Programs for HDR


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labla

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Hi. I am new to HDR but what programs would you guys suggest for HDR and is it only with a DSLR that i would be able to achieve a good HDR or??? hahaha yep thank you for your comments and teachings to a newb here :)
 

1) for programs, try photomatix, BUY it if you like it. there is also dynamic photo hdr to try, as well as a program called.. qtpfsgui.. i kid you not about the name. not sure about the last one, but the first two have received good response from what i see, and can get good results. photoshop cs 2 also has a built-in version. try and see which ones you like, though i caution you that none of them will offer you an extended degree of control. if you want that, use layers and blending.. which i cannot help you on. most hdr programs also give an output which require quite some degree of tweaking if you wish realistic results.

2) no, you do not need a dslr to achieve good hdr results. in fact some of my favourite hdrs are done from a prosumer. like mummum has mentioned, what you need to have is manual mode or aperture priority mode. you MUST keep iso/aperture fixed and change the shutter speed.

there is one exception - if you want to do a single "hdr" (note the use of " because this will not be a real hdr with extended dynamic range.. it will be extended but not by much), in that case, some prosumers also offer RAW.
 

Photomatix and Photoshop CS3 are popular examples that can perform HDRI.

As long as your point and shoot has the capability of doing some some kind of bracketted shots of a single scene at different exposures it can be done.

Ryan
 

1) for programs, try photomatix, BUY it if you like it. there is also dynamic photo hdr to try, as well as a program called.. qtpfsgui.. i kid you not about the name. not sure about the last one, but the first two have received good response from what i see, and can get good results. photoshop cs 2 also has a built-in version. try and see which ones you like, though i caution you that none of them will offer you an extended degree of control. if you want that, use layers and blending.. which i cannot help you on. most hdr programs also give an output which require quite some degree of tweaking if you wish realistic results.

2) no, you do not need a dslr to achieve good hdr results. in fact some of my favourite hdrs are done from a prosumer. like mummum has mentioned, what you need to have is manual mode or aperture priority mode. you MUST keep iso/aperture fixed and change the shutter speed.

there is one exception - if you want to do a single "hdr" (note the use of " because this will not be a real hdr with extended dynamic range.. it will be extended but not by much), in that case, some prosumers also offer RAW.

Thanks for the tip i used CS2 to try out with a few exposure timings but i do not know if i am doing it wrongly, i set it to like +/- -1, then i take at 0 then i take at 1 but in CS2 it comes out pretty badly :) hahahahaha maybe it's my lousy skills :p
 

1) for programs, try photomatix, BUY it if you like it. there is also dynamic photo hdr to try, as well as a program called.. qtpfsgui.. i kid you not about the name. not sure about the last one, but the first two have received good response from what i see, and can get good results. photoshop cs 2 also has a built-in version. try and see which ones you like, though i caution you that none of them will offer you an extended degree of control. if you want that, use layers and blending.. which i cannot help you on. most hdr programs also give an output which require quite some degree of tweaking if you wish realistic results.

2) no, you do not need a dslr to achieve good hdr results. in fact some of my favourite hdrs are done from a prosumer. like mummum has mentioned, what you need to have is manual mode or aperture priority mode. you MUST keep iso/aperture fixed and change the shutter speed.

there is one exception - if you want to do a single "hdr" (note the use of " because this will not be a real hdr with extended dynamic range.. it will be extended but not by much), in that case, some prosumers also offer RAW.

The HDR guru has just spoken :bsmilie:

Ryan
 

Dude, why not try writing your own? Can be fun.
 

Dude, why not try writing your own? Can be fun.

I suppose you've had experience writing your own HDR program? You make it sound as easy as ABC...
 

I suppose you've had experience writing your own HDR program? You make it sound as easy as ABC...

Dun say so fast. Maybe he is one of the HDR software programmers. :eek:
 

Dude, why not try writing your own? Can be fun.

...hdr is probably not as simple as it looks.

try blending one manually , i have tried before, almost vommited blood.

so despite the fact that photomatix is still inferior to what you could possibly get with manual blending, because of convenience, i think we will still defer to that, or at least get more gnd filters :devil:
 

Thanks for the tip i used CS2 to try out with a few exposure timings but i do not know if i am doing it wrongly, i set it to like +/- -1, then i take at 0 then i take at 1 but in CS2 it comes out pretty badly :) hahahahaha maybe it's my lousy skills :p

cs2 output generally has a whitewashed feel to it. to be honest i find it more natural than photomatix but requiring a lot more work in terms of curves and color management thereafter.. mainly due to a less heavy handed approach when blending.

take note that you will need to get the CORRECT set of exposures as well. you cannot just base it on the camera metering unless you are using spot and know what you are doing.

basically you need to capture details in the brighest point and the darkest point.. sometimes you can limit this based on what you envision the output to be. i.e. if you do not want that much detail in the shadow, don't include exposures that have details there.. in times of over extreme contrast, even hdr will not help you, i.e. sun shining in the distance when you are in the mouth of a cave.. which properly exposed needs bulb mode to do it.. '

i will try to write a short and concise hdr guide based on photomatix, and if have enough time to experiment in between shootings maybe one on photoshop, but i do not have much hope for the latter, have never achieved good results from it.
 

I suppose you've had experience writing your own HDR program? You make it sound as easy as ABC...

:bsmilie: No, no it is not easy. i'm total newbie to HDR too. Can't say i've got much experience. Too bad i can't afford commercial HDR programs :cry:

Only started trying to write my own code a few days ago, and got my share of haloing and weird colours. Posted it here: http://www.pixalo.com/community/pho...up-photomatix-lucasart-cs2-methods-11245.html
 

photomatrix is good ... but only the paid version ... the freeware version is crap from my exp using it
 

photomatix is idiotproof and can get really funky results if that so rocks your boat. photoshop is more subdued.
 

photomatix is idiotproof and can get really funky results if that so rocks your boat. photoshop is more subdued.

How true. To make the picture animatedly surrealistic or to make it realistic is a few clicks away

Ryan
 

why is it i didnt hear enfuse?
it's a LR plug in which allows the merged pics to be exported as TIFF file.
i'm using that and i absolutely love it.

TS might wanna try it.
 

can i just check that the two pics must be totally identical, in terms of framing? wat if the pics are off abit.. will the program like photomatrix align the pics automatically?
 

can i just check that the two pics must be totally identical, in terms of framing? wat if the pics are off abit.. will the program like photomatrix align the pics automatically?

Try to have them exactly aligned, or you may experience (slight) softness after merging.
 

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