Struggling with HDR - please help

[luca brazzi]

I have an image in RAW which I've saved 3 times in TIFF format, adjusting the exposure so that I'm happy with the sky in #1, the middle distance in #2, and the foreground in #3.

I'm trying to combine the photos to get the very best out of the photo, but cannot get the HDR feature in PS CS2 to accept the images however I try it, whether they be 16bit .tif files, or jpegs. It says there isn't enough dynamic range to work with. I'm guessing I need to remove the EXIF information, but still have not much joy.

If anyone can help me out, I'd be very appreciative
Here's a small one of the image...


And here are the 3 jpegs I'm trying to 'merge' to get a great final result...hopefully.
They are between 4Mb and 6Mb per image. Any thoughts or advice?

www.streaky-fish.com/images/mystuff/IMG_1641xa.jpg
www.streaky-fish.com/images/mystuff/IMG_1641xb.jpg
www.streaky-fish.com/images/mystuff/IMG_1641xc.jpg

Thanks folks,
LB

[Rednut05]

Stab in the dark here but...Is there enough different in the pictures?


E.g.

Is the over exposed over exposed enough?

Is the under exposed under exposed enough?

David

[luca brazzi]

In raw, I did -2, 0, and +2 on exposure comp to get those results...the original tif files were much more...and still HDR wouldn't go ahead.

[Ian_H]

I've just loaded the 3 photos into CS3 and ran merge into HDR and they merged no problem but the finished picture doesn't look too good, in the hdr window it is reporting all 3 shots as EV 0.0


Cheers
Ian

[luca brazzi]

hmmm. I'm using CS2 with no joy. I think the trick is to delete the EXIF, so that it won't report the exposure....but cannot do this.

Here's the raw file.
www.streaky-fish.com/images/mystuff/IMG_1641.cr2

Any better?

[VxDuncan]

As they are JPEGS ( and therefore 8-bit) can you not select all, copy and paste into a new document to loose the exif? You may have to do this via a lesser photo editor or copy from windows photo viewer into PS. You'll loose the exif but also the embedded profile (I think).

[miniman]

You can remove the EXIF data using Irfanview (www.irfanview.com)

This certainly makes CS2 load them correctly - it asks for the exposure for each. I made up some random settings:



Obviously the wrong settings! But at least now you know how to get rid of the EXIF

[luca brazzi]

Fantastic guys...will try it. If the results are any good, I'll post up the finished composite.

LB

[poah]

I would just combine xb and xc. use the gradient tool to remove part of the top layer you don't want and go from there. best to invest in some ND grads though

[Gemm]

Here's a very very quick job. I'm sure you'll get pretty good image out of these shots if you spend more time and effort as all the ingredients are there. Mine's just a simple select/copy/paste job.

Edited by Gemm on Thursday 17th May 22:03

[luca brazzi]

Poah, you're right about the NDs, they just aren't my thing really, although clearly they would make the shot here.

Gemm, that's exactly the kind of image I'm trying to get....will keep at it.

Thanks guys
LB

[omohat]

There's another technique you could try (rather than the PS HDR feature). I've used this technique to merge 2 images (one for foreground, one for background) and it worked pretty well. I think it can be used with 3 images but I'm not sure.

www.nwpphotoforum.com/ubbthreads/information/php/2007_Articles/rjohnston/roman2.php

[luca brazzi]

Brilliant article - will try that one, and report back this evening.

[_dobbo_]

I think if you are doing an HDR merge on images that have exif data, you have to manually set the exposure for each image so PS knows which one is over/under/middle.

[te51cle]

I think HDR is for more useful for extreme cases of exposure difference, say 3 or more stops away from a central value. The Shadow/Highlight adjustment is one of my favourites, this was a quick go at the image but you'd probably want to make the sky a bit more dramatic.

Quite often I improve skies by putting a new layer on the top, fill it with a graduated dark blue, switch the blending mode to overlay and reduce the opacity to about 15%.

[stuart b]

te51cle said:

Quite often I improve skies by putting a new layer on the top, fill it with a graduated dark blue, switch the blending mode to overlay and reduce the opacity to about 15%.

The Soft Light blending mode also seems to work quite well for this.
Stuart

[luca brazzi]

This is really highlighting my complete lack of knowldge of how to use PS.

Thanks for the advice so far

LB

[V6GTO]

luca brazzi said:

This is really highlighting my complete lack of knowldge of how to use PS.

Thanks for the advice so far

LB

Steve,
Me too...I read at least half of these yesterday it took hours!

http://ronbigelow.com/articles/articl

Martin.

Edited by V6GTO on Friday 18th May 11:04

[luca brazzi]

lol Martin. I prefer to take the photos, and want them to magically appear on the screen as perfect....when will they release a thought controlled version of Photoshop, like the weapons systems on the Firefox

LB (dreamer)

[LotusJas]

I thought I'd experiment with this, but where exactly is the HDR feature in CS2 pls? (I've hardly got to grips with CS2.)