Hdr - Ducati.ms

todka · Dec 7th, 2011, 6:15 am

Is anyone else bitten by the HDR bug???

I'm digging it.
Purist hate it.
Any other forum members have some HDR to share?
Love to see more.

Cheers.

sfarson · Dec 7th, 2011, 5:42 pm

todka... We've exchanged HDR images before. From my experience, most really like the technique, for if done without being too extreme, it can render a setting more accurately, if not artistically as well. Many do not know about HDR, nor do they have the software to align and merge the EV bracketed photos, not to mention bringing along a mini-tripod on a ride!

BTW, with bias, the '08 1098R is the most beautiful bike Bologna has ever produced, and the beauty extends to what's under the hood as well. A championship winning bike.

From last summer, finding a fence post to place the tabletop tripod...

DuckMan · Dec 7th, 2011, 5:47 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by todka

Is anyone else bitten by the HDR bug???

I'm digging it.
Purist hate it.
Any other forum members have some HDR to share?
Love to see more.

Cheers.

Those are fantastic!

todka · Dec 7th, 2011, 6:26 pm

Hi sfarson,
Nice to see you here.
Actually the first 2 images were tripod shot, the other 2 are hand held.
I've had a lot of unexpected success with hand held bracketing. Usually I bump the shutter speed up so the longest shot is above 1/60th and hold my breath to avoid movement as much as possible.
Agree on the Red/White/Black 1098R. For aesthetics alone, I won't be swapping it for a 1199. It's beautiful. And yeah, it can rip your balls off if you don't hang on too

Thanks Duckman. Glad you enjoyed them.

sfarson · Dec 7th, 2011, 9:09 pm

Interesting you've had success with handheld HDR images!

And yes, the 1098R is the keeper.

BTW, I've stood near the location of your first image (beautiful), then following the conclusion of some business, hired a bike from Frazier's and toured NSW for four days... down to Bateman's Bay, up past Goulburn and Orange to Dubbo. Rode the Putty Rd., etc. Great roads, rides, and memories.

wet · Dec 11th, 2011, 6:06 pm

It got old for me, pretty fast

mlukason · Dec 12th, 2011, 3:16 pm

Nice job on the HDR! I really like the one of the 1098 along the stone wall.

Leary Blaine · Dec 12th, 2011, 4:38 pm

Anyone care to give a brief primer on HDR? I'm new to the digital SLR game. I've seen HDR mentioned in my D5100 manual, but haven't dug into it. Would very much appreciate a few sentences of intro from a knowledgeable person. For example: under what conditions would you use it and expect to get superior results? Software sophistication is mentioned. Is it necessary? Will the new dSLRs export one merged image? TIA!

mlukason · Dec 12th, 2011, 6:59 pm

Sure...I'll give it a go.

The human eye has a huge dynamic range...the ability to see dim to very bright. It's on the order of 10 log units. A d-SLR has a much smaller dynamic range...about 4 log units. So, in order to expand the range of an image you take several shots (usually >5) at different exposures...from uderexposed to normal to overexposed. The multiple images are then combined with software to produce a single image that covers a greater range of light intensities. Photoshop (I believe CS4 and later has an HDR routine programmed in) can do the combination as well as other stand alone products (I use Photomatix Pro). The images can be tweaked from just a smidgen of extra color depth to way out extreme color overload.

A tripod is typically used...if you take 6 or 8 images and if the camera position is changed between images you can end up with strange artifacts and ghosting.

Hope this helps.

todka · Dec 13th, 2011, 6:26 am

Hi Leary,

Mlukason has hit the technical bit pretty well.

Some good examples are already posted. Check out the 1098R taken on Sydney harbour. The sun is on the opposite side of the bike, but due to the contribution to the underexposed photos, the detail in the clouds is seen, and due to the contribution from the over exposed frames, the dark side of the bike has its detail revealed. Cool hey? :-)

The software allows manipulation of the highlights/lowlights/midtones all separately, and vary attributes like saturation, hue, luminosity, contrast, and strength of exposure blending. Depending on settings, a natural look can be achieved, or surrealistic.

Here the HDR process allowed the shaded part of the structure come out, and let me get a nice shot regardless of unfavourable lighting. I over saturated the colour, but thats my taste.

And one from night shooting. I like how the interior came out despite it being really dark.

Have fun, and post up your pics!