A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been up to Fleetwood to shoot some HDR sequences, and that none of them had worked out, but I finally managed to sort out one of them. The reason I said that I didn't think that any of them would work is that I initially tried to process them using Photomatix Pro, but just couldn't get rid of the halos around the various struts and ironwork.
So, having failed with Photomatix, I thought I'd try a version using FDRTools and, as you can see, it's done a pretty good job. There were some HDR artefacts that needed correcting, and some minor haloing in some parts of the image, but on the whole I think it's done a pretty good job. There are still some minor areas of the image that I think could do with a bit more work, but I ran out of editing time today.
Anyway, this is a shot of the underside of Fleetwood Pier (as was this one). It was constructed from a seven shot sequence, all of which were taken at f/11.0 with a shutter speed range of 1/640s for the darkest shot to 1.6s for the lightest. To give you an idea of the dynamic range of the original scene, here's a straight conversion of the metered exposure:
comment byJuha Haataja at 09:00 PM (GMT) on 8 August, 2008
This look great - complex yet simple geometry and nice tones.
comment bySeinberg at 09:18 PM (GMT) on 8 August, 2008
It's nice under the pier, but the sky is a bland gray color (maybe because your highlights were blown out even at the lowest EV?)
comment bydjn1 at 09:35 PM (GMT) on 8 August, 2008
Seinberg: no, the highlights weren't blown, I just changed the colour from blue to brown. My reason for this was that the blue wedge of sky, in my opinion at least, was a distraction; i.e. the image is about the pier, not the sky, and in the original version the contrast between the brown/red tones of most of the image and the sky was too great. I'm sure that if I posted a version with the blue sky that some of you would prefer it, but it didn't work for me.
comment by Chris (CML) at 10:04 PM (GMT) on 8 August, 2008
Hi Dave, great pic, glad you thought of using FDR tools to rescue it. Gave me a chance to see something created using the tool. I have a question, is there a huge difference between FDR basic versus FDR advance? Basic is a free download, I am wondering how limited it is. Thanks, Chris
comment bydjn1 at 10:14 PM (GMT) on 8 August, 2008
The important difference though is that the Advanced version has an additional tone mapping option - the Compressor method. In my experience this produces much better results than the other two.
this one isn't really doing it for me...the thing that i love about most of your HDR's is the "strikingness" of them. doesn't quite have that intangible. i have a blast trying this new technique with some of my images...here's one example if anyone is interested.
http://b-rooks.deviantart.com/art/Anthony-and-Katie-94098365
thanks for the insite on this topic dave.
comment bydjn1 at 06:41 PM (GMT) on 9 August, 2008
Thanks all.
Brooks: I like your shot of Anthony and Kate - it works well.
comment by cy at 10:11 PM (GMT) on 9 August, 2008
love all the texture and all the lines..... really nice. reminds me of one of those secret spots everyones has when they are kids. really well spotted.
comment byMike at 01:14 AM (GMT) on 10 August, 2008
The image is really great and all the extra work was worth it. You really get a sense for the delicate spider web holding up this boardwalk. The detail is remarkable.
A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been up to Fleetwood to shoot some HDR sequences, and that none of them had worked out, but I finally managed to sort out one of them. The reason I said that I didn't think that any of them would work is that I initially tried to process them using Photomatix Pro, but just couldn't get rid of the halos around the various struts and ironwork.
So, having failed with Photomatix, I thought I'd try a version using FDRTools and, as you can see, it's done a pretty good job. There were some HDR artefacts that needed correcting, and some minor haloing in some parts of the image, but on the whole I think it's done a pretty good job. There are still some minor areas of the image that I think could do with a bit more work, but I ran out of editing time today.
Anyway, this is a shot of the underside of Fleetwood Pier (as was this one). It was constructed from a seven shot sequence, all of which were taken at f/11.0 with a shutter speed range of 1/640s for the darkest shot to 1.6s for the lightest. To give you an idea of the dynamic range of the original scene, here's a straight conversion of the metered exposure:
.../archives/under_fleetwood_pier_2.php
As always, let me know what you think.
This look great - complex yet simple geometry and nice tones.
It's nice under the pier, but the sky is a bland gray color (maybe because your highlights were blown out even at the lowest EV?)
Seinberg: no, the highlights weren't blown, I just changed the colour from blue to brown. My reason for this was that the blue wedge of sky, in my opinion at least, was a distraction; i.e. the image is about the pier, not the sky, and in the original version the contrast between the brown/red tones of most of the image and the sky was too great. I'm sure that if I posted a version with the blue sky that some of you would prefer it, but it didn't work for me.
Hi Dave, great pic, glad you thought of using FDR tools to rescue it. Gave me a chance to see something created using the tool. I have a question, is there a huge difference between FDR basic versus FDR advance? Basic is a free download, I am wondering how limited it is. Thanks, Chris
Chris: here's the comparison page:
http://www.fdrtools.com/products_and_features_e.php
The important difference though is that the Advanced version has an additional tone mapping option - the Compressor method. In my experience this produces much better results than the other two.
this one isn't really doing it for me...the thing that i love about most of your HDR's is the "strikingness" of them. doesn't quite have that intangible. i have a blast trying this new technique with some of my images...here's one example if anyone is interested.
http://b-rooks.deviantart.com/art/Anthony-and-Katie-94098365
thanks for the insite on this topic dave.
Thanks all.
Brooks: I like your shot of Anthony and Kate - it works well.
love all the texture and all the lines..... really nice. reminds me of one of those secret spots everyones has when they are kids. really well spotted.
The image is really great and all the extra work was worth it. You really get a sense for the delicate spider web holding up this boardwalk. The detail is remarkable.