Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I *Think* I May Have Figured This HDR Thing Out...

Last week John and I met up with a reader out at Epcot (Hi, Amy!!), so of course I couldn't resist bringing the camera and tripod along for a few more attempts at HDR nighttime shots.

It turns out that last time I completely forgot to set the ISO properly (whoopsie), so with that corrected I had more success this round. Heh.

Anyway, here's my favorite shot of the night:

I seriously cannot believe I took this picture, you guys. 

Ok, HDR, I'll admit it: I'm hooked!


For those unfamiliar: HDR is a process where you take multiple bracketed photos and then merge them together. I took three photos for this shot:


Then I used Photomatrix to merge and adjust them. If you want a visual feast, just head over to Flickr & search for HDR photography. It's amaaaaazing.

UPDATE: For those who've requested it, my pic is available on DeviantArt here.

38 comments:

  1. Oh wow, Jen! This is amazing! I love the HDR look, and I guess it's high time I started playing around with it too. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  2. That's absolutely GORGEOUS! I've never heard of HDR before, and now I can't wait to find more! :)

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  3. that is stunning...it almost doesn't look real

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  4. Gorgeous! I'm getting a better DSLR camera next month, and I hope I can take ever better pictures, like you.

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  5. That picture is gorgeous! I may need to go looking for how to do that before our trip to WDW next week. Any tutorial suggestions for ISO settings and all that?

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  6. Holy guacamole! THAT is a beautiful photo!

    Excellent work!

    KW

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  7. WOW!!! That is "seriously" a gorgeous picture. Makes me miss having a camera that takes great pics-my last was one that used film. And now I have a cheap digital, all I can afford right now. Can't wait to look at the rest.

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  8. Gorgeous! BTW can see this in Google interface but can't see the photo in IE.

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  9. HOLY GORGEOUS, BATMAN!
    well done, jen. so well done!

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  10. Your photo looks really awesome (natural but still full of depth and light) but I find I HATE most HDR photography. it looks FAKE and over Photoshopped. I like HDR that you can't tell if it is HDR or if it is just a really good single shot.

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  11. Jen, would you be willing to share the settings you used (camera settings and slider settings in Photomatrix)? Despite being 'taught' how do HDR photomerges in one of my photography classes, I've still never managed to make a decent HDR shot. This one is incredible!

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  12. Can you throw this on your deviantart page so I can have a print? It would look so good on my wall. Thank you!

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  13. Whoa! That IS amazing. I looked at it and thought, "That can't be a real photograph, it has to be Photoshoppped in some way." Thanks for showing the three originals. I'm a believer now. :o) Perfect reflection! Gorgeous!

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  14. Oh wow, Jen... that's just amazing. That's a photo I would expect to buy in the gift shop for a lot of money - not one I would ever expect to come out of my camera! Great job!!

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  15. wow! that looks so amazing! aaah i hope you mind me using this as wallpaper for my ipod? :)

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  16. that is beyond amazing... simply stunning! so jelly over here, but in a good way :)

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  17. What a beautiful photo! It would make a terrific jigsaw puzzle.

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  18. ERMEGERD.
    GERGEOUS.
    I DERN'T EVERN.
    WEEERRRRDS.

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  19. It turned out awesome! Perfect subject/setting for HDR.

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  20. *blink*
    *blinkblink*

    I'm just sitting here, mouth agape, at the magnificence of this picture.

    Wow.

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  21. Great HDR! I love HDR, it really helps bring out missing details that one exposure can't capture.

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  22. I love it!!! It even has that "Disney Magic" glow to it!! Brilliant!!

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  23. Hi, Jen!!! It looks like you and John were successful in your quest for good pics :) I love it! Anthony will positively drool over it when he gets home.

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  24. This is beautiful. You make everything seem so easy, but I bet this took some time. I'm amazed at your talent!
    BTW, I just saw your cone trees and owls. Love them!

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  25. Gorgeous!! My T4i does HDR for me but not quite this well. I am not good with anything photoshop-ish so this is super impressive.

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  26. Yay! I'm so glad it worked out for you. It looks amazing! =-]

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  27. My favorite part is the reflection in the water. The colors and the details are just crazy wonderful to look at.

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  28. My husband did some fun HDRs at Disneyland a couple of years ago. You can find them here. There are also a couple more on the first page of his flickr account here

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  29. This is SO beautiful! I hope you will make this into a blank greeting card and sell it...seriously, I need at least a couple dozen!! Just lovely!

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  30. That is AMAZING and gorgeous! LOVE!

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  31. OMG would you PRETTY please allow us poor readers to buy that image on SOMETHING? Please? It's.... amazing.

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  32. @ Nina - Oops, it's actually already available here on DeviantArt. I thought I'd linked to it here before - sorry about that!

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