Multimedia Exchange - Couple of HDR pics

After having my Z for almost 2 and a half months I finally busted out the Nikon and took a few pics. I only did HDR's since the high noon lighting was way too intrusive to do anything decent, and I wanted to make my new Berger panel actually stand out from the NBM, so HDR was the only logical choice :) I think they turned out kinda cool, definitely a love it or hate style of photography though! The black front corners are from ebay.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Art/HDR-1/i-QFJrP28/0/L/Zrear-L.jpg

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Art/HDR-1/i-ff6G6Qs/0/L/Zfront-L.jpg

very nice car

Nice car but terrible setting for pictures. Between the grass, the other car in the background, etc it makes for a busy photo.

Nice pics. Love how the Magnaflow cannons look on Camaros!

2nd picture looks purple which is cool. I agree though a little busy

HDR? I don't see any HDR pictures here.

In before everyone talks shit about your pictures, like every other thread on ls1tech where people take pictures. Clean car man.

Car looks good!

Agree nice car but bad setup for the pics...like the color on the stang in the back.

Good looking car

Yeah I wasn't going for the ultimate backdrop or anything. I just got home with my son and he went down for a nap, so I had some time to kill and since it was just the two of us, I couldn't go anywhere to take the shots. These were just taken in my front yard. I hope to go somewhere nice soon, it's just tough to find the time.

Endersshadow, not sure if serious? These are definitely HDR, but I toned the strength down so they wouldn't be completely obnoxious lol.

what were your exposures ?

looks a little too high

mind posting up all 3 original images for each ?

what were your exposures ?

looks a little too high

mind posting up all 3 original images for each ?

They look like those were taken around noon judging by the shadows.

They were taken around 2pm. I'm on my phone right now so I can't post up the originals, but I will later. I also took 7 exposures for both, ranging from -3 to +3 and using Photomatix for the tone mapping. Then I used CS4 to add a little more brightness and contrast.

Hmmm, looking at them again, there is definitely some over exposure going on. Maybe I'll leave the +3 shots out of the mix and merge then again when I get home. Good looking out Bsaint.

Wow, using only -1 through +1 turned out WAY better, at least on the rear shot that had a really overexposed background! The front shot was ok the way it was and nothing changed. I think the problem is I had a +4 shot in the rear pic that probably blew it all to hell. Well now I know to not use anything over +1 or +2 for bright daytime pics I want to HDR.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Cars/Z28/i-QwdRJpQ/0/L/Zrear2-L.jpg

Also, heres the 0 shot, which was taken at 1/60, ISO 200, f/5.6. I believe the metering was done off of the tire area, which was dark thus causing the slow shutter for the otherwise bright conditions.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Cars/Z28/i-9VVWWbs/0/L/DSC8530-L.jpg

Wow, using only -1 through +1 turned out WAY better, at least on the rear shot that had a really overexposed background! The front shot was ok the way it was and nothing changed. I think the problem is I had a +4 shot in the rear pic that probably blew it all to hell. Well now I know to not use anything over +1 or +2 for bright daytime pics I want to HDR.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Cars/Z28/i-QwdRJpQ/0/L/Zrear2-L.jpg

Also, heres the 0 shot, which was taken at 1/60, ISO 200, f/5.6. I believe the metering was done off of the tire area, which was dark thus causing the slow shutter for the otherwise bright conditions.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Cars/Z28/i-9VVWWbs/0/L/DSC8530-L.jpg

There is nothing wrong with your attempts to be creative, the D40 is a great beginner camera. If you like taking pictures this way for a particular reason, don't let me stop you.

My opinion on HDR is really that you should only use it for drastic changes in light. Examples being nighttime with your car under a streetlight a decent distance away from the camera. Shooting a camera in a room with less light and shooting out a window or door and trying to include detail from each part of the field of vision or capture. Its about taking drastic lighting differences and making a full field picture, not necessarily the goofy shit you see when you type HDR into google picture search.

In this video they happen to have a D5100, so it has a program for HDR anyways, but it gives a great example of what situation to use it in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QcRXZ1nJ-w

Wow, using only -1 through +1 turned out WAY better, at least on the rear shot that had a really overexposed background! The front shot was ok the way it was and nothing changed. I think the problem is I had a +4 shot in the rear pic that probably blew it all to hell. Well now I know to not use anything over +1 or +2 for bright daytime pics I want to HDR.



Second one looks a lot better! I think the first few make your car look almost dirty. You should try -3 through +1 once. From what I have read, the best results in the bright sun will come from more under exposed shots in the mix. I think the opposite would be true at night ie.-1,0,+1,+2,+3. More less just shifting the detail so the camera and the software are both happy.

I typically don't do HDR stuff, it depends on what I'm shooting and what my mood is. As I noted in the beginning, I only did these mainly to show the Berger panel better than it would otherwise show up in a normal picture. The light was really harsh as well so nothing was going to help me get a decent shot. I was just screwing around with these anyways as I said earlier, since I was constrained to my front yard at the time :-/ Damn kids lol. I'm hoping tomorrow night I might be able to take some serious photos around dusk. If I do, there will be a new thread :-)

Damn mobile version, I can't edit my recent post, which was for Black96. Snoops, my car actually was filthy lol, I didn't wash it until later on. You can really tell in the rear shot, but it looks ok in the front one. Good call on the exposure recommendations, I'll give it a shot, it makes sense! Also, the 0 shot looks way too dark on my laptop, but ok on my phone. It's not the most accurate of screens, I really should calibrate it.

Car looks good man, looks pretty similar to mines from the rear with the Magnaflow and ZR1's on there. I was on the fence about doing the Berger panel but I think I may do it soon in matte black after looking at your car. Did you just paint your stock panel or what? How'd you go about getting it done?

I had a buddy paint my stock panel for me, and I just drove around without it for a few days while he painted it. I saw a few pics of the matte finish and I wasn't a huge fan. The gloss is barely noticeable for the most part which is the downside, but I didn't like the matte enough to justify using it over the gloss.

Alright cool, that sounds easy enough. But, I can see how the gloss wouldn't be very noticeable though. NBM is kind of a dark'ish color at most times and the panel being black, kind of blends in with the paint a little bit, still looks good though.

Wow, using only -1 through +1 turned out WAY better, at least on the rear shot that had a really overexposed background! The front shot was ok the way it was and nothing changed. I think the problem is I had a +4 shot in the rear pic that probably blew it all to hell. Well now I know to not use anything over +1 or +2 for bright daytime pics I want to HDR.

http://rich82.smugmug.com/Cars/Z28/i-QwdRJpQ/0/L/Zrear2-L.jpg



Much better man!