As for Neo and his lightsaber… I superglued a lightsaber into his hand after I could not for the life of me find Neo’s toy machine guns. The machine guns have been missing for years and he needed something to use when he kicks butt and takes name.

Neo finds a lightsaber

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph Jam for the upcoming Pride weekend, and I wanted some really cool shots with the sun in the photograph – and this usually means I am creating an HDR. I created 4 HDR images – in both Photomatix Pro and in Adobe Photoshop CS5 HDRPro.

First difference? It took me about 8 minutes to create all four images in Photomatix Pro – I didn’t sit there with a stop watch so it isn’t very scientific. Once they were created I began creating the HDR images in Photoshop – THAT took me about an hour to do – so yeah – big difference.

The first two images are from the same photograph – and from Photomatix Pro. Yes, I know there is lens flare – when you shoot into the sun you are going to get lens flare and I left it in cause I think it is ok to have lens flare in this case. The second image is a crop of the photo so you can see the building has some noise – Photomatix Pro constantly has problems with added noise when there shouldn’t be any. The building has a bit of an inner glow – which is a bit of a surreal painterly look that is telltale of Photomatix Pro. And I rather like that look. At least I can control it.

HDR Created in Photomatix Pro and Edited in Nik Software Viveza 2

Zoomed in on the Photomatix Pro

The next image is Photoshop CS5 HDRPro’s best attempt – and the building is still just dark and muddy – this is my big complaint – I can’t get more detail out of the dark areas – not easily at least. Photoshop CS5 gives you so many sliders and they all seem to imitate the things that are bad about HDR. There is a slider to control the radius – I don’t want to create halos or glows at the edge of lines and detail – I want to avoid that – yet I have a slider that will add as much radius as I want.

I want to boost the shadows to get more detail – and there is no good way to do that. After enough slider movement then the whole image starts looking muddy, messy or just over sharpened. Ick.

HDR in Photoshop CS5 HDRPro and Edited in Nik Software Viveza 2

Zoomed in on the Photoshop CS5 HDRPro image

Photoshop CS5 does have the advantage that it does not introduce noise into the image. Photoshop also does not create a black halo around the sun – Photomatix Pro does that and that isn’t want I am trying to do. Photomatix Pro also creates images that are a bit soft in detail – Photoshop CS5 seems to maintain the detail in the images.

I consider Photoshop CS5 HDRPro a “beta” program that will hopefully get better and not ignored or cast aside down the road. I would recommend Photomatix Pro over Photoshop CS5 at this time.

I just found out that Nik Software will be introducing their own version of HDR software – and I love their other products. So I am excited to see what they can do in the world of HDR.

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This photo was a potential daily photograph candidate the other day, however, I picked something else. But I really like the painterly effect.

Silver Efex Pro

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dav.d in hdr on a farm

dav.d in hdr on a farm

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And to learn how to create an HDR check my tutorial on my dav.d photography tips website.

To create this photograph I took 3 photographs with my Nikon D90 on high burst mode. I then created the HDR in Photomatix Pro. I then fancied up the image using Nik Software Viveza 2 and their Color Efex Pro 3. Both are awesome plugins to play with color, contrast and such.

I didn’t want the sun in the photograph because the Nikon D300 only brackets 3 shots – and that wouldn’t be enough if the sun was in the shot. And I wanted to capture the cool clouds anyway. You almost need to have clouds to make an HDR look cool.

Morning HDR in Provo

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I like to walk the Gateway and window shop and I figured I would photograph one of the fires that is used to warm the homeless people. I had no clue if it would work with the iPhone. And with white balance and blah blah blah the fire came out yellow and the shade came out pretty much blue. I then edited the photo in Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 3. That software plugin is pretty cool – although I don’t use it enough.

Fire

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This photograph is one of the digital shots – edited in Nik Software’s Viveza 2. Using their controls I am able to at least fake an HDR tonemapped image and take the original photograph from bland to a level I find much more cool and edgy.

Monument on Utah Capitol Hill

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And it helps being single sometimes so it makes purchasing camera gear and software a hell of a lot easier. Wink.

Provo Mountain Range

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Photomatix Pro, which is the software I recommend for the HDR process, will align the image in case you do handhold the photographs. I wanted to test the capabilities and I am impressed. I will have to try it again with other shots to see how reliable hand holding bracketed shots can be.

Provo, Utah in HDR and handheld

The second photograph is the same photo, however, I turned it into a black and white photo using Nik Software’s Silver Efex pro. Photomatix Pro is just the first step in creating a photograph. I use Photomatix Pro to create the tone mapped image – but that is just step one. You then need to go in and add some levels, curves, saturation, contrast or other touch ups. I also had to clone out a car that had been moving.

Same HDR photograph but in black and white with Silver Efex Pro

HDR is still a developing and emerging technology. It will get better and I think it is worth it for people to learn how to create these images. There is a lot of HDR imagery out there that I think is craptacular and looks like a Harry Potter acid trip. But there are some other images out there that look real and look better than a basic photograph.

But in the end it boils down to good photography and good practices in creating an image. This photo could have been better on a ton of levels. I could have found a different location. I am also shooting through a window and there is a little bit of reflection that I find distracting. But it was a practice – a practice in hand holding for HDR.

Next time I hope I will have my tripod on me.

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I added more doom and gloom to make an empty street much more ominous. There is a little bit of halo around the street lamp – but I am fine with it. It helps the lamp stand out from a pure dark sky.

Provo streets at noon

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