MakeUseOf » hdr

It’s Time We Had A Word About Overdone HDR Photography… [Opinion]

Tim Brookes — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:31:01 +0000

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and in photographic terms generally produces an image with even highlights, midtones and shadows so the entire scene is balanced, and evenly exposed. Recently I’ve not been seeing much of this when it comes to HDR on the web. I’m talking about overdone, blown-out seizure-inducing “photographs” where each and every slider has been cranked up to 11. What happened? Did the novelty wear off or am I just a miserable sod?

It’s time for a step back. Let’s all reflect upon HDR, its overuse and what else is necessary to take a good photograph or become an accomplished photographer.

Examples

These two examples were both intentionally created to be bad but perfectly capture the essence of overdone HDR:

1. Learn How To Use Your Camera

So you’ve bought/inherited/won/found a decent camera. It’s a digital SLR, it shoots RAW, has changeable lenses and a lot of modes and settings to play with. Before googling the sweetest “how to HDR the crap out of your back yard” tutorial, it’s worth taking the time to master your camera.

Photography is an extremely accessible hobby these days, but also one that requires a bit of technical knowledge. This shouldn’t put newbies off. Basic concepts that will vastly improve understanding of photography and how your camera works include aperture, shutter speeds, ISO settings, your camera’s primary modes, metering and white balance (amongst others).

It might take you a week to get the basics right but months of practice are generally required before you’re at ease with every function. Don’t fret, it’s a rewarding process with results you can admire as your technique improves.

Download: MakeUseOf Guide – Essential Guide To Digital Photography
Read: How To Read Your Camera’s Histogram And Take Perfectly Balanced Images

2. Composition & Subject

Unfortunately, simply squeezing the shutter and firing off 3 bracketed shots is not enough to create an interesting image. What I’m saying here is Photomatix or Photoshop will not produce a particularly interesting photograph.

Composition is one of the most important considerations to make before taking a photograph. Sure, you can spruce up a dull photo in post but if the photo is dull in the first place it is likely that no amount of burning, dodging, masking or tonemapping will save it.

Learn about the rule of thirds. Hit up Amazon or head down to a good bookshop and pick up relevant guides on photography, other photographers work and do your research. When looking at a striking image ask yourself what it is about the image that makes it so powerful? For the most part subject and composition have far more value than darkroom or Photoshop tweaks.

Links: Digital Photography School – Composition Tips

3. Critique Or “You’re Doing It Wrong”

Flickr doesn’t count. Sorry, but I’ve seen plenty of badly overdone HDR shots on Flickr awarded all manner of dancing animated .GIF “Ur photo rox” awards – and it’s really not helping anyone. Getting proper critique will improve your technique as you learn from your mistakes. Flickr is not the way to go.

Message boards are usually the answer. There are a huge amount of dedicated photo communities out there that encourage proper criticism. I can’t help but feel endless lists of “this is amazing!” comments on uninteresting and gaudy tonemapped images are only fuelling the fire. Add to the fact that Flickr allows the deletion of comments….

Links: Photography Review – The Power of Photo Critique, Jim M. Goldstein – Top 10 Most Annoying Photography Critique Comments

4. Photoshop

All modern digital SLRs shoot RAW, which is an uncompressed image format that allows for some serious processing in Photoshop or other image editors. RAW files allow values such as white balance and exposure to be modified in order to save or enhance a photo. Learning how to tidy up non-HDR photos before diving into tonemapped HDRs bodes well.

There are also alternatives to HDR in some occasions, and it’s probably worth learning about those too. Masking and precise adjustments require more work than selecting 3 files and moving some sliders about, but generally produce more natural and refined images. Check out our Photoshop articles and guides for some great advice.

Download: MakeUseOf Guide – An Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop [Part 1] [Part 2]
Read: How To Edit RAW Photos In Adobe Camera RAW, 4 Great Tools For Editing RAW Photos In Linux

5. Using HDR Appropriately

I’m not saying all HDR is bad, and there is a time and a place for it. Graduated neutral density filters are great for exposing perfect skies for stunning landscapes, but unless your horizon is fairly straight you’ve got an issue. In these instances, sure – why not?

Try to resist the urge to jack everything up to 11. Consider your shot first. People generally look a bit alien in HDR, and if there are halos (glowing edges where exposures have been blended) appearing on the image then chances are you went a bit too far.

The best HDR shots I’ve seen were not obvious tonemapped images, and thus didn’t scream “HDR w00t!” upon first glance. Just saying…

Conclusion

HDR is a technique designed to create balanced, evenly exposed images. Unfortunately it’s been done to death, and much of the time is painful to look at. Of course this is my opinion, and we’d love to hear what you’ve got to say in the comments.

What do you think? Awesome neat-o technique or done to death? Do you use HDR?

Image Credits: densaer, Focal Intent, D700 + 24mm f1.4G by Fried Toast, The Rule of Thirds by fd, Rainbow Fuji (natural HDR) by Starfires

How To Make Fake High Dynamic Range Photos In Photoshop

John McClain — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:30:53 +0000

We’ve all seen those stunning high dynamic range (HDR) photography on the Web before. For some photographers, the technique simply means touching up a photo to make it look better, but at the same time making it look like nothing was done to it at all. Others go in a different direction, creating a more unreal look and bringing about more of an artistic piece rather than something you’d see in real life.

Whatever the case may be, the results can be pretty impressive, but how is it done exactly? Do you need a fancy camera and special HDR software? Not necessarily.

If you have only one JPEG image, you can create a fake high dynamic range photography look with just a few quick steps in Photoshop. It’s an easy yet effective way to enhance your favorite photos.

What Is HDR?

High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is simply about capturing a greater range of tonal detail. This usually entails taking at least three photos at different exposures of the same shot and merging them together. If you don’t have a camera that allows you to manually set the exposure, a tripod, or if the subject is moving, don’t worry; you’re not out of luck.

So, How To Make High Dynamic Range Photos

Here’s the photo we’ll be working on. It’s a single JPEG image straight out of a camera.

First off, open up the image in Photoshop and duplicate the Background layer by dragging it to the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette or by hitting Ctrl + J (Command + J on a Mac).

With the layer copy selected, set the blending mode to Overlay.

Now, go up to the menu bar and click on Image. Scroll down to Adjustments and hit Desaturate.

After that, go to Image > Adjustments again, but this time click on Invert (Ctrl + I or Command + I on Mac).

On the menu bar, click on Filter, go to Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur. Select a radius of somewhere around 50 pixels or so. If you notice any halos starting to appear around objects, increase the radius accordingly.

Now, copy the Background layer once again. This time, set its blending mode to either Vivid Light or Linear Light. Start lowering the opacity of this layer to your liking. From my experience, you should end up at around 25%, more or less depending on the image you’re working with. It’s entirely up to you, though.

That’s it. Here’s what we’ve come up with:

Bonus Tip

Here’s an additional tip you can try out. Here’s another photo that’s been through the same technique explained above:

It looks pretty good, but let’s try to tweak the colors a little to make them pop. Make sure you have no layers selected and click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon.

Select Selective Color and start going through the colors and adjusting the sliders to your liking, focusing particularly on any dominant colors in your image.

Here’s the final result:

Do you have any experience creating HDR images? Has this high dynamic range photography technique worked for your photos? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit: MorBCN

The 10 Most Stunning Photo Blogs

Tina Sieber — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:01:59 +0000

Photo blogs are a secret passion of mine. Every now and then I spend hours clicking through impressions of someone else’s life. Browsing photos is a way to relax and get a glimpse into different worlds. A free vacation for the mind.

So let me take you on a short trip and know that it was very difficult to select only 10 destinations for your mind. I will start with those blogs I’ve been following for years and will go down to those I have discovered only recently.

[daily dose of imagery]

What makes it so stunning?

[daily dose of imagery] has been around since July 4th 2003, featuring one photo on each and every day ever since. The photographer lives and works in Toronto. The city and its surroundings are the subject of most of his photographs, but he also shares the views from his travels. The blog has won several awards and not only is almost every photo stunningly beautiful, but almost all shots also show an interesting perspective, a unique technique or skillful photo editing.

:photoschau

What makes it so stunning?

Incredible pictures from all kinds of objects, landscapes, cities, materials or people, and always catching special moments or perspectives. Sometimes the subject is abstract, sometimes clear and always simply beautiful.

c h r o m a s i a

What makes it so stunning?

It’s the variety of subjects combined with the soothing effect the pictures have on me. The pictures are rich in expressions with carefully composed contrasts and colors. A pleasure to the eyes.

Daily Walks

What makes it so stunning?

The idea of all the beautiful things that are out there. There is so much to discover on something as simple as a walk around your own neighborhood – every single day. And the pictures reveal skill. The skill in spotting and catching these wonderful moments and of course editing them to reveal their full beauty.

Deceptive Media

What makes it so stunning?

The perspective. Not always, but often pictures on this blog are of textures or patterns or very tiny sections of something bigger. The pictures are often puzzling and don’t always reveal the subject. Then sometimes they are surprisingly clear and you wonder whether there is a riddle hidden in the pixels.

Pixeldreamer

What makes it so stunning?

Before and after versions of edited photos. These photos reveal a lot about what is possible with today’s technology. Photos that looked dull and ordinary before, have become amazingly sharp and stunning pieces of art.

these fleeting moments

What makes it so stunning?

Photos like memories. Dreamily, romantic, elapsed. Floating and fleeting.

Roumi Photos

What makes it so stunning?

Like in the previous blog, it’s the mood of the photos that makes this blog so special. It reminds me of old science fiction movies. The future and yet the past. But the blog has mood swings and so it never gets boring.

accessible

What makes it so stunning?

The scenery, the light, the atmosphere. Carefully composed photos of calendar quality, adorable colors, wonderful contrasts, interesting light and perfect post processing.

Montreal Photo – J.R. Photoblog

What makes it so stunning?

Life and all of the above. There are pictures that are so real and so alive that they almost jump straight in your face. And then there are the blurry and antique ones, the carefully composed scene, the professional photos of landscapes and much more.

This list can never be complete. Please share your own favorites with us!

Picture credits: ilco

Make Use Of Podcast #29: Eye-poppin’ HDR Pictures

Jason Mayoff — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:01:28 +0000

I’ve been getting into photography lately, ever since I picked up my very first dSLR camera (Digital SLR or Single-Lens Reflex) about a month ago. One of the techniques I immediately decided to try out was HDR or High Dynamic Range.

“… high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.”

-Wikipedia

Sure that sounds technical and maybe it is, but here’s a non-technical definition: it makes the colors and details in your pictures pop out. It greatly enhances your images. See for yourself in Flickr’s HDR group.

Now, I said I started doing this when I got a dSLR camera, but you don’t need anything more than a basic point-and-shoot or even a cell phone camera to get great results.

There are many ways to create HDR images including using software like Photoshop and Photomatix, but here’s a great, free way to do it online at a website called: CreateHDR.com.

Here are a couple of HDR images I created using CreateHDR.com.

This podcast is available through iTunes so don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast if you have an iPod, or in another podcatcher if you have a different MP3 player.

[display_podcast]

Don’t forget to post your own eye-poppin’ HDR’d images from CreateHDR in the comments below.