Some HDR Photos

Well i haven't been around in a while. Progress on my mustang is going slow and is boring so i decided to get back into the photography stuff some. Here are a few shots iv been messing around with. These shots are just some stuff we have parked around the house, thought some of them were pretty neat...












What yall think?

-AJ

94gtfreak said:

Great pix! 'Stang looks kinda sad sittin there though



Really like the looks of the newer bed on the chevy too

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Yeah the story with the mustang is the last time i took it to the track it shattered the flex plate. With the new 2" primary long tubes it makes it a pain to do anything on the car so i just let it sit forever... I finally bought a JW The Wheel flex plate and installed it and got her back up and running again. This past week i ripped out all the electronics and im making a nice panel to mount everything on. I want the electrical to be simple and easy so when i run into problems at the track its easier to trace the problem. Plus the nitrous passes are coming very soon and i wanted that part of the electrical to be RIGHT...

Yeah my dad doesn't really like that bed, we have been looking for the original bed for the truck. That's on the bottom of the priority list at the moment

Tanus said:

thats some really cool photoshops, any chance you'd have time to photoshop a motorcycle stunt pic of mine? Ive tried, but they always come out looking worse than the original, haha

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Thanks man. I dont mind doing a photo for you, but this just isnt a photoshop edit job... There is a process of taking multiple exposure of the same shot. Then i use a program to combine all exposure and tonemap the image, which is what brings out all the details from the different ranges of colors. For some reason some pictures just do not turn out... So far i learned about 1 of 3 shots actually turn out good in the editing process...

MustangLX-5.0 said:

What software did you use to do that? I have been looking for a good HDR app.. or at least a fairly decent one for free. Those images look good. Many seem to have what looks like edge, chisel or chalking enhancements done. Some look like you merged a daylight photo with a duplicate one taken at night (Orange streetlight glow on truck and trees) .

oh and no, I don't have Photoshop. I have been using PSP 6 and GTK for ages, besides the included Canon software.

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I use PhotoMatix Pro 3.2 to combine into a HDR and a bunch of time practicing and screwing with TONS of photos to finally get them to be the style i like. After i tone map in PhotoMatix i always have to use Photoshop to do a bunch of touch ups and edit all the fine details of the photo. This is the boring part because it usually pretty time consuming.

The orange glow is from the sunset, i snapped some pictures right as the sun was falling and it added some cool effects to the photos.

You right about duplicate photos. What i do is set my camera to "Full Manual - Program Mode. This lets me setup the Auto Exposure Bracketing. What that does is sets the exposure levels at ( -2, 0, +2 ). I also have my camera on a tripod and use the self timer. You have to make sure there is absolutely no movement between shots or the photos wont align once you combine them. So when you take shots at the 3 different exposures you have a dark photo, a normal and a bright. Then when you combine you have all the details brought into one image. I usually darken and contrast the photos which brings out the colors and makes them look vibrant.

A lot of people don't like my style of photos, but i love the look of the almost cartoon-ish shots. That is just my style

BTW - Im using a Canon Rebel XT - With the stock lens...

cenok is family said:

nice garage man

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Thanks man... To bad my dad wont let me keep anything in it. He's got it filled up with all of his classic cars That is why you see my poor mustang sitting in the back in the weeds!


-AJ

MustangLX-5.0 said:

Thanks a ton chromed out dubs. That program is badass! Allthough a bit pricey at $100. But it works very well. I have been into photography for awhile. Had a Sony F717 for awhile til the sensor took a dump. Had my Canon Digital Rebel XT (8MP) since 06. Had 3 multi exposure images laying around that I took as a test years ago. Merged them nicely. For awhile, I used to used Jasc PSP 6 magic brush feature to grab and highlight details such as dark shadows around wheel wells. It always came out looking a bit grainy. Trying to highlight something in a near pitch dark environment with an image that was mostly white (car), wheel wells always looked crappy. This,, however is very nice. Finally an app that merges with quality.

Gotta start takin more pics and seeing how well this performs. Can't wait to see how my 96 looks without being washed out or too dark of background. Will post some HDR's later sometime.

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No problem man, glad I could help you out. I gotta get some pictures of some of my dads Ford cars lol. He has a AC Shelby Cobra that I think will turn out pretty good. I showed him some of the pictures iv done and he wants to blow them up and frame them in his garage.

Be sure to post your pictures, I would love to see how they turn out! Ill post all my new shots in here also so you can check them out.

-AJ

wht93gtEd said:

I don't know...they look at little TOOOO overdone for my taste...those are more cartoon-ish than I generally like.

I have a few, but I still haven't gotten them where I want them yet...obviously, you can see what program I'm using. Most were done sans tripod with 3 shot brackets

not an HDR but badass pic whoring...lol

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Yeah i know what ya mean about the cartoonish look. Thats just my style, i like how they almost look like a painting or something. Your shots look good, that last picture is pretty sweet

-AJ

Tanus said:

cool, if you got time to do something to this pic, sweet, if not no big deal, I have a hi-res copy too.

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Like i said, i would need multiple exposure of the same shot... If you have a RAW file of it i could redo the exposure myself. Without that you can only do basic adjustments like brightness and contrast and stuff...

-AJ