HDR

I have never really done HDR's before, I have heard of them but i never really bothered to do them. Some of the things that i already know are:

- They turn everything grey.....

- Make it possible to capture details in shadows and in high light situations

- The more levels of exposure, the better the dynamic range ( in theory, so far every time I have tried I have had to drop a few images to create a better image)

- They take forever to put together.....

- It's very easy to create an "unrealistic image" 

- A TRIPOD IS PARAMOUNT!!!!! any little movement in the image will create flaws in the final product  (when changing exposure, it is hard to reduce camera movement. So when taking the actual photo it is best to use self timer or a remote."

- Wind will effect foliage in all photos.

first attempt

All images where taken using ISO 125 and apature of f 16

 1/10

 1/15

1/16 

 1/25

1/40

Final image

Overall i'm pretty happy with my result, after a little post production it turned out better than I expected. Their is nice high lights in all of the shadows and the predominant light spots aren't blown out. You are still able to see some of the yellow leafs in the tree and the grass is nice and green. Although the trees are a little grayer then I desired. I also had to photo shop out that guy in the white jumper as well.

second attempt

all images where taken with a iso of 400 and an apature of f16

1/250

1/160

1/100

1/60

1/30

final image

This attempt was not as good as my first attempt I believe. Their is a lot more motion blur in the leaves and trees are far to under exposed. I have had to do quite a bit of post production to reach a semi desirable look. When the HDR was finished and the slider came up to do work on exposures and gamma, every time i would adjust exposure to fit the tree or the sky one or the other would be under or over exposed.

third attempt


This time I think i'm going to try something inside, there are to many variables that keep effecting the outdoor shoots.

all images where taken with an iso of 125 and an apature of f 11

 1/160

 1/60

 1/25

 1/10

1/4

final product

I have tried several attempts at taking this photo, each time it got better and better. I used adobe photoshop CS4 and it worked well but when i used HDR pro on photoshop CS5 it turned out even better. I like that you are able to see the detail inside the globe. The only thing that i dont like is the green lens flair on the right hand side of the image. The reduction of this would be quite hard beacuse the main light source is traveling straight down the lens.