Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

[JonMikal]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

I'd say there's probably an optimum point somewhere between Ian's first image and Stephen's tweak.Pol

i agree. i've been reading where some meter all areas of a scene then merge. although you end up with 5-7 images, it produces pleasing results....at least from what i've seen. i guess you'd have to judge the scene to determine the number of images required.

i like this shot though. given the lighting conditions and what you saw in real-time i don't think increasing the exposure much more would be a good thing. just my .02.

[lumix]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

I've been viewing these images all day. Could not make my mind up which was best. Decided to wait till I could view them in a darkened room. Just had another look and still find it difficult to say any one is better than the others. Each version has it's good points and viewed without comparison to others are pleasing to the eye. Perhaps Ian would comment on which he prefers, after all it's his master piece and has the advantage of knowing what the scene looked like when he took the photograph.

[Ian]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

I've been viewing these images all day. Could not make my mind up which was best. Decided to wait till I could view them in a darkened room. Just had another look and still find it difficult to say any one is better than the others. Each version has it's good points and viewed without comparison to others are pleasing to the eye. Perhaps Ian would comment on which he prefers, after all it's his master piece and has the advantage of knowing what the scene looked like when he took the photograph.

Danny was with me on the day (during Photokina week), so he will recollect the scene too - in fact he took some shots as well, but 'only' with a Fujifilm FinePix F30 compact camera (though this is a mighty fine camera - especially in low light).

I think Danny's image is probably closest to reality. Stephen did a good job considering he only had my processed and reduced size image to work on. Maybe I should send him the donor RAW files for him to have a go with better material

I do like mine, though. I did tweak the saturation and held back on lifting the shadows and I think it did work. I feel there is slightly less halo effect on my version around the steeples compared to Danny's as well.

I'll bet Danny's version would look fantastic as a print though - which is what he is set up for, primarily.

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

Stephen did a good job considering he only had my processed and reduced size image to work on. Maybe I should send him the donor RAW files for him to have a go with better material



Ian

Be my guest Ian. I have to say however that the reason I found so much shadow detail in your HDR shot was that I tonemapped it, then toned that down a little round the edges. Would be interesting to work on the original Raw file though

[Stephen]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

Whilst this is quite different to Dannys, I'm not unhappy with the outcome. Its a blend of all 3 of Ians images into an HDR file, this was then tonemapped to achieve detail in the sky and shadow, without it the cathedral was simply a silhoette. There has been some selective adjustment of brightness, contrast etc., and of course I cropped a bit off the bottom. Its all very subjective really, but it shows its difficult to achieve a definitive result and the resulting picture is often just personal taste.

BTW Ian why couldn't I open the raw files in CS2? I actually used Lightroom in the end for the Raw conversion.

Have sorted it out now, needed to update ACR to 3.5

[lumix]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

That's not bad, in fact I'd go as far as saying it's very good. Must learn about HDR/tone-mapping myself.

[Pol]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

That's not bad, in fact I'd go as far as saying it's very good. Must learn about HDR/tone-mapping myself.

Good on ya - give it a whirl.

Just in case you don't have these links -

Here's a link to the site that I found easiest to understand when I was trying to grasp what HDR was all about.

and here's the link for the software Free trial (demo) download available. The demo version is fully functional - you can save the end result but it leaves a logo across the image.

Have fun, I think you'll enjoy it.

Pol

[lumix]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

Good on ya - give it a whirl.

Just in case you don't have these links -

Here's a link to the site that I found easiest to understand when I was trying to grasp what HDR was all about.

and here's the link for the software Free trial (demo) download available. The demo version is fully functional - you can save the end result but it leaves a logo across the image.

Have fun, I think you'll enjoy it.

Pol

Thanks Pol I'm sure I will. I'm impressed with what has been shown here so got to give it a go for myself. Fishing seems to be slowing down now so will have more time to spend trying to catch up with you.

[Pol]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

Thanks Pol I'm sure I will. I'm impressed with what has been shown here so got to give it a go for myself. Fishing seems to be slowing down now so will have more time to spend trying to catch up with you.

Aye, there's nowt to compare with a few hours image geekery on a wet and windy Winter afternoon.

HDR is fairly new to everyone so we're all experimenting and learning as we go. I only started trying it out earlier this year and don't have any 'sensational' examples.

I mainly use working in with layers.

I make a duplicate image, tone map the duplicate then copy/paste the tone-mapped version over the original and set the transparency level of the new TM layer to make more subtle changes. For example - it's good at tweaking shadows/highlights very quickly.

It's also good at adjusting saturation, or making very subtle changes to the lighting, though you can also use it for some very dramatic effects.

Pol

[lumix]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

Aye, there's nowt to compare with a few hours image geekery on a wet and windy Winter afternoon.
Pol

My wife would totally disagree with you on that one. She's always after my body, like for decorating and landscaping the garden etc.

[Ian]

Re: Cologne Cathedral at Dusk - PS HDR

BTW Ian why couldn't I open the raw files in CS2? I actually used Lightroom in the end for the Raw conversion.

Have sorted it out now, needed to update ACR to 3.5

I was going to suggest that The E-330 only came out 7 months ago and I guess you have not needed an ACR update since last year.

Ian