# My first HDR Post



## Big Mike (Sep 13, 2010)

It took a while, but I finally had a chance to jump on the HDR bandwagon.  It sure has come a long way from manually masking off multiple images.

These being my first ones, I pretty much went overboard with it, but experimenting is half the fun don't you think?  In many of them, I just went with the HDR surreal feel and cranked the saturation etc.

Anyway, here they are...

#1






#2





#3





#4





#5





#5





#6





#7





#8


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## ann (Sep 13, 2010)

good for you mike, we all have to start somewhere

i need to put on my sunglasses for that grass


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## Bynx (Sep 13, 2010)

I agree with ann. Just use Selective Color Correction and add some cyan to the Green.


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## Christie Photo (Sep 13, 2010)

atta boy, Mikey!!

Good stuff.

-Pete


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## Provo (Sep 13, 2010)

Good First Attempt I see some chromatic aberration but once you get the hang of things you can address that fairly quickly. 

Ann, Bynx I think scott's is selling that newly uranium enriched  lawn fertilizer I keep seeing more and more people using it hehe. Just kidding.


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## ann (Sep 13, 2010)

my grass needs some for sure.


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## Big Mike (Sep 15, 2010)

Thanks...I think. :er:


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## bazooka (Sep 15, 2010)

I like #4.


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## mrshaleyberg (Sep 15, 2010)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE number 2!!! It's so beautiful! I'm trying to do HDR. Do you take just 3 pictures, and then layer them, or are you taking more than 3? I know my camera will take up to 9. Did you do all these in Photoshop?


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## Big Mike (Sep 16, 2010)

> I LOVE LOVE LOVE number 2!!! It's so beautiful! I'm trying to do HDR. Do you take just 3 pictures, and then layer them, or are you taking more than 3? I know my camera will take up to 9. Did you do all these in Photoshop?


The number (or range) of photos that you should take, should depend on the scene.  If the scene has a really wide range of tones, you will need exposures that cover that range.  I haven't done enough testing to know if it's better to take 3 exposures, farther apart or to take more exposures covering the same range.

I have tried before, to do some HDR stuff with only Photoshop.  The results were respectable, you can see some of there HERE, but these ones here were created with Photomatix software, as well as Lightroom and maybe a bit of Photoshop.


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## pbelarge (Sep 16, 2010)

Mike
Great start to your HDR. I love the photos, and I would rather see heavy saturation then under saturation. 
The locations are wonderful, I may have to come up and visit you.


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## Big Mike (Sep 16, 2010)

> The locations are wonderful, I may have to come up and visit you.


Back in the summer of 2007, we had a TPF meet-up not too far from here.  Maybe it's time to start planning another one.  

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/past-meetups/89064-rocky-mountain-meet-up-july-2007-a.html


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## dcmoody23 (Sep 17, 2010)

These look great to me.. Although I don't do HDR, I certainly appreciate it.  I love these.  The vivid greens especially.  #1 & 4 are my favorites, and #2 is nice as well (well all of them are nice).
#7 & 8 don't really have much of the HDR effect though IMO.  Looks like the same effect could have been done with a little photoshop.


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## Big Mike (Sep 17, 2010)

Thanks.



> #7 & 8 don't really have much of the HDR effect though IMO. Looks like the same effect could have been done with a little photoshop.


These are actually some of my favorite types of scene.  Whenever I'm walking or hiking in a forest, I love it when the sun trickles though the trees.  My only problem, was that I knew that a typical photo would never do it justice because the range of tones was so great.

So considering that these photos (7 & 8), look somewhat normal, you have to imagine that that a single exposure would either have severely blown highlights or fully dark shadows.


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## tyuanseo (Sep 17, 2010)

keep up the good work


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## dcmoody23 (Sep 19, 2010)

Big Mike said:


> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely love them.  And I must apologize; after I looked more into how to do HDR and the effects, etc. etc., it kind of just clicked that you can get better exposures with it if you work it right, and that not everyone wants their HDR to look like the vivid cool colors have infected the image like we've (or maybe just I've) come to expect from some HDR.. Haha I mean these are lovely Mike -- fantastic.


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## ann (Sep 19, 2010)

HDR effects like any new tool seems to swing to the extremes until people stop jumping on the band wagon, stop just pushing buttons without thought and get bored.

the workflow is intense and as anyother technique or tool takes time to become accomplished. It is here to stay, and in fact is not really new; just new to the masses on the internet (my 2cents)

I think as more people begin to use the technique to produce quality images more like "big mike" will see the advantage and perhaps even those that automatically hate HDR without really researching the technique may come to relax their passionate hate with a more rational view.

There is a lot of junk on the internet and there is also a lot of terrific work, takes time and education to separate the two

just my 2 cents


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## oldmacman (Sep 19, 2010)

Great job controlling ghosting from foliage movement. It looks like the grass is blowing in the first shot, but it is nice and sharp. The mountain is a nice capture, but it still has a bit of lost detail in the sky.


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## DrewPertl (Sep 22, 2010)

# 1 looks great.  What where you shooting with and what exposures did you use?


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## idle (Sep 22, 2010)

I like them, you haven't been tempted to go too far like so many HDR shots; you have retained a feeling of depth and contrast that so many HDR images have lost


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## Big Mike (Sep 22, 2010)

> # 1 looks great. What where you shooting with and what exposures did you use?


I was shooting with a 20D body & 10-22mm lens.  I took several shots with varying exposures, then combined them (HDR & tone mapping).

It was actually a lot more foggy that it looks.  Viability was much less that you see here.  I don't think I could see those signs/posts.


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## pbelarge (Sep 22, 2010)

Big Mike said:


> > The locations are wonderful, I may have to come up and visit you.
> 
> 
> Back in the summer of 2007, we had a TPF meet-up not too far from here. Maybe it's time to start planning another one.
> ...


 

As you can imagine, the tallest peaks around here are the Empire State Building.
Those are beautiful photographs, what a location.

If you were to try and arrange another get together, I would be interested...Seriously


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## Big Mike (Sep 22, 2010)

pbelarge said:


> Big Mike said:
> 
> 
> > > The locations are wonderful, I may have to come up and visit you.
> ...



The best time to shoot in the mountains is in the spring.  The air is more clear than in the summer, there are snowy peaks, the water is running and there are less tourists...but it's still pretty cold.  

This spring probably won't be good for me, but maybe I'll try to plan something for spring 2012.


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