HDR Newbie Questions

I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

a scene illuminates with bright sun light you intend to photograph may has
high dynamic range or simply means the brightness between highlight and
shadow with details are too wide apart for the camera sensors to record
faithfully. you will lost either the hightlight or shadow details depending
on the exposure. HDR help to solve this problem by you taking two or three
shots with different exposures of the same scene, i.e plus, normal, over and
the HDR will take the best parts of the different exposures to stitch them
into one good pix hence virtually recorded the full dynamic range of the
scene.

"DigiCamUK" wrote in message
alid...
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

On Sep 16, 5:34 am, (DigiCamUK) wrote:
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

If your camera has a spot meter mode, meter the brightest surfaces in
the shot, then meter the deep shadow or darkest areas. Take two
exposures, manual exposures, using these two values.

On Sep 16, 10:54 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota
wrote:
On Sep 16, 5:34 am, (DigiCamUK) wrote:





I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

If your camera has a spot meter mode, meter the brightest surfaces in
the shot, then meter the deep shadow or darkest areas. Take two
exposures, manual exposures, using these two values.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Did you look at the following?
http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/r...4.htm#exposure
I thought I read somewhere suggesting normal and +2EV and -2EV. Mine
also only goes to +1EV and -1EV.
I still do not understand fully, but what happen if you just take one
shot and try to get underexposed and over exposed of the same image
using software? Something like using Gamma correction in PSP. Will
that also work?

..

DigiCamUK wrote:
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Shrug. Two stops is a good increment. The wider you go, the more
noise you can introduce.

BUT, it's best if you set the camera to aperture priority. Chaging
the aperture means different depth of field and that can screw up
the whole deal.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

You can reset the exposure manually as well.

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

Depending on the scene I'd use two or three covering a range of up
to 6-stops.

You valuable experience is welcomed.

The problem with really wide ranges is that you still have to figure
out how to compress them into a natural-looking final image. Sure,
you can cover 10-stops in your photos, but turning it into soemthing
that looks good involves brighting some ares, darkening others,
adjusting contrast, and the result can look unnatural.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

Sure. Put different exposures in different layers and blend as
suitable.

--
Ray Fischer

Aperture priority? I havn't done any of it yet but I know that if one use AP then one must
change that the aperture in order to gain a different exposure? Is that what you mean?

In AP mode, the camera will make the 'same' exposure by changing shutter speed, anyway.

The camera must be set to 'fully manual' and the ONLY thing that changes is shutter speed.
This way, the DOF does not change, as you've stated.

--
xenarshooter

xenarshooter wrote:

Aperture priority? I havn't done any of it yet but I know that if one
use AP then one must change that the aperture in order to gain a
different exposure? Is that what you mean?

In AP mode, the camera will make the 'same' exposure by changing shutter
speed, anyway.

The camera must be set to 'fully manual' and the ONLY thing that changes
is shutter speed.
This way, the DOF does not change, as you've stated.


You can use AP and then adjust the exposure compensation.

DigiCamUK wrote:
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?


I can't help with your question, but I have an even more basic one --
What is HDR?

BRH wrote in message ...
DigiCamUK wrote:
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?


I can't help with your question, but I have an even more basic one --
What is HDR?


www.google.co.uk

On Sep 24, 12:34 pm, BRH BRH wrote:
DigiCamUK wrote:
I've just discovered HDR !!

Looked but cannot find a definitive answer, what would be a recommended
range for bracketing, either auto, or manual, to achieve the best
results.

Both my digital cameras will only auto bracket maximum 1 stop, is a
greater difference recommended. If so, what ?

Also, 3 or 5 or more photo's, is there really a difference ?

You valuable experience is welcomed.

I've been playing with PhotoMatix HDR software, I have Photoshop 7 on my
iMac, not CS2/3, not really understanding layers, is it possible to at
least simulate HDR using layers ?

I can't help with your question, but I have an even more basic one --
What is HDR?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. You should try to google and type
in HDR Photography. You will be surprised on the kind of images that
produced using the technique. I came across the HDR a few years back.
It was a website showing photos at the University of cambridge
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/cambridge-gallery.htm
In short, the photos include all of the ranges of shades in a pictures
so that everything is bright and sharp. If you take a shot inside a
restaurant, you will notice the closest objects are bright but the
back is dark. By taking a couple shots with under and over exposures,
you are combining portion of the photo area to keep all in bright and
sharp images. I guess the various websites can explain it better than
me.
Popular softwares to use include Photomatix, or Adobe Photoshop CS2.
But I heard there are lots of others and even some freewares.
Hope that this helps