HDR Storm Photography

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I am now totally addicted to shooting HDR.

Seems that every time I use my camera lately, I'm setting it to auto-bracket. And I tend to like the other-worldly, slightly overdone look. Because I can't really chase this year, I haven't really had the opportunity to shoot storms in HDR.

But for those of you that are shooting HDR while chasing, are you happy with the results?
What techniques and softwares are you using?
Are you shooting hand-held or using a tripod?
How many exposures?

Please post some of your favorite HDR shots here, so that we can see a possible difference in technique and procedure.

Again, I tend to go for the illustrative look. If you want to see some of my HDR non-storm photos, you can go here:

http://www.photosig.com/go/users/viewportfolio?id=205682

Be gentle...

Melanie

 

[Bill Hark]

I must admit my ignorance as I am not familar with HDR photography. I looked it up and found this Wikipedia link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

Very interesting though I can't offer any advice. Maybe there are others with experience.

Bill Hark

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I totally dig HDR. I'd say almost the majority of my shots are done with HDR in mind, at least. Sometimes I'll still take a well-exposed single frame over multiple exposures - just depends. Since almost EVERY chase situation this year has been a high-pressure, intense sort of thing - I haven't had the luxury of time to get out a tripod and set it up. So most everything has been hand-held with just three exposures. I use Photomatix Pro 3.0 for the blending/tonal mapping. It's easier to navigate and tweak than Photoshop. There are some ways with Photomatix to get the benefits of HDR without overprocessing an image too. It can still appear realistic, but have a great dynamic range.

We've had some very big discussions on the merit of HDR in here in the past, including the subject of artistic license vs. journalistic intent. You may want to take a look back at some of them. Basically it comes down to, HDR is for art ... single frames for journalism.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Previous HDR Threads?

We've had some very big discussions on the merit of HDR in here in the past, including the subject of artistic license vs. journalistic intent. You may want to take a look back at some of them. Basically it comes down to, HDR is for art ... single frames for journalism.

Hi Mike...

Before I posted this thread, I did a search for HDR, but the search kept coming up with no results (strange, I thought). If someone else can find those threads for me, it would be appreciated...

Mel

 

[Mike Peregrine]

This one was good ... and this one also discussed it quite a bit.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I've found that HDR doesn't work so hot for storms, but that may be because I'm trying to use Photoshop instead of Photomatix -- storms may be one of the few things that Photomatix does better than Photoshop. Generally, I dislike the garish look that Photomatix produces, though later versions of the program have made it possible to create much more subtle images.

I've got a tutorial for doing HDR processing using Photoshop CS2 or CS3 up here:

http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I've got a tutorial for doing HDR processing using Photoshop CS2 or CS3 up here:

http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html

So I've just spent the last hour reading through the previous HDR threads (thanks, Mike) and I'm so impressed with the different views and the different techniques.

Ryan, I was actually going to PM you to ask how you do it without Photomatix, so you saved me a step. Thx...

Melanie

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Photomatix 3.0 (the latest version) gives you many more control options than the previous releases. It's also faster at processing the large files needed for HDR, seems like. You now have the flexibility to create much more subtle images that are not as wigged out as the overprocessed ones. I do not like Photoshop's handling of HDR. It's completely correct that it does not handle clouds well.

Both the sunset photo from last night, and the McPherson storm photo were HDR shots processed with Photomatix. The sunset image is true to the actual scene, while the storm was intentionally overprocessed to give it that other-worldly look. It does not resemble the actual scene much at all, which was pretty low contrast.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Very artistic HDR imagery there Melanie. You have a talent in transforming seemingly ordinary photos into true art. It's certainly "out there" as far as photography. It's kind of pointless to debate what is/isn't photography in this day of digital imaging. Personally, I don't do much HDR work. I try and make it a point to find the naturally produced soft light, color, and contrast, so the light does all the work for me. A properly exposed stormscape in good soft light really requires no (or very little) HDR work. I think Mike Hollingshead's stormscapes are a good example of this. He is a soft-light master.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Very artistic HDR imagery there Melanie.

Lol, is 'artistic' a euphemism for YIKES !!?

You have a talent in transforming seemingly ordinary photos into true art. It's certainly "out there" as far as photography.

Thanks for your very kind comments, Mike. Yes, as far as I'm concerned, it started out as a photograph but ceased being a photo once you cross that threshold of recognizability (is that even a word?!).

A properly exposed stormscape in good soft light really requires no (or very little) HDR work. I think Mike Hollingshead's stormscapes are a good example of this. He is a soft-light master.

Yes, Mike H. is absolutely a master, but...

Uhm, I think most people would say that you're a master in your own right.

Melanie

 

[Darren Addy]

Just a reminder that HDR is now within reach of many Canon point 'n shoot cameras with the free CHDK software. Here is one guy's efforts with it: ( April '08 post ).

The cameras compatible with CHDK are listed on the project home page (right column).

Basically, the CHDK software gives your point 'n' shoot RAW capabilities and scripts that do auto exposure bracketing for your HDR stacking pleasure. (Meaning your point 'n' shoot can have capabilities UNAVAILABLE in the "big boy" DSLRs. The CHDK software has other perks for storm photographers such as automatic motion detection firing of the shutter (for lightning photography) and other fun stuff like shutter speeds to 1/60,000th of a second (for Harold Edgerton-like images). Amazing stuff.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I like the fact that you can bring in extra details between high contrast shots but its also an artistic tool.

Original shot untouched:

HDR comprised of 3 shots ( 0, -1, +1 )



Another:

 

[James Langford]

Neat stuff there! I started doing a bit of HDR work last year, and I've really grown to love it. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the overprocessed stuff (to each their own ). However, I love how a scene with a lot of dynamic range can be compressed down through tone mapping. I generally start with a RAW file, and then extract -1/0/+1 EV expsoures from it. I use Photomatix Pro to generate a tone mapped HDR image. My personal goal with HDR processing is to try and generate a more pleasant image in scenes with large amounts of dynamic range. I've also recently started doing HDR panos, which is pretty fun but takes a lot of time. Here's a few of my favorite HDR tone mapped images:

There's some more on my site in this folder:

http://www.langfordphotography.com/gallery/2648772_nJ6HX#139994594_vgrq3

James

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I generally start with a RAW file, and then extract -1/0/+1 EV expsoures from it. I use Photomatix Pro to generate a tone mapped HDR image.

Are you saying you just use 1 raw file and extract your 3? if so how do you do this?

Thx

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Wow - I didn't catch that little point of fact. We had actually talked about ways of doing that in one of those threads, but it didn't appear that there was a good way to achieve it. If that is what you are doing (mapping 3 exposures from the same RAW files), I'd sure like to know the trick. Your results are beautiful, and artistic.