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Thread: Trying out HDR

  1. #21

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    Re: Trying out HDR

    Quote Originally Posted by iPhillip View Post
    Trying out HDR
    Whooah I love the sky!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Colin Southern
    It's really easy to fake a GND filter using them - you simply stack 2 identical compositions with different exposures, and then paint a soft-edged mask to reveal only the good bits of both. Personally I still like to try and get it right in camera using filters, but if you get your transition zones right then doing it digitally is also very effective.
    Do you mean taking well-lit foreground and background respectively (like when doing HDR bracketing). But instead of Merging them into HDR, I just stack them one on top of the other?
    I once tried to paint off using the PS brush and it's really hard to get smooth realistic transition, even with my pen tablet. Would it be better to use a gradient mask?

    It was quite some time ago, so I may did something wrong when taking the pictures.

  2. #22

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    Re: Trying out HDR

    Quote Originally Posted by Zephyrize View Post
    Do you mean taking well-lit foreground and background respectively (like when doing HDR bracketing). But instead of Merging them into HDR, I just stack them one on top of the other?
    I once tried to paint off using the PS brush and it's really hard to get smooth realistic transition, even with my pen tablet.
    Yes. But theres a couple of tricks to it ...

    1. You have to keep the "rules" of local contrast in mind - just because, say, you have a nicely exposed forground and a nicely exposed background, doesn't mean to say that simply displaying the "best of both" will automatically get you a natural looking picture. So it helps to attach something like a levels layer to each of the image layers and tweak things there for a start.

    2. The trick is to paint the mask with a soft brush (and often less than 100% opacity) - works a treat. Scott Kepby's 7-Point system is invaluable at teaching this technique.

    Would it be better to use a gradient mask?
    I know that this is a popular teaching, but I don't like it because it assumes that the transition between the two images is linear (not linear across the entire image necessarily, but linear across the transition zone), when in reality it seldom is - and as a result you wend up with a weak transitional area that discredits the believeability of the image.

    Take a look at this image and see if you can see where it's blended?

    Trying out HDR

  3. #23

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    Re: Trying out HDR

    Quote Originally Posted by Colin Southern View Post
    Take a look at this image and see if you can see where it's blended?

    Trying out HDR
    No word.

    If I hadn't followed the 'How to take Long Exposure Thread', I wouldn't believed this was blended. Clearly the transition area is invisible after a careful masking.
    Can't wait to try once spring arrives!

    Btw, this example is my top favorite in your gallery; seems almost that I can feel the wet rock texture!

  4. #24

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    Re: Trying out HDR

    Quote Originally Posted by Zephyrize View Post
    If I hadn't followed the 'How to take Long Exposure Thread', I wouldn't believed this was blended. Clearly the transition area is invisible after a careful masking.
    That's the beauty of using a mask with a soft brush @ less than 100% opacity - you can fine tune to mask as much as you like. With the opacity set for around 5 or 10% you just click - click - click to slowly reveal just whatever you want (or reverse it just as easily) - and by using a soft brush you really don't have to be too precise.

    Btw, this example is my top favorite in your gallery; seems almost that I can feel the wet rock texture!
    Thanks :) I A lot of people have said that. Personally it's one of my favourites, but not quite in first place. I could just feel the water too - in my gumboots - on my trousers - on the tripod - on the camera (that's why I like sealed cameras and lenses!).

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