? I might be able to help, i've had some success with HDR.

you bet i do

looking forward to your instructions

[jimi62]

I use Photomatix pro so the settings are specific to it.

Strength - 90
Color Sat - 70
Light Smoothing - 2 (The 2nd radio button from left, this has a huge effect on the HDr loook.)
Luminosity = 0 to 2
White and Black points - play around with depending on how dark your image is. i used default for this image.
Gamma - use to raise or lower overall darkness if image.

I suggest a minimum of 5, 1 ev stepped exposures to get maximum results. 3 works but depending on subject 3 isn't enough. I also use the aperture settings to get maximum DOF, minimum f/22 usually higher.

This is an example i shot yesterday and has been tone mapped using the settings above. You can also tone map an image twice if you save it as a 16 bit TIFF. sometimes it's necessary. on the second pass you'll turn all your settings way down.

hope this helps and i'll post some more examples as time permits.

Thanks,
Jimi

[jimi62]

File didn't attach for some reason. here it is. It's not my final comp, just wanted to show what those settings do. i also didn't tone map twice, this image didn't need it.

[subxaero]

Originally Posted by jimi62

I use Photomatix pro so the settings are specific to it.

Strength - 90
Color Sat - 70
Light Smoothing - 2 (The 2nd radio button from left, this has a huge effect on the HDr loook.)
Luminosity = 0 to 2
White and Black points - play around with depending on how dark your image is. i used default for this image.
Gamma - use to raise or lower overall darkness if image.

I suggest a minimum of 5, 1 ev stepped exposures to get maximum results. 3 works but depending on subject 3 isn't enough. I also use the aperture settings to get maximum DOF, minimum f/22 usually higher.

This is an example i shot yesterday and has been tone mapped using the settings above. You can also tone map an image twice if you save it as a 16 bit TIFF. sometimes it's necessary. on the second pass you'll turn all your settings way down.

hope this helps and i'll post some more examples as time permits.

Thanks,
Jimi

thx a lot for your effort sire - really appreciate it...i'm right now trying, and it looks weird (maybe my source), and i will get back to you when i stumble on new questions

[jimi62]

You probably already know this, but there is two steps in this procedure. the first is to create an HDR image, then you do the tone mapping. after the first step the image looks horrible. that's because the dynamic range of the image is more than typical monitors can display. hence the second step on tone mapping is used to compress the image into the tonal range of typical monitors and printers.

[subxaero]

ja i'm quite fond of hdr, but never got close this comic look tho

(here's how my hdrs look like (only the first two are hdrs, but they've been done with the photoshop hdr engine) http://cacophoty.blogspot.com/2008/06/east.html)

[Ryan Slack]

Originally Posted by subxaero

ja i'm quite fond of hdr, but never got close this comic look tho

(here's how my hdrs look like (only the first two are hdrs, but they've been done with the photoshop hdr engine) http://cacophoty.blogspot.com/2008/06/east.html)

looks like all you need now is to bring the black back in with levels or slective color or curves whatever

[Joe M]

Here is a method you can try that is originally from The HDR Handbook by Christian Bloch. I have updated it for use in Photomatix Pro 3.0. I have these settings as presets on my computer.

High Color Image PRESET

Strength-100
Color Saturation-75 (Higher depending on the image.)
Light Smoothing-Medium
Luminosity-10
White Point, Black Point, Gamma-Default
Color Temperature-0 (Can be changed if you're looking for something special on that particular image.)
Saturation Highlights-10
Saturation Shadows-10
Micro Contrast-10 (Can be changed to -10 for a softer look that can be controlled with the opacity of the BW layer.)
Micro Smoothing-0
Highlights Smoothing-0
Shadows Smoothing-0
Shadows Clipping-0

Black and White PRESET
Strength-100
Color Saturation-0
Light Smoothing-Very Low
Luminosity- -10 (Minus Ten)
White Point, Black Point, Gamma-Default
Color Temperature-0
Saturation Highlights- -10 (Minus 10)
Saturation Shadows- -10 (Minus 10)
Micro Contrast-10
Micro Smoothing-0
Highlights Smoothing-0
Shadows Smoothing-0
Shadows Clipping-100

Save both as 16 bit .tiff files. Load the Color Image in Photoshop and do your normal curves adjustment to correct any problems you see. Move the Black and White Image above your curves adjustment and set the blend mode to Hard Light with an opacity of the layer at about 45%. You can play with the opacity to your liking and even the blend mode, try Overlay and Soft Light.

Using Soft light on the B/W layer with -10 (minus ten) Micro Contrast on the Color image and adjusting the opacity of the B/W layer will give a soft look that some may like.

I hope this helps.

[Laura_]

Reminds me of Eugenio Recuenco a great photographer.

[subxaero]

Originally Posted by Joe M

Here is a method you can try that is originally from The HDR Handbook by Christian Bloch. I have updated it for use in Photomatix Pro 3.0. I have these settings as presets on my computer.

High Color Image PRESET

Strength-100
Color Saturation-75 (Higher depending on the image.)
Light Smoothing-Medium
Luminosity-10
White Point, Black Point, Gamma-Default
Color Temperature-0 (Can be changed if you're looking for something special on that particular image.)
Saturation Highlights-10
Saturation Shadows-10
Micro Contrast-10 (Can be changed to -10 for a softer look that can be controlled with the opacity of the BW layer.)
Micro Smoothing-0
Highlights Smoothing-0
Shadows Smoothing-0
Shadows Clipping-0

Black and White PRESET
Strength-100
Color Saturation-0
Light Smoothing-Very Low
Luminosity- -10 (Minus Ten)
White Point, Black Point, Gamma-Default
Color Temperature-0
Saturation Highlights- -10 (Minus 10)
Saturation Shadows- -10 (Minus 10)
Micro Contrast-10
Micro Smoothing-0
Highlights Smoothing-0
Shadows Smoothing-0
Shadows Clipping-100

Save both as 16 bit .tiff files. Load the Color Image in Photoshop and do your normal curves adjustment to correct any problems you see. Move the Black and White Image above your curves adjustment and set the blend mode to Hard Light with an opacity of the layer at about 45%. You can play with the opacity to your liking and even the blend mode, try Overlay and Soft Light.

Using Soft light on the B/W layer with -10 (minus ten) Micro Contrast on the Color image and adjusting the opacity of the B/W layer will give a soft look that some may like.

I hope this helps.

i'm only through the tone mapping and the color image's already looking awesome.

thx a lot!!!

[subxaero]

this is my frist try with your instructions
(i used the bnw layer on color dodge with some curves to just pitch the whites)

http://img59.imageshack.us/my.php?im...iccolorpw9.jpg

[Joe M]

Originally Posted by subxaero

this is my frist try with your instructions
(i used the bnw layer on color dodge with some curves to just pitch the whites)

http://img59.imageshack.us/my.php?im...iccolorpw9.jpg

Your image looks good.

A couple of other things that may help.

You'll sometimes find that when processing an image the sky looks terrible while the rest of the image looks good, or the opposite. What I do is simply process the image twice in Photomatix, once for the sky and once for the rest of the image. Then combine them in PS using a layer mask or your favorite method.

Photomatix also does a very good job of turning day into night. Play with your black point, white point, and gamma settings, and tone map it to make a very convincing night shot before you ever get into PS.

[subxaero]

Originally Posted by Joe M

Your image looks good.

A couple of other things that may help.

You'll sometimes find that when processing an image the sky looks terrible while the rest of the image looks good, or the opposite. What I do is simply process the image twice in Photomatix, once for the sky and once for the rest of the image. Then combine them in Photoshop using a layer mask or your favorite method.

Photomatix also does a very good job of turning day into night. Play with your black point, white point, and gamma settings, and tone map it to make a very convincing night shot before you ever get into Photoshop.

this is the tricky part - i'm kinda not able to really go for a result i have mapped out in my head and tell photomatix what i want.
i see the results PM does, i understand (most of) the names of the sliders, BUT still...i never was able to get to the result your presets offered me...and PM3 even got slower than its predecessor...

[jmgcg]

OK it´s a little late, and only now i saw this post.
You ask for the Ben Willmore Settings for the HDR.
He use this.
Strength 100
Color Saturation 100
Light Smoothing (Depending on the image,you have to judge by yourself, try not to have halos in the image.)
Luminosity +10
White Point, Black Point,(play with this ones to get the result you want) Gamma 1.00
Color Temperature 0
Saturation Highlights 0
Saturation Shadows 0
Micro Contrast +7 or +10 (How much grunge look you want, higher setting give more.)
Micro Smoothing 0
Highlights Smoothing 0
Shadows Smoothing 0
Shadows Clipping 0
Start whit this ones.

Then you have to tweak Between Light Smoothing and Luminosity to eliminate halos, nad if your highlights become to bright, play with White Point setting.

Since the controls Saturation Highlights/Shadows are related with Color saturation, you can only lower the saturation, since is already high.

The rest is the same, play around with other controls to tweak the image.
Save as a 16 Bit image Tiff, and open again in Photomatix trough Tone Mapping with the same settings, and tweak around until you are happy, Usually color saturation have to be lower in the second pass.
You can try a 3 try.
Here is one i made with 2 passages in Photomatix

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/12/66/06/48/blue_g10.jpg

[JenniferOwens]

those are awesome photos! Is there any way to do that look using just Photoshop CS4?

[cmpentecost]

Here is a link for very good HDR tutorial, using Photomatix, with Ben Willmore:

http://beta.sling.com/video/show/988...crets:-Amazing

Christine

[lurch]

Hi Christine, Welcome to RTP. Good link!

[cmpentecost]

Thanks Lurch. I recognize your name from OPR! I've actually been a member of RTP for awhile but never posted. Lots of changes since I was last here and I think I'll be sticking around a bit more often.

The video with Ben really helped to explain all of the settings with Photomatix and how and why to use them.

Christine

[Quantum3Studio]

I saw the DVD... It just explains what means each slider in Photomatix, and hey, just like a dumb. The DVD doesn't explain how those sliders really works, just the obvious thing. Don't buy it.

[Tareq]

I love HDR, and i just didn't look at any HDR tutorial and i just using that HDR since 2006 and found my own style, and i love it even if it is not great or perfect.