can HDR save this? learning me some PP? :)

GeX

GeX

GeX

Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2002
Posts
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Location
Manchester
howdy.

went out to play again today, seeing as though i have a nice shiny new sandisk ex3 memory card i shot everything in RAW today. Now i'm having fun tinkering with the images.

I've done this.. which wasn't too clever, but how can an image like this be rescured (yes, i mean the blownout bit at the back). I had a very quick play with photomatrix, but quickly realised i'm not really sure what i'm doing - so am not sure if i'm wasting my time.

if anyone wants to have a play with this image, and explain what they've done to it - i'd appericate it muchly.

DSC_0296.jpg


and the raw file

http://tackycheese.net/images/expl/tatelyle/misc/DSC_0296.dng
 
I suspect not tbh. Go into you raw editor (I would check myself, but im going to bed in a sec) and reduce the exposure. If you are managing to retain detail from the blown bits, then yes you can save it, if not, then unfortunatly the information is lost. Remember RAW only gets you a stop or two extra dynamic range over jpg.
 
that's what i came up with when i was playing, i can get a bit of detail back from it - but not totally.

is there anything that i could to it to reduce the impact of the back bit without making it look odd. is it as simple as it sounds, in just reducing contrast on that section till it looks 'better'

like i say, i've not done a lot of PP but am very keen to learn - and learn best by doing, especially with my own images :)
 
SilverPenguin said:
To be honest I think its a lost image...
Click to expand...

ok, thanks.

that is something i need to get some sort of gauge on, i don't know fully know what can be done so am not sure when i'm wasting my time starting!
 
Best thing to do is work out if the exposure is completely out. If it is, don't bother trying to save an image as it will never look any good if the basics aren't right to start with. Shooting in RAW is always the best idea so that if things do you wrong you 'may' be able to save the shot later, but RAW will only allow you to get back information within a certain tolerence but thats sometimes enough.
 
that makes sound sense, thanks.

do you think i would've been better to take that shot using a higher shutter speed, to capture the back bit and then take a shot with a lower speed to get the front - then combine the results.

at the moment i'm not looking for 100% perfection with any of my images, i'm simply trying to learn techniques
 
GeX said:
do you think i would've been better to take that shot using a higher shutter speed, to capture the back bit and then take a shot with a lower speed to get the front - then combine the results.
Click to expand...
Thats exactly what i would do, using a tripod. I much prefer the results of two blended images as it keeps things looking natural and realistic. Although it can be hard to do depending on the scene. But always worth trying :)
 
:)

how would you then blend the images, what springs to mind to me is having the differently exposed images as seperate layers, with the higher speed shot underneath, then selecting around the blownout bit on the top layer, feathering it and then deleting.

is that the best way to approach this, or does photoshop have tools that i've not found yet which are best suited to this kind of job?

thanks for all your help mate, i do appreicate it.
 
No worries :)

Thats one way yep. Would probably work well for this shot. You could then do any touch ups with the brush to get things spot on.

I usually use that method for landscapes. If you go the the 'Latest' gallery on my website, look at the third picture. The one with the cloud reflected in the water...thats two exposures blended as to get the detail in the reflection I was blowing the clouds in the sky as there was very strong mid-afternoon sunlight on them, so I took two shots.

An easy blend though as its a straight horizon!
 
that's truly nice work my friend :)

are the layer blend modes worth playing with when blending images like this, they're something i've had a play with but can't really figure out what they are doing.
 
GeX said:
that's truly nice work my friend :)

are the layer blend modes worth playing with when blending images like this, they're something i've had a play with but can't really figure out what they are doing.
Click to expand...
Cheers. I like it as it looks natural and you would never know its a blend, it just looks like a normal well exposed photo :)

I've never really played with the blend modes, mainly because I by masking off and feathering you get all the control you need and you know whats going to happen because your telling it! That said, I'm sure there are times when they could come in handy..?!
 
i've had a play..

control_orgional.jpg


control_corrected.jpg


theres still a kinda hazyness to it that i want to remove, and also i need to adjust the colouring on the bottom layer as to me the sky looks 'wrong' and some bits to clone out near the radiator.
 
one shot, then the exposure tweaked and the images blended.

i'll have to keep digging through my shots and see if i have any that i can practice this on :)
 
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