Photos for HDR learning

Hi Everybody-

I have recently downloaded Picturenaut and found how to open it, but was wondering if anybody can point me to three (or more) photos that I can use to test out HDR photography. I'm not going to have the time to go shooting anywhere soon and was wondering if anybody can point me in the right direction???

Thanks Much- Doug

P.S>, is Picturenaut going to be enough for HDR or do i need a "tone mapping" program as well????

In case you can't tell,,,I'm very new to this whole HDR thing but want to learn all about it cause I just LOVE HDR photos.

Picturenaut is enough to start learning HDR techniques let me see if I can find three for you to play with.

Here are three you can play with. Hope they aren't too small to be effective.

Hi Bill--

Those are beautiful, I'll see what I can do and how bout I post some of what I do and everybody can critique them and give me some tips. These will be my very first ever HDR photos so I'm sure I can learn from some direction.

Thanks Again Bill !!!

Sincerely- Doug

I'm glad you can use them, they are rather small images. I now use a program that allows me to import Raw images, does a good job with detail. Post it up and we'll take a look.

Here is what I got with Picturenaut:

This is what I get with easyHDR Pro 2



Note the detail.

Gotta hit the sack, see you tomorrow.

Hi Bill-

Well, I made an HDR photo but I can not upload it because this site does not support TIFF images and that is the only format that Picturenaut can save as, unless there is another way to save as a JPEG. If I can get that done, I would love to post and look for feedback.

Thanks- Doug

Do you have any other programs that you can open the tiff and do a save as and change it to jpeg? Another option is zamzar.com and convert the file there.

I like Irfanview myself. You can download it at IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide . In my humble opinion, the best out there. I've been using it for almost 10 years now.

Hi Jack-

Thanks for the info. I downloaded it and it looks pretty cool. I'll try the HDR thing again and then convert the tiff to jpg and then I should be able to post. Wish me luck !!! (LOL) !!!

Hi Everybody-

O.K. ,,, here is what I came up with. I know it's a bit blurry, but like I said earlier, I'm new to Picturenaut and not sure of all the features, so this is a great time to flood me with tips and tricks that I can learn to make better choices with future HDR photography. PLease let me know your thoughts.

Thanks- Doug

I think you've done very well, the blurry is probably from alignment. I've noticed that even tripod captures are off even a tiny amount they end up being blurred, Now it's time to do some of your own. Try and make the exposures in a wide range of exposures from over to under exposed. Good job, isn't this fun.

Hi Bill-

Yes,,,this is a blast !!! Thanks for the feedback, I'll see what I can do this weekend around my house. If it's nice out (sunny) I'll see if I can travel somewhere and get some shots.

Good for you, Doug, for sticking with it! And nice job on your first HDR!
What kind of photo editing/post processing program do you use for your photos?

Hi Helene-

Thanks so much for the feedback, I have seen your photos and your a re amazing !!!! I use Photoshop CS (not CS2,3,4, or 5, but the first CS) I know it's old,but still works good so,,,, I'll keep it. I also use Lightroom 3.3,,,very up to date and I love that much better than Photoshop,,,so much easier to use.

Thanks again !!!!

Sincerely- Doug

Thank you so much for the nice comments, Doug.

I was hoping you had Lightroom. I'm not sure about Picturenaut, but it most likely works the same as the other hdr programs.
Try this workflow: shoot your pictures (autobracketed for hdr), load and process them in your hdr program and save, then use lightroom to IMPORT your hdr tiff, then tweak as needed. I accomplish almost 90% of my pp in lightroom, and only use photoshop for heavy duty stuff. But I would take that first HDR photo you did and pp in lightroom . . . get a little more punch in it. Once you're happy with your photo in lightroom, then EXPORT it to a file on your hard drive as a jpeg. With lightroom, you shouldn't need any "intermediate" program to read tiff files.

Good luck and keep up the good work

OK......shot in the dark here. My very first planned out HDR shot, Merged one shot @ -3 WB, the next @+/- WB, and the third at +3 WB. All 3 shot in RAW format, merged into this final rendering. Your thoughts, please.
View attachment 1499

I love the softness in the shadows surrounding the objects. Also like the 3 dimensional feel of the entire image.

Would be nice to see the middle "standard" exposure for comparison.

Warning- There's a little guy inside your tv trying to take a picture of you!