image post processing

[Marlton Mom]

I was hoping if some one would know if there was a automatic bracketing setting on the Nikon D60.

I have looked all over for it and I can't seem to find it. I haven't gotten through the camera manual yet but it's not in the index.

I have been jumping around a lot in the manual and looking this and that up and I have yet to find it. I found the section where it tells you how to access exposure comp using the command dial but the D60 doesn't seem to have an auto bracket feature.... Am I right? This has been driving me crazy for weeks!

Thank you so much for asking and answering this question. This is really something I want to prepare for so when I am at the World I will have the right pix to come home with and play with in post processing. This was awesome info for me!!

Smoochies,
Marlton Mom

PS. I'm figuring that I will have to make cheat sheets to access the command menus in the right order to get the setting I want for various applications. I just know that in the middle of the parks at night or twilight will not be the time to have to "look it up again" in the manual!! I don't think I'm going to have enough time to prepare and practice so that these manipulations become "automatic"!

 

[ColleenG]

Thanks for the replies, that makes much more sense now. Something new to try playing around with. First I need to learn how to use photoshop or get Photomatrix.

 

[WDWFigment]

DB and Bob have given great explanations of what I'd call "traditional HDR". That is, HDR done to try to present a scene with a wide dynamic range and make it look resonably natural.

There is a variation of HDR that has also become popular. In fact, when you mention HDR, it's what a lot of people think of. It invovles taking a picture with a relatively wide dynamic range and using HDR tools to process it to get a different look. I can't really describe the look, but you'll see it if you look at many HDR photos. I'm not a particularly big fan of the look, but it is certainly popular.

Do you mean tone mapping?

 

[VVFF]

Do you mean tone mapping?

I could be wrong here but tone mapping is the process of reducing the 32 bit image down to a more typical 8 or 16 bit image which all HDR images go through.

 

[WDWFigment]

I could be wrong here but tone mapping is the process of reducing the 32 bit image down to a more typical 8 or 16 bit image which all HDR images go through.

In skimming over a couple of definitions I found online, you appear to be right. Well ****, it looks like I've been misusing that term for a while!

So is there a concise term for giving shots the grunge/dirty/halo look? If not, I suggest fuglitizing a shot.

 

[bob100]

DB and Bob have given great explanations of what I'd call "traditional HDR". That is, HDR done to try to present a scene with a wide dynamic range and make it look resonably natural.

There is a variation of HDR that has also become popular. In fact, when you mention HDR, it's what a lot of people think of. It invovles taking a picture with a relatively wide dynamic range and using HDR tools to process it to get a different look. I can't really describe the look, but you'll see it if you look at many HDR photos. I'm not a particularly big fan of the look, but it is certainly popular.

here is one "faux" HDR pic done by Photoshop and not multiple exposures,
sometimes processing an ordinary photo differently can be interesting ... or not

 

[boBQuincy]

I was hoping if some one would know if there was a automatic bracketing setting on the Nikon D60.

I have looked all over for it and I can't seem to find it. I haven't gotten through the camera manual yet but it's not in the index.

According to DPReview the D60 does not offer exposure bracketing. You can still use exposure compensation to get the three exposures, even if the tripod moves a bit the HDR software can align the images pretty well. My Canon Xsi will only take three bracketed exposures so I use the compensation method when I need five exposures and it works well.

Photomatix calls the "one exposure HDR" Pseudo-HDR, which sounds about right. There are three methods of creating one, the best way is to make three files from the RAW with different exposures and then treat them like a HDR set. Just don't expect true HDR range.

Marlton Mom, you are so right, a dark theme park is not the place to wonder about menu choices, especially when the monorail that you waited 10 minutes for is going by!

 

[WDWFigment]

I could be wrong here but tone mapping is the process of reducing the 32 bit image down to a more typical 8 or 16 bit image which all HDR images go through.

Can anyone state definitively whether this is 'tone mapping'? In the program I use, you can create an HDR image (that is 32 bits) without tone mapping it. I've always assumed this meant that tone mapping was the processing aspect.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Can anyone state definitively whether this is 'tone mapping'? In the program I use, you can create an HDR image (that is 32 bits) without tone mapping it. I've always assumed this meant that tone mapping was the processing aspect.

Yes, according to a tutorial on the Photomatix Web site (http://www.hdrsoft.com/resources/tut_mac/part4.html), that's exactly what tone-mapping is:

"Tone mapping reveals the details in highlights and shadows contained in the original HDR image. It converts the HDR image in 32 bits/channel mode into an image in 16 or 8 bits/channel mode that can be saved as TIFF or JPEG."​

This definition is also implied in Wikipedia's entry about "Tone Mapping" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_mapping):

Tone mapping is a technique used in image processing and computer graphics to map a set of colours to another; often to approximate the appearance of high dynamic range images in media with a more limited dynamic range.​

Apparently, there are 2 ways of doing tone mapping. In Photomatix, they are called "Details Enhancer" (which acts locally) and "Tone Compressor" (which acts globally). Wikipedia also mentions these 2 techniques, too.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

According to DPReview the D60 does not offer exposure bracketing.

I'm pretty sure that my D60 supported three shot bracketing. It appears that there are pretty big differences between the old D60s and the new D60s.

Can anyone state definitively whether this is 'tone mapping'? In the program I use, you can create an HDR image (that is 32 bits) without tone mapping it. I've always assumed this meant that tone mapping was the processing aspect.

I can't state anything definitively. My understanding of the term "tone mapping" in its generic sense is the mapping of some tones (basically the brightness) to other tones. For HDR, that means mapping dark tones to lighter tones and light tones to darker tones.

I think that the distinction you are striving for is whether a picture is globally or locally tone mapped. In a globally tone mapped picture, you compress like tones by the same amount wherever they occur in a picture. You are applying a formula to remap a wide range of tone values to a narrower range.

With local tone mapping, you adjust the tones based on what is nearby. For a section of a picture that is dark, you might lighten everything in that section 30%. For another section that is lighter, you might darken everything by 30%. There might be relatively bright parts in your dark section that match relatively dark parts in your light section. With local tone mapping, they will get adjusted differently.

To make local tone mapping not look ridiculous, the software has to gradually feather the effect in and out. There isn't an abrupt dividing line between areas that are treated differently. For that reason, areas around dark parts of the picture get lightened up a bit and look like glowing halos. The opposite occurs around bright areas, but the effect isn't quite so noticeable.

When taken to an extreme, local tone mapping creates substantial variations in the tones and lots of false halos and shadows. The effect is to give everything an unnatural "texture". Some people like the effect; others don't. I don't think it was what was intended by the pioneers of HDR, but it is the look that many people have come to associate with HDR.

So is there a concise term for giving shots the grunge/dirty/halo look? If not, I suggest fuglitizing a shot.

Works for me, but I'm not a fan of the technique. People that like it might prefer something that didn't imply ugly.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

There is a reasonably good HDR article on the Luminous-Landscape website. It's written from the perspective of a landscape shooter that likes to have his HDR work look natural. He has a lot of disdain for the extreme local contrast "HDR look" that is in vogue in some circles these days.

 

[ssanders79]

Mark,
Thanks for the article. I want to try some HDR, but I am not sure which software/plugin to get. What do you use? Do you like it/was it worth the price?

 

[boBQuincy]

A good article, and while I do not agree with all he writes I do agree that he has a good handle on the merits (and pitfalls) of HDR. As in his case, I have posted some non-HDR that have been considered to be HDR by others, and some HDR that no one expected to be more than one exposure.

It can be undetectable if done well, since no one but the photographer was at the original scene to see just what the range of light was. A scene that just fit the range of the sensor would look like HDR, and a realistic HDR would look like the light just fit the range of the sensor. I still feel there is room in the art of photography for non-realistic HDR as well as any other non-realistic photos (which are almost all photos).

 

[SrisonS]

Great article about HDR. I also agree with much that he said. I hate overcooked HDR pics; and was a little apprehensive of even trying the technique after seeing so many pics like that. But now that I know how to somewhat make my pics look realistic, I love doing HDR. It always doesn't help though; and one of those exposures you used will be great on its own. And one last thing.... if a person's the subject of the shot, don't use HDR. Those never look natural.

 

[Experiment_626]

if a person's the subject of the shot, don't use HDR. Those never look natural.

Sometimes you can get good results blending an HDR portrait with the best single exposure from the sequence.

 

[Coach81]

I've seen reference to this on more than one occasion on my first steps into photography.. what do the letters HDR mean?

 

[MICKEY88]

I've seen reference to this on more than one occasion on my first steps into photography.. what do the letters HDR mean?

Hi Dynamic range,

it's a method of merging several photos of varying exposures{bracketed}

to best show hilites and shadows.. it can be done so that the pictrue looks somewhat natural, or it can be taken to extremes so it's obviously not natural,

I like both depending on the subject...

 

[TheGoofster]

I've seen reference to this on more than one occasion on my first steps into photography.. what do the letters HDR mean?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Basically it is a process in which you take 3 or more shots of the same subject at different exposure settings (preferably with a tripod so you get the exact same shots). Most newer DSLR cameras have a feature called exposure bracketing that allows you to take 3 (or more) successive shots and the camera automatically changes the exposure for you (after you set what exposure settings you want).
After you have the shots, you will need a software editing program that allows you to merge the shots together (called something like HDR merge). Depending on the program you will have more or less control over how many changes you can make with the merged shots.

edited to add:

Once again, I'm outdrawn to the answer. Good thing I'm not a gunslinger or Mickey88 would have filled me with lead.

 

[MICKEY88]

edited to add:

Once again, I'm outdrawn to the answer. Good thing I'm not a gunslinger or Mickey88 would have filled me with lead.

 

[Coach81]

Thanks guys!