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TLW Photographers make your interest known


Nick Leeson
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More cracking shots there from Raininblood, well done.

 

Truefan, sorry for sounding harsh, as Anubis quite rightly said, that was not my intention. However, posting when pissed didn't allow me to articulate my thoughts properly, (shock, horror! and I should have said that I didn't mean to offend.

 

The tutorial posted above by Sandman is the one I would have recommended had it not already been. I would suggest you use Photomatix and steer clear of Photoshop's attempts at HDR, as I have not yet seen a credible effort from it. The tutorial recommends it, but as a means to do your RAW conversions, and to clean up some of the small problems from your Photomatix results. Photomatix is a specific HDR application and it is the best there is, let it do its job and leave Photoshop to do what it does best.

 

Apologies once again and hope to see some great results from you in the near future.

 

Jacko, if you're thinking of a camera in that size range, then I would strongly recommend you go with the Sony. Although both cameras will be of a similar size in space, bulk and weight, the sensor size in the Sony [Area 368 sqmm] is as much as 8.5X bigger than the Canon [Area 43 sqmm] and thus the image quality will reflect this.

 

The benefit is further enhanced with the possibility of expansion of system lenses. There really is no comparison if that's the type of money you want to spend. Hope you can get some deal somewhere on the Sony in the new year sales.

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The contrast is better, but still very patchy, with loss of detail in places where it should be showing. But, how many source images were you working from? The other image is fairly flat, and not taken in ideal conditions for HDR. The idea is to have at least three images taken at different exposures to blend the best from each. These three would be correct exposure as determined by the camera, then 2 stops underexposed, and then two stops over.

 

It is possible, technically, but not ideally, to work from one RAW image that can then be processed as described above. But it's far better to have three purposely shot exposures to get best results.

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Its just from the one image on the left. Just made 3 copies of it in Photoshop, changed the levels so it was really dark on one, same again so it's really light on the second, and put a diffuse glow on the third, then put them all on overlay over the original and messed with the opacity of the three edited layers.

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Working from just one image is, as I said above, technically possible, but with a couple of provisos.

 

1] The source image must be a RAW file. Only a RAW file will have the depth of information contained within to be able to make the adjustments necessary to give a +2 and a -2 version as well as one with no exposure adjustment, to give your three shots to work with.

 

2] The source image should have good lighting and a good range of tones to begin with. If the source image, as above, is taken in overcast conditions, it will be heavily dominated by the midtones and display an overall lack of punch. Even if it had been RAW, and not jpeg, there is nothing there to pick up on. For HDR to be effective, it has to be given a fairly good image to work.

 

It can't make an average shot good, but it can make a good shot great. It's a great example of the old proverb 'You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'. I have put 'can' in italics there, because while it is possible to make a good shot great, it is also possible to make a good shot totally shit, or at least no better than what it was - just different. Care has to be taken not to over-saturate or overuse many of the adjustments available, otherwise they end up looking like an animation or painterly and totally unrealistic. At that point, it's no longer an improvement, but just an overworked image.

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More cracking shots there from Raininblood' date=' well done.

 

Truefan, sorry for sounding harsh, as Anubis quite rightly said, that was not my intention. However, posting when pissed didn't allow me to articulate my thoughts properly, (shock, horror! and I should have said that I didn't mean to offend.

 

The tutorial posted above by Sandman is the one I would have recommended had it not already been. I would suggest you use Photomatix and steer clear of Photoshop's attempts at HDR, as I have not yet seen a credible effort from it. The tutorial recommends it, but as a means to do your RAW conversions, and to clean up some of the small problems from your Photomatix results. Photomatix is a specific HDR application and it is the best there is, let it do its job and leave Photoshop to do what it does best.

 

Apologies once again and hope to see some great results from you in the near future.

 

Jacko, if you're thinking of a camera in that size range, then I would strongly recommend you go with the Sony. Although both cameras will be of a similar size in space, bulk and weight, the sensor size in the Sony [Area 368 sqmm'] is as much as 8.5X bigger than the Canon [Area 43 sqmm] and thus the image quality will reflect this.

 

The benefit is further enhanced with the possibility of expansion of system lenses. There really is no comparison if that's the type of money you want to spend. Hope you can get some deal somewhere on the Sony in the new year sales.

 

 

You were right about photomatix....I downloaded photomatix pro 4.0 and the difference is amazing!

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I'm thinking of getting a compact system camera as a DSLR is just too big. I previously had a Canon G4 and am now considering a Sony NEX5N. Does anyone know how good these are and what if any difference I could expect to see over a Canon G series. I'm just a P&S guy at the moment.

 

Agree with Anubis.

 

As an aside, my cousin has one with the pancake lens. Decent enough images, however...add a Nikon/Canon Prime lens with a Fotodiox adapter and the images are incredible!

 

Has a lot of cool technology. I'd suggest getting a bounce flash as well, as High ISO performance is not stellar.

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I have just bought my first DSLR , a canon 550d. I am a total novice, so any tips etc you fellas can share would be much appreciated.

 

I have the 550d as well. It's a fantastic little camera.

 

What lens do you have ? This camera (well like all cameras really) benefits from good glass. If you have the kit lens, then you're not getting the most out of it. Pick up a good prime and you'll be blown away at the quality.

 

Turn off Auto ISO and change your Max ISO to 400. Images shot at ISO 800 and up show a lot of noise in low light and require a lot of effort to clean up in software. If you're going to be shooting a lot of low light stuff then you should definitely pick up a 1.8/1.4 Prime Lens, and invest in separate Noise Reduction software.

 

If you plan on shooting video with this then you may want to consider investing in the battery grip as it makes the camera better balanced. Video Quality is terrific, again with the same caveats with regard to High ISO numbers.

 

But most importantly, shoot a lot and have fun!

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If i only knew how ;-)

 

What software are you using once you get the images from the 550d to your computer ? Generally you can adjust contrast by manipulating either 'Curves' or 'Levels' regardless of which software package (Photoshop/Aperture/Lightroom etc) you're using.

 

Well worth it.

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Just bought a sony vaio to use with my 600d.

 

I have 3 lenses so far, the 18-55, tamron 70-300 and the canon nifty fifty fixed focal 2.8

 

I use the cokin filter system, but don't do much post processing yet, except for a few HDR shots

 

A canon L series lens is on my wishlist, and also a 600mm super zoom.

 

Will post up a few pics or links when I get round to uploading to flikr

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