Key West Grunge

[brick33308]

Hi. Just joined the forum, and went immediately to the HDR strings because lately I've been playing around with the technique. Here's one from a trip to Key West a couple of weeks ago. The rest are at this link:
http://brick.smugmug.com/gallery/449...ufUy#264787076

Hope you like them.

[palms]

Re: Key West Grunge

Well i like them some super images there
Oh welcome as well could you please add a bit of info like which software you use, how many shots used etc etc, there are a few of us here who would like to learn more about the subject so any info helps

Palms

[brick33308]

Re: Key West Grunge

Sure.

First thing I did was to take a series of shots starting about 2 stops above the autometered exposure so that I was exposing first for highlights. I set the camera's LCD display to blink on the overblown areas. At 2 stops above the metered exposure, nothing is going to be blown out, so that first image should have no blinkies in it. Then, while in full manual mode (because it's necessary to keep the fstop constant), I dialed in progressively slower shutter speeds, in 1 stop increments. When I got to the point that my last exposure was almost completely blinking/blown out, then I knew I'd exposed even for the darkest areas in the shot, and now I had my series of images to use for HDR conversion. So for each HDR converstion I had somewhere between 7 and 10 shots.

Next I created the HDR luminosity image using Photomatix, although you can use CS3 or any number of other HDR applications. Then is the fun part - tone mapping the HDR luminosity image. Using Photomatix, for each image it's a matter of moving the sliders back and forth to achieve the look you want. If you want a photo realistic look, then check the box in tone mapping called "tone compress", and if you want the illustrative look (which is what I wanted), then choose "details enhancer". After running the images through tone mapping(which by the way you can do multiple times to "multiply" the effect provided that you output the image as a 16 bit file), then I did curves, saturation and sharpening adjustments in CS3.

[saby]

Re: Key West Grunge

very nice shots brick!!!

[palms]

Re: Key West Grunge

Thak you for the write up, learn a little bit more each time
look forward to seeing more of your work

Palms

[oceanjake]

Re: Key West Grunge

Nice stuff Brick. I really enjoyed them. Do you have any samples of more photo realistic stuff?

[brick33308]

Re: Key West Grunge

unfortunately this was my first attempt with HDR so I don't have any photorealistic examples. But it's definitely not going to be my last. I've decided to grow up and stop bellyaching about dealing with the weight of a tripod (which is absolutely essential for good HDR). I've got a nice carbon one that folds up pretty decently, and for now on, it's going to accompany me on all my trips, so I expect more HDR. I'm going on a cruise to the Bahamas in the middle of April and am looking forward to exploring with my camera and tripod.