Panoramic HDR in B/W

Ok, Now for a HDR panoramic in black and white! This final image consists of 24 images, 8 shots x 3 for hdr, processed and tonemapped in Photomatix, then stitched and and converted to black and white in CS4. This was shot in the middle of the afternoon but I used the adjustment sliders to make it look like night.

B/W HDRS

Here's some HDR's converted to black and white. Rural decay shots too instead of just urban.

A couple of handhled HDRs with a P & S

Thought I'd throw in a couple of hand held hdrs I did with with my my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5.

New Gary IN HDR panoramic!

This one has turned out to be one of my favorites(could be because all the time I spent on it!). This was tougher than most because of the higher contrast of the scene. It was shot in the basement of the old Gary post office building. It was almost totally dark except for where the light was coming in. Normally for my HDRs I'll shoot a bracket of -2, 0, +2 but because of the wider range of the lit areas to the dark areas I used the in camera meter to see what the differences were. They were about 4 stops. Since my camera settings will only spread 3 stops I had to shoot extra images. I did a bracket at -4, -2, 0 then another bracket at 0, +2, +4, then I deleted a 0 and the -2 and +2 so I had a final bracket at -4, 0, +4. I had to do this for all 5 shots in the pan. I also had to shoot at ISO 4000 to get the bracket because the shutter speed of my camera tops out at 30 secs. BTW it did take a 2nd trip to Gary to shoot this right. After processing the images in Adobe Camera Raw I save them as tiffs. I then take them into Photomatix and create an HDR of each of the 5 shots, then it's over to Photoshop(or Autopano Pro) to merge or stitch them into a single panoramic image. For this image I really needed to work on the dark and light areas separately so I created layers and masks for each. I brightened up the light areas and added more detail to them and I desaturated the shadow areas. I also lighten up the chair and a few items on the floor and the icicles in the upper left corner. Yes this was a lot of work but I'm really enjoying it and I love my final result!

Keep Pushing

This addition to the blog is about how I totally thought I was done with an image but with a little push from one of my teachers went back and worked on it a little more. I really thought this photo was one of my best works yet and was leery about trying to change it. After studying it for awhile I started to see the light(literally). I saw the light coming in from the window and illuminating the chair and snow then moving over to the bed and closet door behind it. I thought why not high light this by adding another darker layer in Photoshop then erasing the light area so it appears brighter. Wow nice effect! Now I'm done?! Nope,  after studying it a little more and wondering if I could it get any more dramatic looking I came up with adding more detail it only the lit area. I did this with a software program called Topaz Labs Detail. This software program boosts detail with out over sharpening. I made a new layer, got the detail the way I liked and then placed the layer under the light mask layer so only the lit area got the detail boost. Bam! Much more dramatic shot! Thank you Manol for that shove in the right direction to go back and reevaluate my image. Below are the before and after shots:

Before

After

 Now to go back and analyze some of my other shots.

My Continuing Adventures in Gary

People have been asking me "Don't you kinda fear for your safety in a place like Gary?". So far no one has paid me any attention when I've been there. Of course the 1st 2 times it's been pretty damn cold so no ones really been about. This last excursion to the church is located in a public place between a school and a government agency building so it's a pretty secure place. Also this church attracts many photographers and film makers so people are used to all the coming and goings. Now as I start to branch out to some of the side neighborhoods I will probably be a little more leery and careful. To cut down any loses I could incur by muggers here's a couple of tips I do before venturing out. 1) Wear no jewelry, 2) Dump everything out of my wallet but about $40- $50 and drivers license(I keep the cash in there because I once read a travel tip that if a mugger gets enough quick cash he'll probably opt for a quick exit). And 3) Limit the amount of equipment I carry to only what I think I'll absolutely need. Another good idea, one which I learned as a backpacker is to leave an agenda and map of where your planning on going with someone and an estimated time of return just in case you run into some kind of trouble. So there are my tips , I hope I haven't scared anyone out of going to Gary. I've met other photogs that go there and no one has had an incident. So go have an adventure and remember to drop a couple of bucks there too to help out their economy. Fill up with gas(about 30 cents a gallon cheaper than the Chicago area) or grab some fast food before the trip home!

Here's an HDR pan from the roof top of the City Methodist Church

Upstairs locker room

More to come as I process them.

My Settings

People have been curious if I have some sort of formula that I follow. Well I kinda do. here's a break down of what I do both on the shooting end and the processing.
Shooting: I set the camera menu to AEB(Auto Exposure Bracketing) and at -2 stops, 0 and +2 stops. I'll then shoot a bracket and take a look at all 3 shots. I want to make sure the -2 has detail in the highlights, the 0(or normal) is a well balanced light and the +2 has detail in the shadows. Depending on where the camera is reading the scene will effect the exposure. So 1st I will try to move the spot meter to a middle lit area and shoot again. If the 3 shots are still leaning toward a over or under exposure I will go back into the menu and shift the whole bracket sequence in the needed direction. For example if the -2 shot looks normal and the 0 and +2 are blown out I'll know I should adjust the bracket 2 stops to the left for a bracket of -4, -2, and 0. I keep an eye on every shot I take because it's very frustrating, especially when doing panoramics, to find after stitching them to have over or under exposed shot in the pan. Yes this does require a certain amount of patience but it's better than having to do a re-shoot, especially if your doing it for a client.   
Processing: I use the PhotoMatix software to process my HDRs. I will process each individual shot(set of 3) before stitching a pan. I shoot everything in Raw then change them to uncompressed tiff in Adobe Camera Raw. Sometime I might do a small amount of correction here with recovery, clarity, and luminance(if it's really noisy). I then send them into PhotoMatix. In the 1st window that pops up I nearly always choose these buttons: Align Source Images - by matching features, Reduce Chromatic Aberrations , Reduce Noise, Attempt to Reduce Ghosting Artifacts - Background Movements -Detection High, and always leave White Balance - As Shot.  After generating the HDR image I go to Tonemapping and Detail Enhancer. This opens up a window with a bunch of sliders and buttons. Starting at the top here's my basic workflow: Strength - pretty much always at 100, Color Saturation - depends on the scene but I'm usually in the middle between 40 - 60, Luminosity - again depends on the scene and you should keep an eye on the histogram when adjusting this. Microcontrast - usually set at +10 and Smoothing - is always at High or Max for the most natural look. White Point, Black Point and Gamma are adjusted while watching the histogram. The Miscellaneous settings are set in the middle except for Shadow Clipping which is at 0. These setting should give you a nice start for a normal looking photo with plenty of detail.
Here's another sample photo:

 Here's another photo from Gary(City Methodist Church):

                                    
Please feel free to add any comments or ask any questions! (Click on comments-below)

Pratical HDR

I'm tired of everyone putting down HDR as a photo fad. Sure all those over processed pics are getting quite tiresome but when done right and with some restraint I would consider some of them to be fine art. We as photographers/artists when given new tools are obligated to fully investigate them. I remember when Photoshop first came out and how it was touted as just a fad with no practical use except to create bizarre manipulations for artists to play with. Now we can't survive without it. Now I too like to play with the artistic side of HDR but I have also found a practical use for this process. HDR(High Dynamic Range) is fantastic for bringing out detail and texture in images. I've found this to be extremely useful in photographing interiors. By using HDR I don't have to lug a big lighting kit to the location. The only equipment I take are my camera, lens and a good sturdy tripod with a panoramic head(because I'm usually shooting full 360º pans). With today's DSLRs and noise reduction software I can crank the ISO pretty high an get a quality image. I process the image in Photomatix but limit the processing to look the most natural. Since I shoot I lot of restaurants I've been asked to take quick shots of food while I'm there. So I thought why not try HDR with these shots too. Worked quite well! Now the flash pretty much stays in the bag.
Again I go back to the start of Photoshop and heard the complaints of how it was somehow cheating. I ask you did the carpenters reject the nail gun or mechanics the pneumatic wrench? I think not! So all I'm saying is embrace these new tools and make them work for you.

Thanks, Joe.


Sample HDR photos: