Can someone please give me a rather quick low down, answering all those questions, in particular the "how"?

http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/

Thanks! That helped.

good thread. I am going to start trying these, they seem to be the most popular.

quick question

we all know these look great when viewed on a computer screen. how do they look printed out??

Question: That website mentioned the method of taking three, auto-bracketed source images and combining them in Photomatix. Do those three source images have to be RAW? Or can they be jpegs? I ask because my current memory card can only hold 21 RAW files, so I'd only be able to take seven HDR shots total on one card. I'd like to do more, if possible.

Question: That website mentioned the method of taking three, auto-bracketed source images and combining them in Photomatix. Do those three source images have to be RAW? Or can they be jpegs? I ask because my current memory card can only hold 21 RAW files, so I'd only be able to take seven HDR shots total on one card. I'd like to do more, if possible.


friends dont let friends shoot in jpeg. :lol:

i'm sure the answer is no. but im not sure. just upgrade the card hommie. its not that expensive?,? :dunno:

Question: That website mentioned the method of taking three, auto-bracketed source images and combining them in Photomatix. Do those three source images have to be RAW? Or can they be jpegs? I ask because my current memory card can only hold 21 RAW files, so I'd only be able to take seven HDR shots total on one card. I'd like to do more, if possible.

You can take just 1 RAW and with help of Phase One software make 3 images (Overexposed Normal Underexposed) from that one RAW.

friends dont let friends shoot in jpeg. :lol:

i'm sure the answer is no. but im not sure. just upgrade the card hommie. its not that expensive?,? :dunno:

I plan on it. But during my lunch break today I wanted to experiment with some HDR shots.

I plan on it. But during my lunch break today I wanted to experiment with some HDR shots.

yea i hear ya. I tried with jpegs but I was doing something wrong. I get stuck after I generate it. I dont have the tone mapping thing down yet.

^^ you can do it on jpeg, it worked fine with my old SQ, but I dunno if it is a true "HDR", I just took some pictures and automated in PS

You can take just 1 RAW and with help of Phase One software make 3 images (Overexposed Normal Underexposed) from that one RAW.

I was trying that and then used "Automate > Merge to HDR" in photoshop with the three images and it wouldn't let me do it. I tried all sorts of exposures and file formats and it keeps saying "there is not enough dynamic range in these photos to make a useful HDR image". What am I doing wrong?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/mdiederi/Picture1.png

Maybe i should get photomatix.

^^ I was trying and getting the same result myself. I'm sure someone here can explain this one for us.

I was trying that and then used "Automate > Merge to HDR" in photoshop with the three images and it wouldn't let me do it. I tried all sorts of exposures and file formats and it keeps saying "there is not enough dynamic range in these photos to make a useful HDR image". What am I doing wrong?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/mdiederi/Picture1.png

Maybe i should get photomatix.

How far apart did you bracket your exposures? The site El Greco put up recommends -2EV, 0EV, +2EV

Question: That website mentioned the method of taking three, auto-bracketed source images and combining them in Photomatix. Do those three source images have to be RAW? Or can they be jpegs? I ask because my current memory card can only hold 21 RAW files, so I'd only be able to take seven HDR shots total on one card. I'd like to do more, if possible.

Oh my god. You need a new memory card, asap. I shoot almost every photo in both JPEG and RAW. Don't do HDR photos with JPEGs because they usually turn out like junk - especially with Photomatix. RAW files are much easier to work with.

I hope this is not such a dumb question. But is there a RAW setting on my camera? It's an Olympus E-500. With that question, should I still upload photos to my computer the same or is there a way that I can keep the RAW image once I start my upload without it converting to JPEG?

Maybe i should get photomatix.

Yes you should.

Do those three source images have to be RAW? Or can they be jpegs?Three JPGs will work, and if you bracket them far enough apart, will give you more range to work with than a single raw. Shoot raw if you can though.

How far apart did you bracket your exposures? The site El Greco put up recommends -2EV, 0EV, +2EVThat's a good quick and dirty set of exposure levels. Ideally you should have enough shots so that the left end of the histogram on your darkest exposure is away from the left edge of the graph, and the right end of your brightest is away from the right edge of the graph. Shooting one stop apart per photo until you get to these extremes will usually get you the smoothest and least clipped final image - this can take as little as two exposures or more than ten. If you shoot two stops apart at a time you can save on card space at the expense of a minor quality drop.

But is there a RAW setting on my camera? It's an Olympus E-500.Yes, and the way to set it should be in here (http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/manual/esystem/man_e500_en.pdf) somewhere.

With that question, should I still upload photos to my computer the same or is there a way that I can keep the RAW image once I start my upload without it converting to JPEG?You shoot the raw images, upload them to your computer and then use a raw editor (one should have been supplied with the camera, or use Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop) to adjust them and save out JPGs as separate files.

Good info per usual, mugs. One other dimwitted question: I can't seem to properly open RAW files in Adobe Photoshop. I have 7.0. When I try to do it, I get this popup box with "Raw Options." I try opening the file from there and it shows up as this weird pattern that doesn't remotely resemble a photo. Any insight would be helpful.

^ Get Phase One mate.

Mugley, I love your photos and I love your answers! Thanks mate!

@ hydrogen and haldcottingham - no worries!

I can't seem to properly open RAW files in Adobe Photoshop. I have 7.0. When I try to do it, I get this popup box with "Raw Options." I try opening the file from there and it shows up as this weird pattern that doesn't remotely resemble a photo. Any insight would be helpful.I reckon you did well to get that far. Photoshop 7 is quite old now and I'm pretty sure that Adobe Camera Raw only gets along with more recent versions (and if you've got an older ACR, it probably doesn't understand more recent raw formats).

I'd suggest using a separate raw editor, saving the images out as 16-bit TIFFs and loading these into PS (disclaimer - haven't tried this in PS myself, but it works for Photomatix). If you're doing this for HDR purposes, avoid changing anything other than white balance in the raw editor, as adjustments to contrast, colour levels etc will destroy a little detail and add noise to the final image.

^Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

Chiphotoshop and Mark, I went ahead and upgraded to a 1 GB memory card today, so hopefully you two can sleep at night knowing I'm straight in the memory card department.

^Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

Chiphotoshop and Mark, I went ahead and upgraded to a 1 GB memory card today, so hopefully you two can sleep at night knowing I'm straight in the memory card department.

:fart:

Photoshop 6.0 doesn't seem to have the HDR function. Blast.

^^ I dl'ed PS CS2

I was trying that and then used "Automate > Merge to HDR" in photoshop with the three images and it wouldn't let me do it. I tried all sorts of exposures and file formats and it keeps saying "there is not enough dynamic range in these photos to make a useful HDR image". What am I doing wrong?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/mdiederi/Picture1.png

Maybe i should get photomatix.
I just installed PS CS3 (PhotoShop 10) and it successfully processed the HDR image and didn't give me any error message. Looked like crap, though, but that's probably opperator error. :nuts:

^^ I dl'ed PS CS2

Torrent?

PS2 sucks for HDR. I would suggest photomatrix.

^^ Is there a big difference in cost between the two?

^^ Is there a big difference in cost between the two?

photomatrix is $99. PS2 (or 3) is at least $500 I think.

dont get me wrong, PS is the best program out there, but photomatrix is more specially for HDR

^^ Thanks! I have PS CS2. But I'll have to get the other one now.

Torrent?

keep this in mind when it comes to price. i'm just sayin, its all out there. :cheers:

I got it today