daily pic

BobDDuck said:
So it's not actually "from the road" and I was off work today when I took this, but I'm really proud of my first true HDR shot. And it's got an airport in it, so I guess it's slightly aviation themed. This was taken from the second platform on Stairway to Heaven. That's Kaneohe Marine Base in the background.

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Can you explain "true" HDR? I'd be interested in working to produce similar results, but I'm not sure I have the equipment (or skill?) to get this kind of finished product.
 
Cal Goat said:
Can you explain "true" HDR? I'd be interested in working to produce similar results, but I'm not sure I have the equipment (or skill?) to get this kind of finished product.
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You can approximate and HDR shot using either an app (if you take the picture on your phone) or Photoshop software if. It basically manipulates the levels and exposure (and gamma) to get the HDR effect.

An actual HDR shot is made up of multiple (a min of 3 normally) shots with the same framing and focus but with different exposures. The one I posted comprised of an EV -1.5 an EV 0 and an EV +2.0. The software (I used Photoshop) then combines the three images together to get that effect. The premise is that by combining the over and under exposed images together you can see parts of the shot that wouldn't normally be visible. For example, with the bright city lighting at a normal exposure level, the handrail of the staircase and grass next to it would be too dark to see. If those parts of the image were exposed correctly, the city lighting in the background would become very washed out and over exposed.

The trick for getting the shot (pre software) is to use a tripod so you can keep the framing and focus the same, and then take at least three shots with different exposures. Most people seem to like keeping the Fstop constant and varying the exposure time. The one I did had a constant Fstop (4.6 I think?) and shutter times of 1 second, 5 seconds and 8 seconds.
 
BobDDuck said:
The trick for getting the shot (pre software) is to use a tripod so you can keep the framing and focus the same, and then take at least three shots with different exposures. Most people seem to like keeping the Fstop constant and varying the exposure time. The one I did had a constant Fstop (4.6 I think?) and shutter times of 1 second, 5 seconds and 8 seconds.
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The real trick with HDR is not making it look terrible. The one posted looks great.
 
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The sort of calm before the storm.
 
BobDDuck said:
You can approximate and HDR shot using either an app (if you take the picture on your phone) or Photoshop software if. It basically manipulates the levels and exposure (and gamma) to get the HDR effect.

An actual HDR shot is made up of multiple (a min of 3 normally) shots with the same framing and focus but with different exposures. The one I posted comprised of an EV -1.5 an EV 0 and an EV +2.0. The software (I used Photoshop) then combines the three images together to get that effect. The premise is that by combining the over and under exposed images together you can see parts of the shot that wouldn't normally be visible. For example, with the bright city lighting at a normal exposure level, the handrail of the staircase and grass next to it would be too dark to see. If those parts of the image were exposed correctly, the city lighting in the background would become very washed out and over exposed.

The trick for getting the shot (pre software) is to use a tripod so you can keep the framing and focus the same, and then take at least three shots with different exposures. Most people seem to like keeping the Fstop constant and varying the exposure time. The one I did had a constant Fstop (4.6 I think?) and shutter times of 1 second, 5 seconds and 8 seconds.
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks for that explanation. One of these days I'll need to get the old tripod out and do some experimenting.
 
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