New to HDR

[BarryTX]

Hi all,

I got a Canon G11 for Christmas and have been learning about photography, and recently came across HDR / tonemapping. I bought Photomatix (I only have Photoshop Elements beyond that and the regular Canon software). I've played around with the Photomax software a bit on bracketed photos and thought I'd put up one of my photos for comments. Let me first say that while I appreciate all types of HDR and tonemapped images, I find myself mostly avoiding very surrealistic representations and preferring a final photo that is more on the realistic side with enhanced shadows and highlights.

This is a photo of a wedding reception in a neat old building, taken from the balcony. The lighting was interesting because there were a lot of incandescent bulbs in the cieling and along the walls, but there also was colored spotlignts pointing in the room. As a result, some tables picked up more of the colored light than others. Also, because there were a lot of people ghosting was a big concern but I was surprised at how well Photomax handled it. I actually only had 3 of the people in the image where ghosting was apparent - interestingly each of the ghost images came from 1 of the exposures. What I did to correct that was take the tonemapped image from Photomatix into PSE along with the matching single exposure and matched lighting in it as best as possible, then used a layer mask to 'solidify' the ghosts and then flatten the image. My last processing was to use Noiseware to clean / soften it. Anyway, here it is, any thoughts will be appreciated.



Barry

[Walshy]

Great shot Barry. I would have like to see the complete ceiling arch instead of cuting it off.
John

[carregwen]

Very good shot. I think part of it's success (apart from you being a great photographer!) is the spread of light from all those spot and ceiling lights. It gives it a really nice even, warm feel. How many drinks did you have beforehand?

[Edwin Harvey]

Hi all,

I got a Canon G11 for Christmas and have been learning about photography, and recently came across HDR / tonemapping. I bought Photomatix (I only have Photoshop Elements beyond that and the regular Canon software). I've played around with the Photomax software a bit on bracketed photos and thought I'd put up one of my photos for comments. Let me first say that while I appreciate all types of HDR and tonemapped images, I find myself mostly avoiding very surrealistic representations and preferring a final photo that is more on the realistic side with enhanced shadows and highlights.

This is a photo of a wedding reception in a neat old building, taken from the balcony. The lighting was interesting because there were a lot of incandescent bulbs in the cieling and along the walls, but there also was colored spotlignts pointing in the room. As a result, some tables picked up more of the colored light than others. Also, because there were a lot of people ghosting was a big concern but I was surprised at how well Photomax handled it. I actually only had 3 of the people in the image where ghosting was apparent - interestingly each of the ghost images came from 1 of the exposures. What I did to correct that was take the tonemapped image from Photomatix into PSE along with the matching single exposure and matched lighting in it as best as possible, then used a layer mask to 'solidify' the ghosts and then flatten the image. My last processing was to use Noiseware to clean / soften it. Anyway, here it is, any thoughts will be appreciated.

Barry

Very nice HDR image Barry. The Canon G11 is a wonderful little point & shoot. I had a Canon G9 a couple of years back & it was also a great performer. Unfortunately I sold it to a mate of mine a few months ago & bought a Canon 40D. I miss the little beast.

[BarryTX]

Thanks for the comments.

Walshy, I agree with you, but my problem was I had no tripod with me, so the best I came up with was to set the camera on the railing of the balcony and pick up all I could.

carregwen, thank you for the kind words but you give me way too much credit. I think this photo proves that the subject is more important than the photographer! ...and the number of drinks will forever remain secret - but the good news is I didn't drop the camera over the balcony!

Edwin, so far I am very impressed with the G11. The limits of the lens make me think about an SLR someday, but I have plenty to learn before then.

Thanks again.