BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Earlier today I posted a Tutorial about how to extract all the Dynamic Range you can from a photograph. In it, I questioned whether or not the dynamic range of the current array of Nikon sensors has eliminated the need to use HDR techniques in many cases since the sensors store enough light information to allow the photographer to extract a similar amount of information from a single, properly exposed image than they would from a simple HDR bracketed series.
Little did I know that this was to stir up emotions a little bit. LOL
I also posted a method by which someone wanting to use HDR techniques and technology could do so with a single image by creating a bracketed series of Virtual Copies in Lightroom 5.
All of these were meant to provide different launching pads for a photographer to then to complete their post processing, for I provided no finished edits with any of the methods. @DaveW raised the point that just how far a person could take it would very much depend on their post-processing skills, and how familiar they are with HDR and its techniques, knowing full well that HDR has a long learning curve when you want to produce deep and natural looking images. He suggested that it would be good to allow two people equally skilled in post-processing to make images from an exposure series, one using traditional HDR methods, and the other using a single image and some/all of the techniques I explained, and to see what each might be able to come up with. And while he has since edited his original post, what he suggests is something that I think is worth a try, but I don't want to limit it to just two people in a contest fashion. So here's what I am suggesting...
Jake's "To HDR or Not HDR Challenge" (it's a Challenge, not a Contest!!)
I've dug back into my archives and come up with a bracketed series of exposures I shot 2 years ago on my D7000. I picked these because they represent, 1) 4 year old technology, 2) a lighting situation (sunrise) that is often difficult to get evenly lit, and 3) because they present a bit of a "ghosting" issue with a plane flying through the frame.
I've uploaded the original NEF files as a ZIP file to MediaFire that you can download here: JakesHDRChallenge
Here are unedited exports of the 3 images (do not use these - use the full res RAW files at the link above)
'0' (Properly exposed based on the histogram)
-2EV (note: this goes off the dark end of the histogram)
+2EV (note: this goes off the light end of the histogram)
My challenge, to anyone interested, is this - Download the zip file and edit the images using any or all of the techniques you'd like to use.
If you have HDR software, use it - and try it with the 3 images provided and with the methods I described. Do a 3 bracket series with the separate images and then do one with just the original image with exposure manipulation on virtual copies. Create a 9 image bracketed series with +/-0.7EV virtual copies on each. Create a 5 image series with just a +/-1EV virtual copy on just the '0' image. Create a 7 image series with a +/-1EV on the center and then a -1EV on the darker and a +1EV on the lighter images. Just have at it and see what you come up with.
If you don't have HDR series, take a look at any/all of the 3 images and try some of the techniques I explained and see what you come up with.
For everyone, the idea is not to stop where I stopped, take the edits to completion!!
I'm really interested in what we all come up with.
I encourage everyone to try as many methods as you are able, or at least as many as you can tolerate, and post the results of each. Maybe different roads lead to the same place and perhaps they diverge and you wind up with two very different results? There is no "best" or "right" result, because it's up to each of you to find your vision in my captures.
Little did I know that this was to stir up emotions a little bit. LOL
I also posted a method by which someone wanting to use HDR techniques and technology could do so with a single image by creating a bracketed series of Virtual Copies in Lightroom 5.
All of these were meant to provide different launching pads for a photographer to then to complete their post processing, for I provided no finished edits with any of the methods. @DaveW raised the point that just how far a person could take it would very much depend on their post-processing skills, and how familiar they are with HDR and its techniques, knowing full well that HDR has a long learning curve when you want to produce deep and natural looking images. He suggested that it would be good to allow two people equally skilled in post-processing to make images from an exposure series, one using traditional HDR methods, and the other using a single image and some/all of the techniques I explained, and to see what each might be able to come up with. And while he has since edited his original post, what he suggests is something that I think is worth a try, but I don't want to limit it to just two people in a contest fashion. So here's what I am suggesting...
Jake's "To HDR or Not HDR Challenge" (it's a Challenge, not a Contest!!)
I've dug back into my archives and come up with a bracketed series of exposures I shot 2 years ago on my D7000. I picked these because they represent, 1) 4 year old technology, 2) a lighting situation (sunrise) that is often difficult to get evenly lit, and 3) because they present a bit of a "ghosting" issue with a plane flying through the frame.
I've uploaded the original NEF files as a ZIP file to MediaFire that you can download here: JakesHDRChallenge
Here are unedited exports of the 3 images (do not use these - use the full res RAW files at the link above)
'0' (Properly exposed based on the histogram)
-2EV (note: this goes off the dark end of the histogram)
+2EV (note: this goes off the light end of the histogram)
My challenge, to anyone interested, is this - Download the zip file and edit the images using any or all of the techniques you'd like to use.
If you have HDR software, use it - and try it with the 3 images provided and with the methods I described. Do a 3 bracket series with the separate images and then do one with just the original image with exposure manipulation on virtual copies. Create a 9 image bracketed series with +/-0.7EV virtual copies on each. Create a 5 image series with just a +/-1EV virtual copy on just the '0' image. Create a 7 image series with a +/-1EV on the center and then a -1EV on the darker and a +1EV on the lighter images. Just have at it and see what you come up with.
If you don't have HDR series, take a look at any/all of the 3 images and try some of the techniques I explained and see what you come up with.
For everyone, the idea is not to stop where I stopped, take the edits to completion!!
I'm really interested in what we all come up with.
I encourage everyone to try as many methods as you are able, or at least as many as you can tolerate, and post the results of each. Maybe different roads lead to the same place and perhaps they diverge and you wind up with two very different results? There is no "best" or "right" result, because it's up to each of you to find your vision in my captures.
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