bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

This was handheld. 5 exposures +-2 +-1 and 0

I did a fake HDR, did not like it at all.

Done in CS5. Still trying to figure out how to get rid of halos in sky. I like the rest of the image, though. (came out better than expected since it was handheld.

lorenww Loc: St. Petersburg

I like the reflections that hdr brings out.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I did too. I did have to clone out a TON of bird crap. Some of the reflections might be poor cloning, but all in all, I liked it. I also had a tow truck behind it that I had to clone out, so the trees look a bit wierd.

Thanks a lot for looking.
I think I'm going to like HDR

MadMike Loc: SALT LAKE

I really like the car, and the color. Unfortunately your clone job is a bit off. Guylines on the pole are not joined, and a lot of reptative patters in that area. Also on the other side of the car is a lot of repeat which I noticed before you mentioned it. You have the right idea, and are going to get better. To do trees, you need to have no wind, and even your cloning will get better with practice. Keep working on it, and sometimes you need to change your angle to get rid of things you don't want. I don't mean to discourage you, just look a little closer at your whole picture next time, and see what you can do to make it an image you don't need to change a lot. The car is great, and I expcet to see more images from you. MadMike

conkerwood

Firstly welcome to the world of HDR and thats not a bad first effort. Putting aside the cloning, which as Mike has said will come with practice, I just want to comment on the HDR processing. Firstly the subject matter is good as is the POV, its in focus and you have got the horizontals and verticals correct so the basics are covered. If you look under the car in the shadows you have enough detail though perhaps a little tweek on the brightness of the shadows could bring out a little more. But at several points on the body, bumperbar and through the trees on the bottom left you have blown out highlights. This is a result of not covering the full range of exposure with your bracketing, I think you would have been better off with +/-3 +-1.5 and 0. Certainly on a highly reflective surface like a polished car you will always get some hotspots but a wider range will keep them more under control.

Hope to see much more of your work posted. There's a lot of expertise available to you here and people are really happy to help.

Peter

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Appreciate the comments a lot. I took about 30 seconds on the cloning. I really don't suck that bad, I was just more worried about how to reduce the halo is the sky. Messed around with a lot of sliders, and either the sky looked like I wanted, or the car did. Not sure if CS5 doesn't have enough controls to get rid of halo, or if I don't have enough control yet. I had thought about doing 2 HDR images, one for the sky, and one for the car, then doing layers and masks to combine them. Is that commonplace, or not advisable?

MadMike Loc: SALT LAKE

I think most people use a program called Photmatix Pro, it seems to do a great job but I don't have it yet. I do know it is easier than doing layers and worth the money if you plan to do a lot of HDR. Good luck, and keep posting.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I'm actually a "people" photographer. This is something that has interested me for some time, been watching this area of the hog and finally decided to give it a go.

I may download the Photomatix program, but I want to take several more bracketed shots before I do, so I can mess around with it a lot before I spend the money.

She who must be obeyed isn't very understanding when it comes to spending money on photography stuff that doesn't result in paying for itself. ie things for wedding shoots or for portrait work.

Stevieboy Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Excellent first attempt. If you are familiar with layers can put an image without the halos under the main image and mask and brush out.

Welcome

conkerwood

Halos are relatively easy to deal with if you are methodical about it. Firstly I am a CS5 user and I love it, I do all my PP with it except merging for HDR. CS5 certainly has a good alignment ability but it is limited (in my opinion) in the range of effects it can produce. So as Mike said Photomatix is the way to go and thats what I use for all my HDR work (though I finish off the merged pic in CS5). Its a relatively cheap program (compared to CS5) and its reliable, ie no major bugs. Of course using Photomatix will not of itself, get rid of halos but there are a couple of adjustment sliders you can use to eliminate them in many instances. But it is inevitable that you will end up with some form of halo where you have strong contrasts, particularly against a bright blue sky and particularly around a tree line or where you are after a particular effect in the foreground. The solution, whether you use photomatix or CS5, is to do what you have done. Firstly adjust to get the car right. Save that as a layer. Then adjust to get the background right (minimum or no halo) and save that layer. Then merge the two layers. Most of the time this solves the problem but sometimes (mainly with tree lines) you are with left with a residual halo, usually a narrow lighter band. The way I solve that is to duplicate the layer, darken the top layer, insert a layer mask to 'hide all' and then with a very low hardness and opacity around 5% gradually brush in the darker area where the halo is. It takes a little time and you may have to fiddle with both contrast and brightness for the darkening layer to match perfectly but if you take your time the residual halo disappears.

Good luck with it. Keep posting, as I said before, there are lots of people to help.

Peter

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Great work for a handheld HDR and in CS5. Like the car, its colour and your point of view. An HDR program will give you more control. I use Photomatix Pro v4 but there are others and some free ones too. I agree with others regarding other points.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Thanks a lot. I will try some freebies before I pay out the big bucks. "She who must be obeyed" doesn't like it when I spend money. We are getting ready to retire, so it will be even more important to save the pennies.

Appreciate all the tips on how to "de-halo". I will mess around with that. I'm thinking maybe a 3rd layer, and burn the edges in on that layer to get rid of the residual.

Too much fun. The bonus is that cars don't think they are really better looking in person.