Vertical Aspect Pan of 4 HDR

[arith]

This was the most challenging shot so far; the camera was above head height to clear a closed gate, plus I don't have proper equipment, I'm using a Giottos with normal pan head.
Also the stubby 28mm at f8 which is about its best setting.

Although it is rather dark outside and it is floodlit the true ev span was around 10 ev or just over.

Does this look reasonable? It is stitched using tthe demo version of Autostitch and I balanced colour and brightness by eye while tonemapping using Picturenaut and my favourite logarithmic application.

I don't think I will do it again in a hurry, the nearest object to cause problems stitching is less than 7 metres from the camera, and I've already done one at 7 metres that worked.

If the gate was open I would have chosen a better composition.

[CNelson]

I like it. The stitching is not obvious and you have a lot of depth of field. There is a bit of distortion due to wide angle or perhaps it's a product of stitching but it doesn't bother me that much unless I focus on it rather than the whole. As a whole it's artsy and interesting. It must have been a challenging project.

Chuck

[arith]

Cheers; it is the best I can do with the equipment and software. It did drain me a bit though; so much to do, so much to go wronge; so I did another just one image 3 frames bang down the middle.

I think getting closer is out of the question, since I notice a slight bend; but I can live with it in this although it will get worse the closer you get.

[Steve S]

I think you did a great job arith. I like it...............great shot. How long did it take to process?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Arith,

I agree with Chuck and Steve, this is a great image and I'm really glad you posted a fairly large version, the results definitely justify it - loads to look at, just like being there.

viewed small, it looks a touch dim, but viewed large, it is completely natural.

Well done,

[arith]

Hours and hours; the trouble is the stained glass windows leaving different white balance from different angles. Starting from the left I spent a lot of time on the first image; then one at a time tried to match the others to it, and since it was too bright by the time I got to the right, started again.

There is a white card on the first seat, so I had some idea; something to start from.

I know the place now and the roof really does look purple; I only wish the gate was open so I could move the camera to get a better perspective.

The image is as big as I can get away with on this forum, but sufferes from white dots caused by compression; the original is a massive download but can be found here. By massive I mean really really big.

http://public.fotki.com/Arith/lichfi...erticalpa.html

[Henrik]

Although it is rather dark outside and it is floodlit the true ev span was around 10 ev or just over.

Does this look reasonable? It is stitched using tthe demo version of Autostitch and I balanced colour and brightness by eye while tonemapping using Picturenaut and my favourite logarithmic application.

Indeed it does look not just reasonable. It looks like a Masterpiece! One perfectionist must you must be.

As for me I needed to understand the expression of "ev span" (Expostion Value, i.e.), and I wonder how you managed to get all the images (how many - just 4?) "speaking to each other", if there were that much variation in exposure? Where does the HDR come into question if it is a matter of stitching rather than combining pictures?

I also wonder how you got such a sharp result from the simple demo version of Autostitch? - I just get blurry results with that program. (I should add: So far working with jpg-files. But e.g. PTGui does the job much better for me.)

And I thank you for pointing at Picturenaut - as an alternative to Photomatix.

You really inspire me! Thanks.

I know I'm a bit late with my remarks, but being a newbie in CiC, I have all sorts of things to examine on the way. - Anyway: I would only be happy, if more attention is drawn to your work.

Regards, Henrik

[arith]

Well thank you very much Henrik I'm flattered and embarrassed because I'm only as good as you.

The HDR is a way to get greater range with less noise; I have struggled with exposure values of over 13, but generally a dslr can only manage 11 ev with noise and less than that without it. Unless you have a Canon 1Ds which will manage 18 ev.

This image is 4 frames of 6 images; and I try to balance left to right by picking on something in this case the red seat in the forground and the floor and then clip colours; of course after doing them all I might still be wrong, I overlay one over another, and if I am wronge I start again.

The actual picture taking is difficult because you have to ensure the camera doesn't move more than could cause a two pixel shift to align images. This is a suck it and see rule but I've seen over those limits causing blur.

It is not over yet because I put the tiff images in Helicon Filter to remove noise mainly but also to sharpen while they are tiff; choosing the same settings for all but I also can specifically raise shadows and lower highlights. It is tiff and lossless and a bit more than picturenaut can manage since this application is for general global HDR.

I've only got the demo version of autostitch and therefore try to get everything done before stitching; but I do use the blending in autostitch to get things just right.

After stitching it goes straight back into Helicon filter where I do very slight adjustments to balance caused by merging and crop.

That's it. Job done until somebody notices something I didn't when it starts again.

cheers