Decided to play with my camera settings today... - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

TorqueDog · 03-10-2014, 11:54 PM

After work, I got bored and figured I'd play with my camera at the hotel and do some bracketing. These are the first HDR photos I've ever done. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for someone who is - to put it mildly - a total noob when it comes to photography of any sort, I think they came out nicely.

Click for 1080p version.

Click for 1080p version.

I shot these from the hotel balcony at The Westin Bear Mountain Hotel and Golf Resort, using the GorillaPod Hybrid to keep the camera (my Lumia 1020) affixed to the railing.

Feedback?

Thor · 03-11-2014, 03:11 AM

LOOOOOL your website is blocked at work!

Hack&Lube · 03-11-2014, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thor

LOOOOOL your website is blocked at work!

Same here!

strombad · 03-11-2014, 09:22 AM

Not too shabby! Did you produce those using your phone's settings?

What I would do, personally, is just take the photo without adding a whole bunch of filters or adjustments in your phone, and then take the photos into Lightroom and make any adjustments you'd like. Much easier to get that perfect "look" that way.

Otherwise, not bad.

TorqueDog · 03-11-2014, 10:10 AM

My 'website' isn't blocked so much as DynDns.org is blocked.

http://68.144.83.30/pictures/camera

Try that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strombad

Not too shabby! Did you produce those using your phone's settings?

What I would do, personally, is just take the photo without adding a whole bunch of filters or adjustments in your phone, and then take the photos into Lightroom and make any adjustments you'd like. Much easier to get that perfect "look" that way.

Otherwise, not bad.

Photos were taken without any filters or phone settings except for the EV adjustments. I took five exposures from -3 EV and +3 EV. Then used easyHDR and fiddled around in there.

I tried the built-in Photoshop Merge to HDR setting (the old version in Photoshop CS2 - it's all I have on this notebook, I have CS5 at home) but it didn't do a very good job. easyHDR kicked its ass.

GoinAllTheWay · 03-11-2014, 10:43 AM

Those first two are really quite nice actually. Well done.

Not sure why, but the 3rd just doesn't feel the same.

TorqueDog · 03-11-2014, 11:06 AM

Thanks! I know what you mean. I think the deal with the third one is because there's a LOT more trees for the amount of grass. The first two have lots grass, there's plenty of contrast between the bright green of the fairways and the muted tones of the trees.

strombad · 03-11-2014, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

My 'website' isn't blocked so much as DynDns.org is blocked.

http://68.144.83.30/pictures/camera

Try that.

Photos were taken without any filters or phone settings except for the EV adjustments. I took five exposures from -3 EV and +3 EV. Then used easyHDR and fiddled around in there.

I tried the built-in Photoshop Merge to HDR setting (the old version in Photoshop CS2 - it's all I have on this notebook, I have CS5 at home) but it didn't do a very good job. easyHDR kicked its ass.

Honestly, if you're looking for higher contrast, deeper blacks, and heightened saturation, you're still far better off doing so in a program like Lightroom (or Photoshop if you really prefer). Though, HDR apps and settings are certainly easy.

Those photos are nice, but they definitely look like they came out of an automated adjuster. The actual framing of the shots is great, but (at least I find) that automated HDR stuff just looks brutally unnatural in a few places.

The main problem with HDR is that if used improperly, it can negatively affect the realism of the scene (which is the exact opposite of what it's suppose to do). For instance, if you look at the shadows cast near the bottom of your photos, they aren't uniform. The saturation and brightness changes within the actual shadow, which is strictly an HDR issue.

HDR is just one of those things that can work nicely, but can also really harm your photos.

TorqueDog · 03-11-2014, 11:24 AM

Fair enough, that's useful information, thanks for that. I'll try Lightroom at home and see what I can come up with.

I loaded them up and picked the most dramatic preset. Again, total noob thing to do.

Flaming Choy · 03-11-2014, 12:27 PM

There's a neat light room plugin called "merge to 32 bit" that let's you use the light room sliders to do HDR type stuff. I think it's free to test out (adds watermarks) and is like $30 to buy. For me it was good for the more natural looking photos but with the contrast and saturation sliders you can make things pop as well.