pondering about softwares

[ricolarr]

hi guys! firstly happy new year

I have a question, when it comes to HDR, what softwares are good for it? So far I've heard of Photomatix are there any other softwares besides that? Next, for normal tweaking of pictures, which is a recommendable software? Lightroom? Photoshop? Hope I get some useful advices! Thanks

 

[night86mare]

photomatix is still the most intuitive to use.

if you have a choice, try to avoid using it, after a long while of mucking around with it it still renders relatively unnatural results. the time spent on adjusting and massaging the output from photomatix, even with a low strength applied.. might as well do manual blending.

photoshop is generally all you need, along with a raw converter if you do not like the one supplied with your camera.

 

[ricolarr]

Thanks for the response! Erm, I'm still a beginner soooo... what do you mean by manual blending :O

 

[night86mare]

Thanks for the response! Erm, I'm still a beginner soooo... what do you mean by manual blending :O

same thing done as for hdr

you shoot a few exposures, keeping iso/aperture/focal point/wb constant, then stack them as layers in photoshop and selectively erase to reveal the relevant details..

time consuming, but gives very realistic results. when you've got the hang of it, anyways.

 

[ricolarr]

i see! alright ill give it a shot. by the way i understand that to produce HDR you need to shoot in auto exposure bracketing am i right? however this only allows 3 shots, i've read some tutorials in which they take around 7 shots which varies in the exposure level.

 

[night86mare]

no, you do not need to shoot in AE bracketing

i always, always use manual mode to shoot HDR.

just keep your wb/iso/aperture fixed, get the 0 ev, then underexpose, and do 1 stop in between, adjusting shutter speed ONLY

also, please note that you need a tripod, or at least a means of keeping camera stable and in the same position when shooting hdr.

 

[ricolarr]

thanks for the insight

 

[dorts]

no, you do not need to shoot in AE bracketing

i always, always use manual mode to shoot HDR.

just keep your wb/iso/aperture fixed, get the 0 ev, then underexpose, and do 1 stop in between, adjusting shutter speed ONLY

also, please note that you need a tripod, or at least a means of keeping camera stable and in the same position when shooting hdr.

Isn't that exactly what AE bracketing does? :dunno:

AE bracketing will help with handheld HDR, together with continuous shooting mode.

 

[ricolarr]

Yes but varying on photographers preference, some prefer to have 5 shots or more of diff exposures since its said to be optimally more accurate I guess.
Haha

 

[night86mare]

Isn't that exactly what AE bracketing does? :dunno:

AE bracketing will help with handheld HDR, together with continuous shooting mode.

simply put, with the DR of most cameras these days,

i'm not sure what sort of AE bracketing your camera does, but mine can do a -2 to +2 EV exposure automatically.

in that range, frankly speaking, most of the time you do not need hdr. but of course if you have an older model (like my k100d) then it may be applicable.

i do not endorse handheld hdr in any way. even if you are able to brace yourself by leaning on something, or proning on a ledge, giving alright overlapping of exposures, this would certainly limit your composition.