# My first HDR attempt. Where did I go wrong?



## shefjr (Dec 28, 2013)

This is my first HDR as the title states. I'm not overly happy with it. The day I went to Old Fort Niagara was gloomy (plus it was late winter) and so the colors were flat. I also don't like the amount of noise in the photo and so I decided to convert it into a sepia style photo and embrace the noise. I found a lot of hot pixels too (I'm not sure if that is the right term). Meaning pixels that were for example bright red that obviously didn't belong. I also have noticed that I have ghosting on either side of the window. 
*I am aware that I have a signature at the bottom of the photo. I figured out how to do actions and so I have been playing around with boarders and signatures in the actions.* 

To be honest, I have only glanced at Majeed's sticky and haven't taken the time to throughly read through it yet. I will though. I was just excited to try out Photomatrix Pro4 (which I received for Christmas). 
What I was hoping to gain from posting this was some simple pointers. Hey, try doing_________, it will help with,_______. 
Thank you for taking the time to help and look. Have a great day!


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## ratssass (Dec 28, 2013)

..not of much help,john,and no pointers,but when you get it figured out....that will be a great shot.


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## Steve5D (Dec 28, 2013)

Honestly, I think this one's pretty cool just as it sits. Having been to Fort Niagara (not in winter, though, because I'm not out of my mind   ), I think this really fits into the whole vibe they try to convey there. The photo looks extremely old, and that's what I dig about it the most.

I like it..


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## vipgraphx (Dec 28, 2013)

OK, first things that come to my mind are

1) What were your camera settings. You always want them to be lowest ISO you can like iso 100 unless you need to raise it up in very low light photos, Exposure need to be 0 . 

2) How many exposures/ frames did you take....Did you take enough to capture all the range needed for photomatix to do its job. In low light situations if you do not have enough 
    exposures to cover the range needed noise and grain are a direct result of that using photomatix.

3) What sliders are you adjusting in photomatix? lower light situations you want to be careful of adjusting the luminance to high(to the right) and you want to bring down gamma this usually will 
    out that part of noise and grain.

Hopefully this will help


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## Rick50 (Dec 28, 2013)

Yea, not bad the way it is. I like it too.


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## 480sparky (Dec 28, 2013)

My first reaction is.......... why do *you *think if fails?


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## shefjr (Dec 30, 2013)

ratssass said:


> ..not of much help,john,and no pointers,but when you get it figured out....that will be a great shot.


Thanks for the comment.:thumbup: I hope to get a nice color version out of it.




Steve5D said:


> Honestly, I think this one's pretty cool just as it sits. Having been to Fort Niagara (not in winter, though, because I'm not out of my mind   ), I think this really fits into the whole vibe they try to convey there. The photo looks extremely old, and that's what I dig about it the most.
> 
> I like it..


Thank you Steve. I also think that it fit the vibe. That is one reason why I decided to through it up. Funny thing my wife thought I was out of my mind when I dragged her there also. :lmao:



vipgraphx said:


> OK, first things that come to my mind are
> 
> 1) What were your camera settings. You always want them to be lowest ISO you can like iso 100 unless you need to raise it up in very low light photos, Exposure need to be 0 .
> 
> ...


Vipgraphx, I did go back through and look at my setting and my ISO was at 100. The problem was just as you pointed out though. I didn't expose long enough and I have a lot of dark corners. This was my first photo that I processed through Photomatrix and so I didn't touch any of the sliders. I am going to process all the files in raw and attempt to eliminate some of the noise that I assume the program may be putting in. I was under the impression that I would not need to process anything before I used photomatrix. 



Rick50 said:


> Yea, not bad the way it is. I like it too.


Thanks Rick



480sparky said:


> My first reaction is.......... why do *you *think if fails?


I don't think it completely fails. I don't mind the version that I posted here with the exception of the ghosting along both edges of the window. Where I would say that I have failed is that I was attempting to create a color image way back when I took the photos. I really wanted the viewer to see the photo as I had seen it while I was there. I like the rich color in the masonry and the wood. Unfortunately, the actual mansion and surrounding lawn and lake are both flat. The flatness is my fault (the time of year I went didn't help). This series of photos was taken when I first started photography and didn't know enough (I still don't know enough). I now know that I didn't expose well enough. I only took 3 bracketed shots +2-0-2. I probably should have taken 5. 

Anyway, I was hoping that since this was my first processing attempt I might get a few helpful tips on simple things that make it simpler for those of you who do some HDR. Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment on my photo. I appreciate it.:hail:
Oh! and I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!:cheers::thumbsup::smileys:


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## Trblmkr (Jan 20, 2014)

I actually think it looks great. I don't like HDR's that have been so over processed that it doesn't look real (fake wood), or there are no shadows in a room where their clearly should be some.  My only issue would be the ghosting around right and left outside the window.  If you could scale that back to where it's the same tone/contrast as the house, I think it would be spot on.


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