Played around with HDR (PW 370Z)
 

Here's my first attempt at HDR. Still have a lot to learn...

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...7/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...3/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...c/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...d/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...9/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...2/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...d/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_a71d50...b/fullsize.jpg

Damn... Love #3!

There are some great photographers on this forum. Thanks for sharing!

ya, that third one is sweet. Any chance you could send a higher resolution of that one for a background?

Do you use photoshop also? Try layering the HDR image over the original and making the sky, car, ground, etc. their own layers and proceed to change opacity over the original image. This helps to even out the tones, especially on the car itself. As you can see, HDR very much darkens whites. Doing what I suggested will eliminate this. Hope it helps!

:iagree: the lens flare effect is perfect.

how many steps are you doing between the exposures? You could get quite a bit more dramatic. They look nice though.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4610/fullsize.jpg

How's this?

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/6808/fullsize1a.jpg

And this?

Thanks guys :)

6spd: I'm new to all this including Photoshop (using a trial version right now). I played around with layering the original on top for a couple of these (2 & 8) but didn't spend too much time on them. I'll definitely need to play with it some more :tup:

RCZ: I used -2, 0, +2 EV. I might try doing another couple steps in between those next time.

Blueslate: I like how you brought the colors out in those. I need to get better with stuff like that.

For those that wanted higher res, I'll try to make one tonight. The tone mapping produces different results when the resolution is changed so hopefully I can recreate the same results for #3. Let me know if there's a specific res you're looking for.

i agree^^

also, #3 is the strongest out of the whole set. i'd clone out the light pole tho if possible. other than that, it's pretty epic

I use photomatix for HDR shots... and photoshop for, of course, editing. I took these two a couple days ago just for fun. It was a challenge to find out the exact combinations of detail and contrast that I wanted because of the weak and weird kitchen lighting.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/633/3rdhdrshot.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/1377/2ndhdrshot.jpg

These are my 2nd and 3rd HDR attempt. I'm also learning this little by little. :)

wanna learn. need a G to get a cam. anyone?!?!?! cmon!!!! just tell the IRS that I'm fron Haiti :ugh2:

oh also, i should mention a white car will never look white in HDR, it interprets the white as being blown out so it darkens it to gray or blue. black has the opposite effect, it lightens it to gray or blue. HDR means high dynamic range, and is an attempt to digitally create photo's that have more dynamic range on the hystogram than one exposure can get (roughly 5 stops of light). the more color and contrast between light and dark in the photo, usually the better the results will be. having said all of this, i've yet to do an HDR that i like. i just can't get the settings to come out to what i consider a good looking HDR is :(

couple HDR shots someone else took of my PW. the front shot is darker (less white) because it was probably 60 or 90 minutes later. nothin too crazy, but i love how they turned out.

http://www.the370z.com/members/vipor...m-not-mine.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/vipor...m-not-mine.jpg

those aren't bad looking shots of ur car vipor but they don't look "HDR". plus taking one picture and turning it into an HDR by upping and lowering the exposure in post doesn't yield the same results as shooting +2 and -2 EV in the field. you can't create detail in the shadows and highlights that wasn't there to begin with. not saying there's anything wrong with doing it that way, just not the same results

ah, shows what I know. I was told they were, so I thought they were. They still do look over exposed and such, but I see what you're saying about the difference.

Typically, with HDR you are taking about 3-5 shots of the same image but in different but equal exposures on a scale. Like for instance: -3, -1, 0, +1, +3. This will give you extreme lights and extreme darks. You take those 5 images and import them into PS as and HDR composition and PS will allow you to edit and compose the single image. Typically, I have a stand for these kinds of shoots cause I cant hold the camera still enough and get 5 identical shots at different exposures.

I hope that kinda helps explain some of the process. I will find one of my old HDR's and post it up. :tup:

Not bad ;) I tried photomatix and really liked it but wasn't willing to pay $100 for it. I used qtpfsgui for my shots. It's free and produces very similar results. Takes a bit more effort but isn't too hard to work with. I just downloaded Gimp to see if I can use it as a substitute for Photoshop. I like PS but again, don't want to pay $100.

Actually I took these pics with a Panasonic FZ35. You can find them for just over $300 :tup:

Oh and nice shots of the car but I agree that they probably came from a single original. I've seen pretty good HDR effects from using a single RAW file but it seems that taking multiple shots is preferred.

makes sense now :tup: like a multi-shot setting with different exposures, then layer it up. sweet. hard to do hand-held and keep it stable?

I'd definitely recommend a tripod. Some cameras have a bracket feature where it will snap multiple shots at different exposures automatically. You could probably get away with handheld shots that way but I'd still just use a tripod.

yea this^^^ i've got a free code for photomatix if you want it:tiphat:

I could definitely get some codes but they probably aren't supposed to be posted on here. Rapidshare = win.

Hell yeah! Can you PM it to me? Thanks :happydance:

Bah I suck at this. I'm not having any luck producing the same results at high resolutions. Any HDR gurus have some insight on why I'm having so much trouble? I've tried tweaking everything in qtpfsgui and photomatix. It either turns out noisy as hell or completely undramatic. :mad:

and that's why i've gotten to the point where i just don't even mess with HDR, especially for cars

you've already heard it , but i love shot #3.

less photomatix, more photoshop! photomatix seems AWESOME at first but looses its flame quickly. making a picture with high dynamic range is very complicated and involves many different layers and much time. every aspect of the picture has to be tweaked separate from the rest, hence the many layers!

What file format are you starting with? If at all possible, use RAW files instead of JPG. I've played around with qtpfsgui from time to time. I think you can get some pretty cool stuff out of it.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...ast_mappin.jpg

****** Tilt Shift Photography *******
 

You guys want to talk about awesome, check out these pictures of various Formula 1 races using Tilt-Shift Photography .......

Formula One Through Tilt-Shift Lenses - Photography - Jalopnik

I'm sure someone on this board with a better aptitude for complex ideas can explain how these images are created.

That, or I guess I can wiki it and find out :)

Martin

yea tilt shift lenses are really cool too. usually really expensive tho. i don't know exactly how they work internally but i know they give the look of taking a macro shot of a scale model set. i've seen some shots of cars using tilt shift that looks like a real car is a die cast model. it's a weird effect but it's different at the same time... i saw a video taken on a DSLR of a monster jam through a TSE lens and it was just insane

I used JPG for these shots but might try RAW next time. I'm really only having trouble when I try to produce high resolution final images. The smaller res turn out pretty good with minimal effort. Photoshop probably is the answer as 6spd mentioned. I probably won't spend too much time on this though. Just wanted to play around with it a bit and see how hard it was.

Man, I have always wanted to try HDR. I have nice DSLR, but never got into it. Might have to give it a try.