# Lightroom HDR Test - What do you think?



## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

So this is 5 images with 2 EV brackets.


Once in lightroom, I just highlight all 5 photos, right click, merge to HDR, auto tone.

I will post the 5 images and then the final image.

I don't want to say my opinion just yet, I want to see what you guys think of the results.

Thank You








 

 

 

 




Exterior Final -


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

Interior lightroom HDR test.



 

 

 

 






Interior Final -


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## tirediron (Nov 22, 2016)

The exterior image seems quite respectable; the interior seems somewhat under-exposed.


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## 480sparky (Nov 22, 2016)

What prompted you to use five 2EV frames for each?

The exterior shot's results are a bit too bright, at least for me.


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

480sparky said:


> What prompted you to use five 2EV frames for each?
> 
> The exterior shot's results are a bit too bright, at least for me.



Looking back, I should have used 1 EV, since I don't think anything was really used from the 1st and 5th images, since they are too bright or too dark. Is that what you were thinking?


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## 480sparky (Nov 22, 2016)

I think metering for the highlights and metering for the shadows............ then basing your number of exposures on how far apart they are.


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.

I think I definitely needed it on this scene...



 

 

 

 

 


Looking in Final -


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## 480sparky (Nov 22, 2016)

Parker219 said:


> Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.



My question is why you chose -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4.  Why 5 shots, and why 2 stops difference.


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Parker219 said:
> 
> 
> > Well one EV wasn't enough to get the highlights and shadows, so I needed 2.
> ...




1 stop and 3 shots were not enough to get the dynamic range that I wanted.

I still think I could / should have went with 1 stop difference with 5 photos.


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## 480sparky (Nov 22, 2016)

Parker219 said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > Parker219 said:
> ...




The best method is to treat every image individually.  You may need just 3 shots for one scene, but the next may take 8.  Then the next..... 5.  The next: 7.


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## Desert Rose (Nov 22, 2016)

The exterior just looks like the second shot with some RAW editing to me, I don't think it is a good HDR shot.
Why not just get a camera that has better dynamic range and learn to edit the raw files for about the same result?
I noticed the fisheye distortion on the interior more than the exterior.


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

^ I often come across situations where no camera in the world can get the dynamic range that I want.


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## Desert Rose (Nov 22, 2016)

You have tried every camera in the world or are you just supposing this is the case?
Cameras get better at approximating what the human eye sees every year, and every year HDR becomes less necessary. Cameras today can get the results in a few shots that a few years ago took 7 or 12 shots to capture.
Keep trying various methods and numbers of exposures and spacing for each image and you will start to learn what is necessary and what is just a waste of time. Then you will be able to predict what will work best in an instance ans limit your shots to the ones that will yield the best results.
Good Luck.


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## KmH (Nov 22, 2016)

I think you don't have a good handle on how to determine the EV step value you need, and how many images you need to produce a high quality, lifelike, HDR image.

Also I would submit that there is _much better post production software_ for making HDR images than Lightroom.
HDR Photography Software - Photo Editing Programs & Plugins - Photomatix


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

^ I have Photomatix . 

The question I asked in my first post was asking your thoughts about how lightroom processed  HDR.


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## 480sparky (Nov 22, 2016)

Parker219 said:


> .............The question I asked in my first post was asking your thoughts about how lightroom processed  HDR.



Interesting, but I don't see that question there.



Parker219 said:


> .......... I want to see what you guys think of the results............



I see you inquiring about the results, not the process itself.


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## AlanKlein (Nov 22, 2016)

The exterior shot would look better if you took one shot exposed correctly between the second and third.  You really didn't need HDR.  The interior shot looks OK.


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## Parker219 (Nov 22, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Parker219 said:
> 
> 
> > .............The question I asked in my first post was asking your thoughts about how lightroom processed  HDR.
> ...




Lol...oh yeah.


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## Derrel (Nov 22, 2016)

Your first shot needed an edge burn and a driveway burn. Your interior shot was too bland and too gray. The one with the large BBQ needed the neighboring roof burned down. The issue is creating HDR images that as KMH mentioned, which appear "life-like"...there's a tendency to avoid having ANY "black", or any "shadow". The biggest issue that makes unappealing HDR images is going TOO LIGHT on the blacks, and too light on the shadows, and also too light on the lower mid-tone values. Here are quick Lightroom tweaks that look better to me, but unfortunately, all were edited from already-processed 8-bit JPEGs. I made the Inside-Test file darker than you had it, by a fair degree.




All 4 edges and the driveway were burned down with a big brush, very fast, and I gave more darkness to the shadow on the red-berry bush in the front yard.





I burned the neighbor's roof down a bit here, and made the image a bit darker with the curves tool.







I made this one significantly darker, to simulate what it might actually look like if peering inside from outside.


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