OMG! (please excuse) I'm never going to get pulled away from my computer now that I've learned about this! So I'll read the references to learn more, but first .... Are more images better, i.e. 5 at -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 better than 3 at -2, 0, +2? Are half stops better than full? i.e. many photos at finer granularity of exposure? I can do this with .jpg from my Canon point-and-shoot? (my old Nikon slr's are film!) And one can use a single image to create multiple versions of "different exposure" to feed into photomatrix (or equivalent)? Could you elaborate? I may have to get me a new camera after all! -ceej PS - Dave, Now that I know about this, it would seem that a lot of your pix in your 2012 AK trip are HDR; is that correct? So do you have a way of setting up your camera to "take a set of bracketed shots"? Or do you have to do it manually? And are you setting up a tripod? or doing this manually? The last question relates to my asking about photos vs riding, stopping for a shot while still on the bike or "setting up". (I do ask a lot of questions, don't I ;-) Edit: Ah, I found this in your thread about you and Matthew going to the Grand Canyon. "I do not bracket exposures and then merge them together later with software (yet). My camera has the capability of doing this for me. In HDR mode the Pentax K7 will shoot three different exposures and merge them automatically inside the camera, the result being a single JPEG file. It works ok some of the time to get an acceptable image that would otherwise be impossible. Whenever I am shooting a scene with such dark and light contrasts I try to capture a few in HDR mode, but I am often able to use Lightroom to get a single RAW exposure that looks better than the HDR."
Hi ceej. I'm happy to see you are excited. I would urge you to slow down and reread this thread. The free HDR tutorial listed earlier will teach you more than I am qualified to do, and you will find the answer to most of your questions. As for your questions specific to me. My Alaska RR does have plenty of HDRs. I use a dslr with an auto-bracketing feature. Deciding how many exposures and how far apart they should be is highly dependant on the dynamic range of the scene you are shooting. 3 exposures 2 EV apart will work for about 90% of the time. 5 at 2 EV apart may not be enough for some scenes though. I rarely use a tripod. There is a bike here at the top of the rocky hill.
I've found in-camera HDR to be nearly worthless and wouldn't recommend buying a camera just for this feature. I now use auto-bracketing and merge to HDR later with Photomatic Pro 4.
First try at this HDR thing...I have been very inspired by this thread to actually learn how to use our Nikon D3000 and take some pictures. Thank you for the motivation, its really a lot of fun! Next up is to get my hands on Lightroom 4 and actually get the real copy of Photomatix
Enjoying the colors of Northern Colorado <a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/?action=view&current=DSC_0008_9_tonemapped.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/s/swdirtrider_DSC_0008_9_tonemapped.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/?action=view&current=DSC_0003_4_5_fused.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/s/swdirtrider_DSC_0003_4_5_fused.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/?action=view&current=DSC_0016_7_8_fused.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/s/swdirtrider_DSC_0016_7_8_fused.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/?action=view&current=DSC_0043_4_5_tonemapped.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/s/swdirtrider_DSC_0043_4_5_tonemapped.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/?action=view&current=DSC_0052_3_4_tonemapped.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/swdirtrider/DSC_0052_3_4_tonemapped.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Crazyman I think I like the second one better. It has that more "real" look to it than the first one. Just an opinion of course.
This has gotten me interested, but I'm using a hand-me-down Minolta X-700, and film ain't cheap, nor am I that skilled. I love these photos though.
Which one do you guys like better? I like both but am having a hard time deciding which one I like the best. 1. 2. Thoughts?
I like the first one. The colors don't seem as vivid in the second one. That said I could really like the the second one if it was more black and white style with the bike being left in the more colorful state. But still I like the first one. The reason I'm interested in this type of photography is because I often find that a simple single exposure shot doesn't capture the range of color I see, and so it doesn't capture what I want in a picture. So that's why I like the very "real" looking pics.
The first one was my wife's go at it, the second was mine. The pictures were taken about 25 minutes before sundown and this particular place doesn't get a whole lot of sun from mid morning on. I was trying to capture the semi darkness with the highlights near the top of the photo. Maybe Photoshop is in my future as well. I really like your idea on the black and white with the bike in color. I may have to see what I can do. Thanks for your input. I am liking Photomatix but seem to be having trouble getting some of the other results the others are getting. There is so much to learn.