# Anything I can do to reduce ghosting?



## TehYoyo (Jul 27, 2013)

This is an HDR of 30-rock.  I'd like to see if there's any way of reducing the ghosting of the people at the bottom.  I've linked the photos that are exposed semi-properly.

Also, do you think it _needs_ anti-ghosting?  I semi-like the effect.


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## Scatterbrained (Jul 27, 2013)

Try longer exposures.  Later in the evening when there is less of a crowd could help as well.


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## Scatterbrained (Jul 27, 2013)

BTW, whether or not you like the people ghosted in the scene is a personal choice.  The blur of people give a sense of bustling energy to the image.


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## MK3Brent (Jul 27, 2013)

Yeah, faster shutter speed for a normal photo.

For a true HDR photo composite.. you can't do it. You will have exposures with people in them and unless they're not moving, you'll get overlapping.

Like said above, do it when people aren't there.


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## Scatterbrained (Jul 28, 2013)

MK3Brent said:


> Yeah, faster shutter speed for a normal photo.
> 
> For a true HDR photo composite.. you can't do it. You will have exposures with people in them and unless they're not moving, you'll get overlapping.
> 
> Like said above, do it when people aren't there.


It can be done with HDR, it just takes more work, planning, and patience.    For something like this I would likely use around a 5 stop ND filter, iso 100 and f/16.  I'd take multiple of my neutral exposure if needed to get a few shots with the different areas looking clean.  Then I'd get my highlight and shadow exposures.   I'd manually blend my neutral exposures to eliminate the people and then create my 32bit HDR TIFF to work from there.   It's time consuming, but sometimes it's the only way to get it done.    If the crowd is light you can forgo the super long exposures and try short exposures.  Time each shot so that a separate area is "clean" each time and then merge them all together in photoshop to give a pedestrian free walkway.  Then create the HDR image.   In either case the HDR software may create some ghosts, but since you have a neutral exposure that is clean you can manually blend it in.  The few people who may stand still long enough that you can't get blur them out you'll just have to clone out.   It's time consuming, but it can be done.


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## table1349 (Jul 28, 2013)

Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr. (HQ Audio) - YouTube


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## TehYoyo (Jul 28, 2013)

I was asking more about in post.  I realize long exposures, etc.  Forgot about it at the scene.


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## DiskoJoe (Aug 9, 2013)

The ghosting is cool. What bugs me the most is your alignment is way off. You can see a corner of the building on the left but not the right and the vertical distortion is taking away from the image too. You really need to line everything up perfect before you hit the shutter. HDR does fix bad framing. But this is easily salvageable. Just fix the alignment and then crop it to be even on both sides and it will be much nicer.


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## TehYoyo (Aug 12, 2013)

DiskoJoe said:


> The ghosting is cool. What bugs me the most is your alignment is way off. You can see a corner of the building on the left but not the right and the vertical distortion is taking away from the image too. You really need to line everything up perfect before you hit the shutter. HDR does fix bad framing. But this is easily salvageable. Just fix the alignment and then crop it to be even on both sides and it will be much nicer.



Good point.  I straightened and cropped the photo.


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## DiskoJoe (Aug 12, 2013)

TehYoyo said:


> DiskoJoe said:
> 
> 
> > The ghosting is cool. What bugs me the most is your alignment is way off. You can see a corner of the building on the left but not the right and the vertical distortion is taking away from the image too. You really need to line everything up perfect before you hit the shutter. HDR does fix bad framing. But this is easily salvageable. Just fix the alignment and then crop it to be even on both sides and it will be much nicer.
> ...



Where's the edit?!?!?!?!


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## The Barbarian (Aug 15, 2013)

I know someone in NY, who uses extremely long exposures to remove any images of people.   It seems to work well for him.

If you can't do that, and can't remove the people, consider shooting a single raw image and making multiple exposures from that to get a "fake" HDR.   If you do it well, most people won't be able to tell the difference.


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