First time auto HDR. Need advice
- Thread starter oldhippy
- Start date
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Are you trying to do in-camera HDR, which are JPEG's, or bracketed RAW files to post-process? The latter yield much more pleasing results.
The best way I've found to do HDR is to bracket on your own, with the camera on a tripod. That said, what you want regardless of method and number of shots is to grab as much light information as possible. Given that you are using the D600, which has phenomenal dynamic range, if you are shoot with auto-bracketing on then I would use 3 frames at +/-3EV. This will give you the widest possible range of light information. I would expect you to see almost no blacks on the +3EV and almost no lights on the -3EV. If you're not using a tripod or monopod be aware that the +3EV shot may be longer than you'd want to purely handhold, so steady yourself.
Once you have your shots, know that you don't have to settle for just those 3 exposures. In these posts...
http://nikonites.com/hdr/21994-playing-3-exposure-hdr-series.html
http://nikonites.com/tutorials/21960-do-you-really-need-hdr-when-you-have-high-dynamic-range.html
... I talk about how to make the most out of the dynamic range available in each of your frames. While much of it may be over the head of the first time HDR photographer, it's got some tricks in there that will allow you to take your 3 shot series and make it a 5, 7 and even 9 shot series, which could yield a more pleasing final result.
Let us know how you make out.
The best way I've found to do HDR is to bracket on your own, with the camera on a tripod. That said, what you want regardless of method and number of shots is to grab as much light information as possible. Given that you are using the D600, which has phenomenal dynamic range, if you are shoot with auto-bracketing on then I would use 3 frames at +/-3EV. This will give you the widest possible range of light information. I would expect you to see almost no blacks on the +3EV and almost no lights on the -3EV. If you're not using a tripod or monopod be aware that the +3EV shot may be longer than you'd want to purely handhold, so steady yourself.
Once you have your shots, know that you don't have to settle for just those 3 exposures. In these posts...
http://nikonites.com/hdr/21994-playing-3-exposure-hdr-series.html
http://nikonites.com/tutorials/21960-do-you-really-need-hdr-when-you-have-high-dynamic-range.html
... I talk about how to make the most out of the dynamic range available in each of your frames. While much of it may be over the head of the first time HDR photographer, it's got some tricks in there that will allow you to take your 3 shot series and make it a 5, 7 and even 9 shot series, which could yield a more pleasing final result.
Let us know how you make out.
sonicbuffalo_RIP
Senior Member
David Busch's 5 Simple Rules For Shooting HDR:
1. Setup your tripod at dawn or dusk with a good view of a stunning panarama, preferably with dramatic clouds and a rising, or setting sun.
2. Mount an ultrawide angle lens on your camera (no longer than 10 mm on a camera like the D7100.
3. Rotate the camera to achieve a verticle composition, with lots of foreground and sky.
4. Use aperture-priority with a very small f/stop to maximize depth of field.
5. Make the exposures for a HDR composite photograph, exactly like all the others you've seen recently.
He goes on to say ....."that's not to say there aren't very good vertically composed, ultrawide dawn/dusk landscape HDR photos. You'll just have to be extra creative to come up with one that's truly original. He also says 4 to 7 photos is a good range of photos to shoot. He says mount the camera on a tripod.
2. Set the camera to shoot a bracketed burst with an increment of 1 EV to 3 EV.
3. Choose an f/stop - App. Priority Select an apperture that will provide a correct exposure at your initial settings for the series of bracketed shots. And then leave this adjustment alone. You don't want the apperture to change for your series., as that would change the depth of field. You want your camera to adjust exposure only using the shutter speed.
4. Choose manual focus - you don't want the focus to change between shots, so set the camera for manual focus, and carefully focus your shot.
5. Choose RAW files, which will give you the widest range of tones in your images.
6. Take your bracketed set. Use a remote if possible (or carefully press the shutter release or use self-timer) and take the set of bracketed exposures. You can use "bracketing burst" or set your camera to continuous shooting mode.
7. Continue with the merge to HDR Pro steps listed next, or you can use a different program such as Photomatix, if you know how to use it.
Combining the images
1. Copy your images to your computer. If you use an application to transfer the files to your computer, make sure it does not make any adjustments to brightness, contrast, or exposure. You want RAW information for merge to HDR Pro to work with.
2. Activate merge to HDR Pro. Choose file>Automoate>merge to HDR Pro.
3. Select the photos to be merged
4. Choose parameters (optional) The first time you use merge to HDR Pro, you can let the program work with it's default parameters.
5. Click OK - The merger begins.
6. Save - Once the HDR merge has done it's thing, save the file to your computer.
****Hope this helps you get started ****
1. Setup your tripod at dawn or dusk with a good view of a stunning panarama, preferably with dramatic clouds and a rising, or setting sun.
2. Mount an ultrawide angle lens on your camera (no longer than 10 mm on a camera like the D7100.
3. Rotate the camera to achieve a verticle composition, with lots of foreground and sky.
4. Use aperture-priority with a very small f/stop to maximize depth of field.
5. Make the exposures for a HDR composite photograph, exactly like all the others you've seen recently.
He goes on to say ....."that's not to say there aren't very good vertically composed, ultrawide dawn/dusk landscape HDR photos. You'll just have to be extra creative to come up with one that's truly original. He also says 4 to 7 photos is a good range of photos to shoot. He says mount the camera on a tripod.
2. Set the camera to shoot a bracketed burst with an increment of 1 EV to 3 EV.
3. Choose an f/stop - App. Priority Select an apperture that will provide a correct exposure at your initial settings for the series of bracketed shots. And then leave this adjustment alone. You don't want the apperture to change for your series., as that would change the depth of field. You want your camera to adjust exposure only using the shutter speed.
4. Choose manual focus - you don't want the focus to change between shots, so set the camera for manual focus, and carefully focus your shot.
5. Choose RAW files, which will give you the widest range of tones in your images.
6. Take your bracketed set. Use a remote if possible (or carefully press the shutter release or use self-timer) and take the set of bracketed exposures. You can use "bracketing burst" or set your camera to continuous shooting mode.
7. Continue with the merge to HDR Pro steps listed next, or you can use a different program such as Photomatix, if you know how to use it.
Combining the images
1. Copy your images to your computer. If you use an application to transfer the files to your computer, make sure it does not make any adjustments to brightness, contrast, or exposure. You want RAW information for merge to HDR Pro to work with.
2. Activate merge to HDR Pro. Choose file>Automoate>merge to HDR Pro.
3. Select the photos to be merged
4. Choose parameters (optional) The first time you use merge to HDR Pro, you can let the program work with it's default parameters.
5. Click OK - The merger begins.
6. Save - Once the HDR merge has done it's thing, save the file to your computer.
****Hope this helps you get started ****