First HDR attempt

[Michael.]

this is my porch. my roommates have made it this way but i think it tells of college quite well...i'm still learning how to merge all the exposures and get them to really stand out.

used photomatix. +/-4

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc32/usf_ND50/HDR/HDRAttempts029And8More_tonemapped.jpg

[Hoosier Daddy]

Nice, what kind of camera are you using?

[Michael.]

nikon d50. iso 200. sigma 10-20mm. that was taken at 10mm

[96whiteknight]

I love it, except for the tripod's shadow.

[Michael.]

yeah i couldnt really avoid it and i wanted it done so i was like whatever...

but thanks. there will be plenty more to come. i need infrared to help me some more. but mostly its trial and error. LOTS of it

[kaluwa]

Very interesting picture. Looks good! :thumbup:

[DareDevil]

I would try shooting a different subject.

[.:Chris:.]

Photomatix takes some getting used to. Also, with HDR you need to try and avoid scenes with a harsh shadows if possible, becaus elightening them up really makes the image seem flat.

Also, I agree with DareDevil, great subject for practicing but certainly you should pick something else for the real deal. :lol:

[Michael.]

yeah i know...like i said (i think) i just wanted to do it real quick and i was in my apartment and this was it lol

[.:Chris:.]

On second look, you lost detail in the red chair. Do any of your exposures have any detail there?

[Michael.]

what do you mean?

[DC Dave]

looks good... but i think the red chair takes to much away from the picture

[Michael.]

how come? because its so bright? i couldnt really get it much darker, and since the sun was at that position, obviously it was half shade and i think that threw some things off...

[DC Dave]

yea i know what your saying.. but since its so bright it would take away from the picture... you should try that pool one you should me

[.:Chris:.]

what do you mean?

Well, take a look at the main portion of the chair. The chair is literally one solid color, there are no shadow/detail areas. For example, there should be some waves in the fabric and you should able to see the headrest portion of the chair. You can't see them because the red channel is blown.

It's the same as when you blow out a sky and it's all white, only in this case you only seem to have lost the red channel as opposed to red, green and blue being blown when a sky comes out completely white.

Basically, you either need to adjust your HDR settings or you needed an exposure that was lower so that it could capture details in the chair. I have a feeling that you're having issue with the former rather than the latter.

Also, here's a quick edit to get rid of the reddish color cast that your photo had:
http://www.chrismetcalfe.co.uk/temp_files/ck04HDR.jpg
PSD available here (http://www.chrismetcalfe.co.uk/temp_files/ck04HDR.jpg). Let me know if you have any questions, just trying to help you learn.

[Michael.]

i went from +/-5 but it didnt recognize the range when i put it into photomatix, so i had to manually put in which exposure was which, so that may have messed it up.

[.:Chris:.]

If you're sure you measured your stops correctly then I'd go back and see if any of your pics have details in the chair. How many exposures did you take?