HDR Photography: Remembering Larkspur's World

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, particularly in the context of emulating the vibrant style of a photographer named Larkspur. Participants share their experiences with HDR techniques, the challenges of capturing dynamic range, and the impact of editing on their photographs.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses admiration for Larkspur's photography, noting the rich colors and balanced dynamic range, and shares their attempts to replicate this style using HDR techniques.
  • Another participant mentions the difficulty of capturing the full dynamic range of a subject in a single shot and discusses the need for HDR to achieve better contrast.
  • A participant describes their process of merging multiple exposures to create an HDR image, emphasizing the importance of color saturation to match human perception.
  • There is a mention of the limitations of HDR software, particularly in handling certain lighting conditions like morning fog.
  • One participant reflects on losing an original photo due to a computer crash and emphasizes the importance of backups.
  • A participant inquires about the HDR settings on their camera and whether RAW files are necessary for HDR techniques.
  • Another participant provides insights on the Sony A900 camera's Auto Exposure Bracketing capabilities and suggests that JPG files can be used for HDR, although RAW files are preferable for editing.
  • There is a discussion about recognizing when HDR has been overdone, particularly in relation to the appearance of clouds in the image.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants share various techniques and experiences with HDR photography, but there is no consensus on the best practices or outcomes, indicating multiple competing views on the topic.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific software and camera settings, but the discussion does not resolve the effectiveness of different HDR methods or the impact of various editing choices.

Andre
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Remembering this post:

Borek said:
I have found this guy accidentally.

http://www.panoramio.com/user/109117

As someone said about Larkspur - I would like to live in the world as he sees it.

Larkspurs pictures are always so rich on color, almost too saturated but especially the dynamic range from light to dark are so well balanced. Too bad she doesn't drop by anymore.

So I want to live in that world too and I was going over all my summer pics, like this one:

25qsuc8.jpg


That's the whole frame, straight from the RAW file, no corrections. The idea was to try and get a Maxfield Parish kind of lighting, shooting straigt into the morn ing sun.

Maybe not bad, but nowhere near Larkspur's world. The dynamic range of the subject is too much to capture in full. We need something with High Dynamic Ranging, together with some color managing to improve that.

HDR is usually done with several pictures -at least three-, identical except for different exposures. However not a lot of models freeze for several pix and a tripod is not always practicable, but we can emulate three exposures from one by changing the output of the raw processing, one underexposed and one overexposed:

3538l1i.jpg


Alo the colors have been made more saturated to emulate more what the eye seems rather than what the camera sees.

So when we merge these three pix with HDR software (I use GIMP with plug ins for that) as a result we get a little closer to Larkspurs world where all parts are now much closer to an ideal contrast:

2d7d3yh.jpg


But you can't win them all, as the HDR software did not like the morning fog as seemingly over exposed and got rid of it.
 
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Perhaps you forgot, but we have been there:

Andre.jpg
 
No I remember that one, very sad that I lost the orginal of that picture due to a computer crash. Yes, I know all about backups. Currently I have two external hard disks with backups
 
Here is another one, at the first beams of the sunrise.

The unedited raw:

dn1wty.jpg


and after a HDR pass and also cloning away the telephone pole and wires

ehaofc.jpg


but maybe that's over the top.
 
Cool! I've wondered what the HDR settings on my camera do... Do I have to use RAW with this technique?
 
Not sure about your Sony A900, but I think it allows several options for Auto Exposure Bracketing making 3, 4 or 5 consecutive shots with different selectable (bracketable) exposure speeds (same aperture and ISO). With the appropriate software these exposures can be merged later to an HDR composition. No need to make them in RAW, JPG is fine.

However if you use a single shot, as I did, to smear out the dynamic range, adding artificial over- and under exposure, then RAW is preferable, because it allows for more editting.

Edit; the picture was submitted to this challenge. Observing the pix in there carefully, you see details in both extreme light and dark situations. However you know when you overdid the HDR, when the clouds are getting near black.
 
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