Tone Mapping

[Josh125]

I know there are some HDR guru's in here. When I tone map, it's a crap shoot at best Can anyone give me some pointers? I'm using photomatix.

 

[bostran1]

I use Photomstix for my HDRs too. Unfortunaately, the only advice I have to offer is keep messing around with the tone mapping tool. After a little practice you will get the hang of it. Take a look at each image by sticking the sliders at each extreme and see the results. Good luck

 

[DizneyNutz]

I was really considering trying to play with HDR after our upcoming trip. I have really been looking at photomatrix and it looks like one of the better programs (looking at some reviews) I wasn't aware of the difficulty in the tone mapping process. Is it really difficult to achieve goods results? Thanks for all of your input.

 

[Josh125]

It's not hard, per se. There are just sliding bars that you adjust, however to me it's Greek and I just sorta slide them around without much reason. I can offer this, shoot Raw and the more exporsures the better. It a fun little tool, and can honestly make a dramatic difference without making the picture look "fake".

 

[DizneyNutz]

It's not hard, per se. There are just sliding bars that you adjust, however to me it's Greek and I just sorta slide them around without much reason. I can offer this, shoot Raw and the more exporsures the better. It a fun little tool, and can honestly make a dramatic difference without making the picture look "fake".

The ones that look like photos and the ones that look like a painting. DW however is not real impressed with HDR at all. I guess I would be aiming at as close to a real photo as possible capturing the true dynamic range possible. Thanks for input.

 

[bostran1]

It really takes some patience to get a handle how to make an HDR look like what your eyes see and switch it to get the most dynamic range as possible. Each picture can be different. Its just something you have to fool around with and something you need an eye for. It is harder than you think to get a good scene to bracket and to showcase HDR.

 

[Josh125]

It really takes some patience to get a handle how to make an HDR look like what your eyes see and switch it to get the most dynamic range as possible. Each picture can be different. Its just something you have to fool around with and something you need an eye for. It is harder than you think to get a good scene to bracket and to showcase HDR.

That is a good point. Not all shots open themselves up to HDR. The picture to begin with, less bracketing, needs to have a high DR from the get go. One example I can give is trying to capture, say a tree in the shadows, in the for ground against a very bright sky.

I've played around with a handful of pics so far and to be honest they all look 10x better after HDR and I haven't made a "painting" one yet. It's fun, just get the program and start playing around

 

[DizneyNutz]

is what drew me towards it in the first place. In my first photo I mentioned playing with the photos. My DW would definately say that if it takes patience, it could definatetly not be my cup of tea. I do understand how it would be more useful in a photo containing both the dark shadows and the bright highlights where it's difficult to get an actual photo to capture both of these extremes.