James Langford
EF4
I wrote this small tutorial for another thread, and thought I would copy it here as well in case it could help others. I am by no means an expert in HDR, and am just sharing my experiences. Others (Like Ryan McGinnis) could probably offer lots better help than I, and maybe will chime in on this thread. 
So, here is a quick summary on HDR tone mapping. Please note that I won't go much into HDRs themselves, as I don't really do much with them. I don't think many do yet. Maybe once HDR monitors are more readily available.
What this summary covers is tone mapping HDR images to create a final JPG image. There are many ways and tools to create tone mapped images. I use Photomatix to do it. Others use Photoshop, or something like Dynamic Photo HDR. My primary motivation is to compress more shadow and highlight detail into a single consumable JPG image than would normally be there. I enjoy the artsy look that this gives, and it is kind of my style. Others like to create very contrasty images. To each their own.
The first step to creating a final image is to start with an HDR image. This requires having several images at different exposure levels. You can either do this by bracketing a single image at multiple exposures, or you can start with a single RAW file and pull multiple exposures out of it. I think you will generally get better results by bracketting multiple exposures, rather than using a single RAW. However, it is not always practical, especially if things in your scene are moving (like clouds, people, etc).
Mutliple Exposures: An easy way to get mutliple exposures is to use your camera's bracketting feature to capture 3 exposures of a single scene. You probably want to do -1/0/+1 at least, and maybe even -2/0/+2. You can also manually bracket using Manual mode, and there is no reason to not do more than 3 exposures (ie -2/-1/0/+1/+2). I'm no expert here, so maybe others can share results with a wider range of exposures. I generally bracket at -1/0/+1.
Singe RAW File: Using Adobe Camera RAW, or any other RAW processing program, you can easily pull -1/0/+1 exposures out of one RAW. Simply adjust the "Exposure" dial to -1, and then save the image as a jpg or tiff. Next set it to 0, and then +1 and do the same. Save them as seperate file names, like image-1, image-2, image-3 so they can be combined in Photomatix later.
Working in Photomatix: Pull your mutiple exposures files into Photomatix to create an HDR image. This will look really funky and overprocessed. Choose "Tone Mapping" to bring up the mapping window where you adjust everything. I would suggest spending a lot of time playing around here to learn what different things do and how they affect the image. Here are my general settings to try and create a fairly realistic image:
Strength: 65 to 70
Color Saturation: 70
Light Smoothing: All the way to the right, maybe one click left
Luminosity: -2
Microcontrast: All the way to the right
Microsmoothing: 0 to maybe 15 depending on the image
White Clip: 0 I use Photoshop to adjust this
Black Clip: 0 I use Photoshop to adjust this
Gamma: 1.20 (I think this is standard gamma?)
Anyway, that's what I do. I'd be interested in seeing anyone elses settings, and examples of the output.
James
So, here is a quick summary on HDR tone mapping. Please note that I won't go much into HDRs themselves, as I don't really do much with them. I don't think many do yet. Maybe once HDR monitors are more readily available.
What this summary covers is tone mapping HDR images to create a final JPG image. There are many ways and tools to create tone mapped images. I use Photomatix to do it. Others use Photoshop, or something like Dynamic Photo HDR. My primary motivation is to compress more shadow and highlight detail into a single consumable JPG image than would normally be there. I enjoy the artsy look that this gives, and it is kind of my style.
Others like to create very contrasty images. To each their own. The first step to creating a final image is to start with an HDR image. This requires having several images at different exposure levels. You can either do this by bracketing a single image at multiple exposures, or you can start with a single RAW file and pull multiple exposures out of it. I think you will generally get better results by bracketting multiple exposures, rather than using a single RAW. However, it is not always practical, especially if things in your scene are moving (like clouds, people, etc).
Mutliple Exposures: An easy way to get mutliple exposures is to use your camera's bracketting feature to capture 3 exposures of a single scene. You probably want to do -1/0/+1 at least, and maybe even -2/0/+2. You can also manually bracket using Manual mode, and there is no reason to not do more than 3 exposures (ie -2/-1/0/+1/+2). I'm no expert here, so maybe others can share results with a wider range of exposures. I generally bracket at -1/0/+1.
Singe RAW File: Using Adobe Camera RAW, or any other RAW processing program, you can easily pull -1/0/+1 exposures out of one RAW. Simply adjust the "Exposure" dial to -1, and then save the image as a jpg or tiff. Next set it to 0, and then +1 and do the same. Save them as seperate file names, like image-1, image-2, image-3 so they can be combined in Photomatix later.
Working in Photomatix: Pull your mutiple exposures files into Photomatix to create an HDR image. This will look really funky and overprocessed. Choose "Tone Mapping" to bring up the mapping window where you adjust everything. I would suggest spending a lot of time playing around here to learn what different things do and how they affect the image. Here are my general settings to try and create a fairly realistic image:
Strength: 65 to 70
Color Saturation: 70
Light Smoothing: All the way to the right, maybe one click left
Luminosity: -2
Microcontrast: All the way to the right
Microsmoothing: 0 to maybe 15 depending on the image
White Clip: 0 I use Photoshop to adjust this
Black Clip: 0 I use Photoshop to adjust this
Gamma: 1.20 (I think this is standard gamma?)
Anyway, that's what I do. I'd be interested in seeing anyone elses settings, and examples of the output.
James
