does this look like an 'HDR image' to you?

GeX · 18 Dec 2007 at 23:47

shhh, and yes its where this one was shot

unknowndomain · 18 Dec 2007 at 23:59

Why are there tripods in both these images?

GeX · 19 Dec 2007 at 00:06

because i was photographing what i could see, and that's what i could see.

Messiah Khan · 19 Dec 2007 at 08:49

GeX said:
it's why i've not tried it, just tried to get the exposure right in lightroom - which in doing so i lost the foreground.

Lightroom could have fixed it without the need for going for a hdr type process. All you needed to do is to lower the exposure to get the light right, while also increasing the 'recovery' a bit. Then increase the fill light setting and finally adjust the curves.

GeX · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:08

thats kinda what i did!! i've not done any sort of HDR process on it, that was my point - it looks a bit HDR'd.. but it isn't. I use only lightroom for most of my processing!

Messiah Khan · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:33

GeX said:
thats kinda what i did!! i've not done any sort of HDR process on it, that was my point - it looks a bit HDR'd.. but it isn't. I use only lightroom for most of my processing!

Ah I see what you mean. I thought you had tone mapped it in Photomatix, but tried to keep it subtle. If you've just done it in Lightroom, then no its not HDR. The way I would have tried to recover this shot (Although a shot shouldn't need recovering if exposed correctly in camera) would be to shoot in RAW. Then adjust the exposure for the sky and output the image. Then adjust the exposure for the foreground and output the image (same as you would for a single RAW HDR image). Then use a layer mask to blend the two images in photoshop.

As said though, it would be much better to get it right in camera with something like an ND grad.

tres · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:41

Someone explain to me in laymans term what a HDR image is?

Messiah Khan · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:48

trescodrucey said:
Someone explain to me in laymans term what a HDR image is?

Combining multiple exposures of the same image to increase the dynamic range (The range of the darkest area with detail up to the lightest area with detail). All digital cameras and film have a certain 'dynamic range', so if you were to correctly expose for the ground, but also have the sun in the shot, the sun and sky would likely be 'burnt' out. Ie it would be too bright and beyond the possible dynamic range so any detail would be lost in that area and it would just appear white. so one way to overcome this is to use HDR (High dynamic range) to capture detail across a wider range.

GeX · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:49

that would probably be a better way of doing it, but when ive tried stuff like that before it hasnt come out how i like.. so for now i'm just sticking with lightroom. an ND grad filter would be handy.. but i dont have one at the mo!

tres · 19 Dec 2007 at 11:59

Messiah Khan said:
Combining multiple exposures of the same image to increase the dynamic range (The range of the darkest area with detail up to the lightest area with detail). All digital cameras and film have a certain 'dynamic range', so if you were to correctly expose for the ground, but also have the sun in the shot, the sun and sky would likely be 'burnt' out. Ie it would be too bright and beyond the possible dynamic range so any detail would be lost in that area and it would just appear white. so one way to overcome this is to use HDR (High dynamic range) to capture detail across a wider range.

I understood that, thank you

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