Motorcycles in HDR - Post Yours Here!

unlawfulsm, Those are very nice. Especially for a first attempt. It looks like you may need to purchase the license. If you do a search, many sites give out a coupon code for Photomatix Pro bringing the price down to about $85. There are other HDR programs as well and some are free. Here is a short overview of the top 10. I've only used Photomatix Pro, so don't have an opinion on the others. I know it is generally regarded as better than even the HDR function in the full version of Photoshop. It looks like you are shooting hand-held, which is fine as long as the shutter speed doesn't go to low. Photomatix Pro usually does a good job auto-aligning the shots. It looks to have failed you on the 3rd shot causing the blurriness. I usually do some more fixing in Lightroom after Photomatix Pro is done and would crop the irregular edges off.

BTW, I think you can use the "Fusion Adjusted" method without the watermark appearing.

P.S. Nice bike and a beautiful riding area you have there. The splashes of red on the GS really pop now, huh?

Thanks Dave! After seeing your pics I decided to give the 8mm bell & Howell a shot & been very happy. I am a teacher so I should be able to get photomatix free or at a discount. Thanks for the input. Looking forward to being able do more HDR from now on.

Yes unlawfulsm... Really nice, and I like that first image as well with the road lit up and the mist above.

Not from a DSLR, just the Pro HDR app on my iPhone 4 -

These pictures are amazing. I'm downloading the free version now and will give it a shot. Thanks for posting a link to his tutorial! He makes it seem so easy....

I'm hoping my cheap camera is capable of even doing this, but we'll see. That one you took on your IPhone looks awesome for a phone camera! I would have never know.

I was wondering when the iPhone users would jump in. That looks cool.

In South Park, Colorado...

Thank you. Have been meaning to comment on some of your photos but found my vocabulary lacking the superlatives to do them justice. Really some stunningly beautiful ones.

Here's one that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to capture without HDR -


The deep shadows of late evening also present problems that HDR can overcome -


The detail that would otherwise be lost in shadow is easily captured with HDR -

Dave, thanks for starting this thread. I've been wanting to stick my toes in the HDR water, so to speak, and this thread has provided the perfect inspiration. Great pix all!

I've gone ahead and downloaded Photomatix Essentials, figured out how to set my camera to take bracketed photos (alas, it'll only take three at a time, so I've programmed it to shoot in two-stop increments), and looking forward to getting out on the Road King this weekend and giving HDR a try. I'll post up here when I've (hopefully) got something to show off.

This photo was processed with Photomatix using four photos that weren't technically bracketed, but all exposed slightly differently, and more or less taken back to back from the same spot. If you look closely, particularly on the grass shoulder in the lower left, you can see (I think) some motion artifact (and I think I'm seeing some cloning in the clouds?) and the finished product surely doesn't have the full range of a set of for-real bracketed photos processed in HDR, but I wanted to start learning the software, and I'm pretty pleased with the results all in all. I like their noise reduction feature, too, particularly for a photo like this where I was trying to retain the soft, "silky" morning lighting. Fun stuff.

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~ Volunteer Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, 05/06/2012 ~​

Thanks again,
Ferris

That's an awesome photo Fast Ferris. In case you haven't noticed, it's been repeatedly nominated in the Front Page Photo Candidate page. That's pretty cool, being one of your first HDRs. I love the angle of the bike facing the sun rays.

I almost missed the bike in yours lexluther11. Nice effect. Is that Baja?

Alcan Rider, That first one is an absolute stunner. I love how much detail you were able to get of the mountain. Did you have to de-ghost the rider? That mountain must be kind of large. Is that Denali?

sfarson, Your shot is beautiful and reminds me I need to get back to Colorado on 2 wheels.

When I spotted that shot I was following my buddy and had to hurry to catch him and have him go back up the road so I could get it. There wasn't much traffic... until I tried to take the photo. No shoulder for either of us, so the first attempt was the only one. He cooperated by not moving long enough for me to get the bracketed shots so no deghosting was necessary. By using a fairly strong telephoto from nearly 1/4 mile behind him, it brought the mountain in much closer than the 40 miles or so it actually is. Came out better than I had expected.

That's Mt Drum, just 12,110', but it can be made to look pretty high and impressive.
The referenced shot was from the north side. Here it is from the west side -

Dang, these pics are suhweeet.

My friend Steve and his KLR overlooking Southpark, Co. and the Tarryalls.

I have a good HDR shot but my bike isnt in it

I do have a question. So I have to manually adjust my exposure for each shot when I shoot HDR.

To get people in the shot, must you have an automatic HDR setting where it rapidfires? I see that as the only way, as people can't sit still enough for 5 individual tripod shots.

Thanks Dave. Yeah, my buddy Prior nominated the photo (I was actually headed up to Meadows of Dan that morning to meet him for breakfast). It's pretty flattering, and it'd be an honor if it was in rotation here on ADV.

Great pix all, please keep 'em coming!!

With Photomatix Pro you can use the "semi-automatic" deghosting feature, or manually select which of the five image's people will remain in the finished picture.