HDR

i am sorry to bother again but i want to separate two posts.
HDR photos are really stunning, any tips or requirement( the one you need to set in the camera) i need to change? (iso,f/,av etc.)
thanks a lot!

examples: http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2011/08/10/the-secret-workshop-of-jules-verne/

Hi daftpunk - here some tips that I learned when starting to do HDR.
The HDR starts already when taking a picture - when not planning to work with pseudo-hdrs based on a single RAW picture, you need a series of at least three, better 5 pictures. To get the overexposed and underexposed pics, I shoot -3, -1.5, 0, +1.5 and +3. ISO is also critical, as any noise wil be emphasized in the resulting HDR - hence I shoot with ISO 200 (as you anyway have to shoot with a tripod, you can also create night HDRs with ISO200). Next - most important factor is, that every picture must show exactly the same crop - and with exactly I really mean exactly (otherwise you never get a real sharp HDR). Hence you need a good tripod and I started to use an IR remote controle. The scenery is also important - not all sceneries are really usefull for a good HDR (e.g. when you have a low contrast scenery or a pure blue sky, the results might not be that good).
Software is obviously also required. I always use Photomatix 4.0. The 4.0 release is very good in preventing ghost artefacts. Every moving object is normally a nogo on an HDR but with 4.0 you can define moving objects and they are then rendered without ghost artefacts. 4.0 also became better in aligning the pictures but I would still try to make them as identical as possible.
Finally it is a matter of experience - when starting with HDR, most photographers focus on very moody sceneries like old houses or rosty cars etc. (I always call this the old train station toilet phase) - the results are often very impressive but also all together a bit boring - and you also have to play around a bit with all the settings you can adjust in Photomatix to find your prefered style of HDR pictures.

Oh and one tip - be carefull - you can get addicted - at least I got (most of my pics in my gallery are HDR - even if some look a bit like they are not - but most are)

I think the best effects come from taking 3 or 5 separate photos and merging them in your chosen HDR software and tonemapping. The method described by Axel is it.

More recent Pentax DSLR cameras give us an alternative, with the HDR mode. With the camera set to jpg and HDR mode, the camera will take 3 exposures and merge them in camera. There are a number of strength adjustments in the HDR mode. I suggest you use a tripod. Results can be suprisingly good, but some experimentation with the strength adjustment is recommended. I think the K7, K5, KX and KR will all do this.

Another method is to take a single exposure in raw format and use the raw converter to adjust the exposure of the image to give 3 versions. These 3 versions are then used in the HDR software.

I have posted quite a few HDR pictures in the Gallery (not as many as Axel) and I tend to find it is useful in two different ways:

1. It can be great for bringing to life shots that look a little flat by empahsising highlights which gives images more depth and more of a '3d' feeling

2. It can draw out detail, colour and definition in the shadows which is impossible to do in any other way

I tend to go for more subtle HDR processing which doesn't make it obvious that the picture is HDR (in Photomatix 4.1 the Fusion method gives a more subtle effect than the Tone-mapping), but I've also used the more aggressive Tone-mapping effects which give pictures a surreal look and can be great but only for certain subjects, see example below:

Cumulo-nimbus Link

I would highly recommend you get a copy of Photomatix as it is an excellent piece of software for HDR, then just play around with your pictures and learn how to use it in a way that suits your style the best.

Regards
David

thanks all! i got photomatix pro for free because i went to youtube and found out some serial numbers that work, haha.
yesterday i tried to take some photo outside, unfortunately it started raining.
I will try to do some next weekend, hope the weather turns better!
thanks for such awesome explaining.
so here are some ideas:
-you need to take at least three photos in different ev
-or try the HDR in itself
thanks! i can't wait to try!