HDR Images: Learn and share your work...

Great pics, tupperware! Yes, that is Bodie.

Nice psuedo, Steel!

I'm going to have to break down and purchase an HDR program here pretty soon...

here is a quick one I snapped during a weekend in New Orleans...

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Nice work! Except for the dust on the lens, that's perfect!

There are some pretty good one posted, but most of them are way overprocessed, HDR should still have a real look to it. Heres one I did, then converted to black and white.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanggt3/3243854243/" title="2007 Mustang GT by StangGT, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3502/3243854243_2eff4a2f5a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="2007 Mustang GT" /></a>

89StangGT50 said:

There are some pretty good one posted, but most of them are way overprocessed, HDR should still have a real look to it.

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I respectfully disagree.

Photography is a creative pursuit and therefore we are free to do whatever. HDR "should" be anything it can be. The only reason you see yours as more "real" is because BW photos already have a history in our culture. If someone were to have just invented BW photos, I am sure many people would say they look ridiculous. And if overprocessed HDRs had been around since 1820, I am sure they would be seen as great works of art. Especially considering that most folks who look at an overprocessed HDR think it looks like a painting. They are responding to the fact that overprocessed HDRs have the same tonality as paintings did before photography came along. Photography is actually pretty poor at capturing all the visible tones in a scene, we were once able to get them all in using a painting, then photography came along and all of a sudden we all think 9-10 Zones (Exposure Values) is the maximum possible to squeeze into a picture.

I agree that the overprocessed HDRs look odd, but only because we are not used to them. There is nothing a photo should be. Photography is not math, there is no right or wrong answer.

Sorry for the rant. I am a professional photographer and come across this type of bias all the time, so it is a personal pet peeve of mine.

GreyDiesel said:

I respectfully disagree.

Photography is a creative pursuit and therefore we are free to do whatever. HDR "should" be anything it can be. The only reason you see yours as more "real" is because BW photos already have a history in our culture. If someone were to have just invented BW photos, I am sure many people would say they look ridiculous. And if overprocessed HDRs had been around since 1820, I am sure they would be seen as great works of art. Especially considering that most folks who look at an overprocessed HDR think it looks like a painting. They are responding to the fact that overprocessed HDRs have the same tonality as paintings did before photography came along. Photography is actually pretty poor at capturing all the visible tones in a scene, we were once able to get them all in using a painting, then photography came along and all of a sudden we all think 9-10 Zones (Exposure Values) is the maximum possible to squeeze into a picture.

I agree that the overprocessed HDRs look odd, but only because we are not used to them. There is nothing a photo should be. Photography is not math, there is no right or wrong answer.

Sorry for the rant. I am a professional photographer and come across this type of bias all the time, so it is a personal pet peeve of mine.

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here here

I see both sides of it. I personally think that, for the most part, HDR's should look realistic. However, if done properly, with the right photograph, a highly tone mapped image looks absolutely amazing and is transformed into a work of art.

The biggest problem with HDR is that when anyone learns to use it (myself included), the first thing they do is over filter it because they want to see the effects of it.

Darn near every picture of my car for the last year has been HDR, and you really can't tell in most of them anymore. But if I showed you the single exposure, you'd be like "ohhhhh".

Here's a recent edit


And here's an overprocessed one that "works" (not mine)

I understand your point but stand by mine. But there are definitely times when over processing looks good, especially indoors, and for abandoned structures.

I wasnt talking about the one I took at all. Personally I dont like how car shots come out in HDR, I prefer HDR for landscaping.

Look around Flickr. The most popular HDR shots are the ones that are lightly done. The ones with halos everywhere and grainy composures look aweful in most cases. When you look at almost anyones HDR work, when they start out, they over process everything. As they get more experience they tone it back big time, and their results are astonishing. When I look back at the original HDRs i did a year or 2 ago, I cant believe how bad I was, but at the time I thought they were decent.

Check out Fraggle Red on flickr. I think you will see what I mean....

Some more advice for HDR beginners....Photomatix is not the only HDR program, there are 2 or 3 others that are incredible. try out Dynamic Photo HDR, (DPhdr), you get many more options and it really helps with a different look.

Here are a couple I did...some over processed, some more real looking...but you are right, its all about personal preference

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanggt3/2457587957/" title="Historic Old Nassau by StangGT, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3255/2457587957_1d67768db1.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="Historic Old Nassau" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanggt3/2183363229/" title="The Way Home by StangGT, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2183363229_a8f5054ef4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="773" alt="The Way Home" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanggt3/2682417686/" title="The Wild Wild West by StangGT, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2682417686_d1e1cdf987.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="The Wild Wild West" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanggt3/2556868593/" title="SEXY G6 GT by StangGT, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2556868593_55243caa3c.jpg" width="500" height="339" alt="SEXY G6 GT" /></a>

One I did recently after a wash and wax. I need to get my computer with photoshop going to clean it up but it turned out ok.

Another one I took on a trip to Georgia.
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I like the Georgia one. The other one is fine, just don't like driveway pics. Bad composition. But your processing is good. It seems to be in between unnoticeable and over the top.

DarkFireGT said:

I like the Georgia one. The other one is fine, just don't like driveway pics. Bad composition. But your processing is good. It seems to be in between unnoticeable and over the top.

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Yeah I know driveway pics suck. It was more of a see how the program acts with my black car vs landscape. I haven't found any really interesting places to shoot my car at yet.

Here is another one from Georgia that turned out alright.


For some reason I have found that orange objects in Photomatix usually explode and you have to crank the saturation way down to get it to look halfway normal. I have a picture of a burnt orange barrel somewhere around here (oh yeah, my mom stole my thumb drive to show my aunt my pictures) and it looked almost blaze orange when I first processed it.

You guys inspired me to take some pictures today...
Thanks for reminding me of Dynamic Photo! I used to use it all the time, but I had to wipe my old computer and forgot what it was called!

Anyways, here's my favorite shot I took. 1st time taking RAW format photos & changing the EV... Cool stuff!

This pic makes Mustangs look so badass...

<table style="width: 812px; height: 1731px;"><tbody><tr><td>What I like to call "effectively overcooked"...
</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From HDR Photos
<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From HDR Photos</td></tr></tbody></table><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From HDR Photos</td></tr></tbody></table>This is what I've come up with sofar. There are a few more you can check out at Picasa Web Albums - AsaiahPasswater


</td></tr></tbody></table>

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NICE, Glen!!!!!

kooldawg6 said:

NICE, Glen!!!!!

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thanks Kool...here's a few more i been working on...

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Sorry Glen. Way too overdone for me.

Great pics guys!!!

DarkFireGT said:

Sorry Glen. Way too overdone for me.

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Oh it's cool Dark, just playing around

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Those are better. This is my favorite of them:
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