As you can see, the trees on the left are pretty well-lit and you can see what's going on. However, the stuff on the right is very shadowy, and it's hard to pick out any detail. What HDR let's me do it use multiple exposure, some where the stuff on the right is just the right brightness, and combine them into an image where you can see everything. That's the simple explanation, at least.
Anyway, this is the HDR image. It's a bit overdone (looks a bit surreal) but I'm just playing around with the new software.
Notice how there's a ton more detail on the right-hand shoreline now, as well as the clouds in the sky.
These will look better in the future - these sets were handheld, so there's going to be some inconsistencies in between shots. The software can compensate for a lot of that, but it's never going to be as good as just getting it right in-camera.
How did you do this? I have yet to successfully do an HDR image, because the process in Gimp seems so hopelessly convoluted! I love HDR shots and the surreal nature of them. I like this one too!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this guy's stuff--it's what got me interested in it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digicana/sets/72157594345135413/
Hey Mel - I broke down and paid for Photomatix yesterday. There are a couple of free packages that will do it; I think I've used QTFPSGui before on Linux. No idea if it's available on OSX though.
ReplyDeleteThat guy's images are good! A really nice example of how to use HDR correctly without getting the cartoon-y look. I *think* that's partially because he's doing it in Photoshop, which is more like merging exposures. Photomatix by default does this tonemapping jazz, which I only vaguely understand.....
Ah, I have photoshop (a VERY old version) but MAN. I just need to wrap my head around this process and just do it.
ReplyDelete