First try at HDR in Elements 6

wildman

wildman

wildman

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SO went out for a walk about today. Only had kit lens on the body as left the bag at home.

Tried to follow the tutorial on HDR in elements 6 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Dpdrh4NEU

Ran into lots of problems though as it wasn't a landscape shot so couldn't use gradient feature. Got there in the end though

Original

6859696699_96a2d666cf_b.jpg


Processed

6859692483_6af1ae9262_b.jpg
 
Wedge said:
Hey Jav (TDB forever)

Not great if im honest, tis all a bit Yellow n Black, not much R in the HDR.

Try here http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-video-tutorial/
Click to expand...

yeah the contrast is pretty ghastly. I t was all from 1 RAW file so I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get it balanced. Also the sun was pretty low to the left there so there was quite a high ammount of orange / yellow that got recovered when I was trying to pull the sky back
 
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hmm did you use one shot (mean one raw file) or did use 1 shot (3 raws file at different exposures using AEB function). true hdr is done either using AEB bracketing at different exposure or manually taking 3 shot at different exposures with the uses of ND filter so that you can take longer exposure. then using these three different files to blend them together either manually or the use of a HDR plug-in/function.
 
pecnarf said:
hmm did you use one shot (mean one raw file) or did use 1 shot (3 raws file at different exposures using AEB function). true hdr is done either using AEB bracketing at different exposure or manually taking 3 shot at different exposures with the uses of ND filter so that you can take longer exposure. then using these three different files to blend them together either manually or the use of a HDR plug-in/function.
Click to expand...

1 raw file only, you can't combine raw files in elements 6, you need to use layers / masks from the same raw I thought using the place command
 
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wildman said:
1 raw file only, you can't combine raw files in elements 6, you need to use layers / masks from the same raw I thought using the place command
Click to expand...

The issue is, you can only do a very very limited HDR using a single 'file'.. the RAW file only has so much lighting 'range' in it, you can pretty much just use curves etc to get the same kind of effect.

Proper HDR requires taking multiple exposures (say +/- 3EV at least), which accross all images will contain a massively wide lighting range, these are then combined using HDR techniques to give some spectacular images..

e.g. look at the bottom of the wiki entry.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging you can see the 'range' of exposures taken to achieve a proper HDR result..
 
Using masks/layers you can get some good HDR results on a single image for instance the bush/tree on the right could be masked out while processing the rest to preserve its detail instead of ending up dark.

You can also achieve a fair amount of adjustment in that image just using the luma values as a mask when adjusting contrast.
 
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thanks all for the comments and pointers. I know that the best way to achieve HDR is using 3 separate RAW files. However I only had a copy of PE6 knocking around. So as I am still in the experimental stage I thought i'd try to learn everything I can using PE6 before I decide to lay down more cash on more powerful editing software.

Next on my list to but in a few months will be Lightroom and will probably get the latest version of elements. I will likely look at purchasing a dedicated HDR piece of software too.

I know the photo isn't great and my techniques in both taking photo's and processing needs a hell of a lot more work so I welcome the comments made so far as they will help me get better I hope
 
don't get me wrong adobe elements is a good program for what it is, a chop down version of photoshop with limited option, more user friendly interface etc. it an excellent program and big improvement over the program you get with your camera for editting etc plus lot more user friendly to the point that even an novie computer user could get a handle on using it fairly quickly. so that you can move on to more advance program like adobe lightroom or photoshop which have lot more advance option for editting you photo. but bear in mind that these program are harder to use unless you have some understanding in graphic software as advance skill will be learn in using them. using multi images to make a hdr image. the use of layers,masks etc
 
I am not certain but I think GIMP has a HDR plugin that's supposed to be good and easy to use.

Might be worth looking at instead of paying for dedicated software.
 
You have commited the most common error with HDR processing namely a poor image to start with, no matter how much you process it you will never make this into a great image.

The main fault you need to rectify is the exposure which could have been done very easily using a tripod and three bracketed exposures this would at least have given the HDR process a shot at recovering the detail in the sky.

Secondly the composition needs work it is a bit of a boring stand and shoot shot the main point of interest is bang in the middle of the frame and there is no real interest anywhere else. Think carefully about what you are shooting and where you are placing it in the frame, personally I would have moved further round to you left getting more of the side of the church into shot and naturally moving the tower out of the centre of the frame. Then if possible I would have looked for something interesting to place in the forground and got down low as I always thing a church looks more powerfull when your looking up at it.

Appologies for appearing harsh but I am trying to help.
 
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