Experimenting in HDR

[p?tr?]

Well, I wanted to try out the new 'Merge to HDR' feature in CS2 and this is what I came up with: http://img180.imageshack.us/my.php?i...lower029vo.jpg
I'm not really a photographer and I've never even heard of HDR untill fairly recently, so I wanted to see what all you real photographers think. The flower I picked from my yard and took 3 pics by the window, each at different exposures. I had to try a couple of times to get it to work right - I still don't fully understand HDR (high dynamic range) but it was a fun challege.

[Hatch]

Nice work,

Here is a very basic explanation of what an HDR is or can be... not making use of the Merge to HDR feature in PSCS2... this is an old school way of going about it. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...blending.shtml But... gives you an idea. Deke McClelland has a series of videos which covers HDR indepth. Very useful in certian situations. He goes in as takes multiple shots at different timed exposures in a house... then he creates a 32 bit image from the combined shots and is able to really manipluate the photo with all the color information. Well worth watching and if you haven't heard of Deke... he is a Photoshop Master. http://www.totaltraining.com/bios/de...nd.asp?mscsid=

Hatch

[p?tr?]

Thanks Hatch! I'll take a look at those. 8))

[sPECtre]

Pat, could you show us a 'normal' picture of that flower?

[p?tr?]

Opps! [saywhat] After I took the pictures I merged to HDR right off the flash disk, but I didn't save the seperate exposures to my hard drive first. But, I will be experamenting more so I'll post the 'before & after' so stay tuned.

[p?tr?]

Ok, here it be....
I don't know if I'm doing this HDR thing right, but frankly, I can't see much difference. :{ Can you?

[Welles]

Actually, I see quite a difference. It is most noticeable on the orange/cream spiral shell and the other whites. There is an increased saturation of color and almost a levels adjustment on the whites. Just out of curiosity, I took your before image and did a bit of color correction. I eliminated a yellow cast, increased the contrast and saturation slightly and adjusted the white point a tiny bit. It's just for talking points...

[p?tr?]

Speaking of HDR - I was just playing Day of Defeat Source that was just released today at 3:00pm. This online multiplayer game made by Valve features thier new source technology: High dynamic range lighting/rendering and OMG, it is friggin awsome. Here's a couple of my favorite screens I took today.

[kiwi]

Check out this Paul Debevecs site for HDR etc.

http://www.debevec.org/