HDR, blending, tone mapping?

[arnica]

I just wanted to ask what would the difference between the 3 be?

• HDR
• blending
• tone map

[ricktas]

HDR is High Dynamic Range. It is creating a photo that has a higher dynamic range than your camera sensor is capable of capturing in a single shot, and exposure. It can be created by taking three or more differently exposed photos and using HDR software to combine them, or use one photo and process it to three or more different exposure levels.

Blending is using more than one photo and masking certain sections of of each to create a photo that is made up of parts of each photo. So the sky from one frame and the foreground from the other.

Tone mapping is a process that is often run on photos to 'map the tones' in the photo. It 'standardises' the contrast across the photo, while retaining colour and detail.

[arnica]

Thanks Rick!!!

I also wanted to ask how to take photos so that we can blend them together later on.

For example, if I wanted to take a picture of field of flowers with some nice cloud detail. We would have differing contrasts between the sky (clouds) and the ground (flowers). So in order for me to get a picture that has both the sky and the ground exposed properly, i would have to take 2 shots; 1 shot exposed for the ground and the other exposed for the sky.

Seeing that i've got the technique(s) down pat, I wanted to know how I can expose for the sky and the ground in the 2 shots.
I will be mounting the camera on a tripod, compose my picture, set ISO.

Where do I go from here? What do I have to do on the camera so that I am exposing for different parts of the frame?

[ricktas]

For landscape type shots, I would suggest you leave your ISO the same for both (why increase ISO and introduce noise), and aperture (you want a lot in focus front to back), so that leaves you with shutter speed, that you can alter.

So get setup and say you are using f18, ISO 100, and 1/200th of a second to get a reasonable exposure.

Now to get your photos to blend, when ready, dial to 1/100th of a second, take a shot, go to 1/200th of a second and take a shot, go to 1/300th of a second and take a shot. You should now have three photos of the same scene, at differing exposures that you can blend/ run HDR on.

Note, these shutter speeds are just examples and will vary depending on the scene presented to you and what you want to achieve, but this is the basics behind it

[arnica]

Thanks for the super fast reply Rick!!

What sort of metering would you recommend?

[William]

I mostly use Pattern/Evaluative Metering for Land/Seascapes on my Canon , For special shots I use Spot Metering ( Usually Flowers , Bugs etc) I think Pattern may be called Matrix as well

PS : Yep Matrix in Nikon : http://mansurovs.com/understanding-metering-modes

[kidazzle]

What are the best software programs to use for HDR. Will photoshop elements do this. I have Capture NX2 but I don't think it does anything like HDR.

[Duane Pipe]

Good advice guys I am starting to take a lot of landscapes and all this helps I will have to try bracketing

[AMariaJ]

What are the best software programs to use for HDR. Will photoshop elements do this. I have Capture NX2 but I don't think it does anything like HDR.

I'm not sure if it's the best, but I use photomatix (hdrsoft.com). A trial version is available for download.

[Mary Anne]

I put my camera on Auto Bracketing, and let the camera work out the three images at different settings.
I like Photomatix , I tried the 15 day trial of HDR Efex Pro it was not enough time for me, it could be the one for you though, try them all.

[Duane Pipe]

Thats a good idea Mary Anne I have had the 7d for 2 years now and still haven't explored its capabilities

[kidazzle]

Yes good idea I might try to get a free trial of some of the software and just play with them. Any other suggestions re programs you can use?

[Epoc]

I have heard this software is very good at HDR and is reasonably priced. I am yet to try it myself, but will sometime soon.

http://www.oloneo.com/

Personally, I use Enfuse. It works very well.

http://enblend.sourceforge.net/

Regards,
Epoc

[Ezookiel]

Thanks rick, that's not how I've been trying my HDR. I've been using exposure bracketing. But setting aperture and ISO the same, and then just changing shutter speed sounds like a good way to go.
Using bracketing on the 60D is done with exposure compensation, and done by picking the start point for the middle shot, and then how many stops of exposure compensation either side of that you wish to go. I've never looked to actually see what it changes when it does that. I can see it would be causing problems if it changes anything other than the shutter speed. If it changes aperture, it changes DOF, and that's got to have a bad effect on the final image. More playing needed to see what it's actually doing, and maybe switch to doing it myself with just speed changes.

[Mark L]

Using bracketing on the 60D is done with exposure compensation, and done by picking the start point for the middle shot, and then how many stops of exposure compensation either side of that you wish to go. I've never looked to actually see what it changes when it does that. I can see it would be causing problems if it changes anything other than the shutter speed. If it changes aperture, it changes DOF, and that's got to have a bad effect on the final image.

Don't have camera on auto ISO. If you've selected a given ISO and bracket in Av mode your selected f/stop should stay the same.

[achee]

Besides HDR, blending and tone mapping, there is also enfusing. I've done some reading on a couple of occasions to try to figure out the differences between HDR and enfusing, but... I didn't get it. Anyhow, I usually use enfusing and some manual blending, it seems to work well for me!

Regarding exposure bracketing, AFAIK most DSLR's can do auto exposure bracketing, which can be quite handy if it covers the range of stops you want and the number of brackets you want. If you don't have a tripod and can't sit the camera on something steady, you might be able to shoot three bracketed images using AEB simply handheld, if your software can align the images.

[Ventureoverland]

Im quickly learning that this site great and holds a wealth of knowledge and people are eager to distribute it - thats great! Thanks.

My HDR experience a week or so ago was zero. In fairness, my experience is now only a little above zero but after looking at peoples examples on this site Ive done a whole lot of reading on the subject and looked in more detail at my cameras functionality in this regard.

With regards to software, a lot of people (as also mentioned above) seem to recommend Photomatix. I downloaded the trial and its very easy and fairly intuative. The Photomatix Aperture plugin also seems extreemly easy.

If I can squeeze in some time this weekend I'll be rattling a few shots off to have a play!


Question time:
My camera (5D Mkiii) has a HDR mode built in, I have the option to record all 3 shots or just the HDR image. So when taking shots with the ultimate aim of a HDR image, would you suggest its best to a) simply take 3 bracketed shots manually and then process, b) let the camera to the braketing automatically and keep the bracketed shots plus the resultant HDR, or c) just let the camera sort it out and record only the HDR?

My gut feel is to experiment with a) and b) whilst Im learning the subject (and how the camera behaves), but thought Id through the thought out there!

Thx
Jon