Luiei's HDR's <7 photos>

[Luiei]

So, I got a bit inspired by Inky's pretty HDR's and now that I got myself a decent camera (Canon 1000D) I thought I'd try it out. As you may notice they're going to be a bit more artsy, some made to look a bit unrealistic even. More like paintings.

Not had a lot of time or weather for pretty photos but I'll update this now and then!

Sunset while flying into London from Sweden.

Spoiler!

Quick photo out my window because good weather is rare in London.

Spoiler!

Random street up around Streatham, HDR seems to work better with sunlight though!

Spoiler!

Sun setting at the Battersea Bridge in London.

Spoiler!

Again taken from the Battersea Bridge, but focused on the bank.

Spoiler!

Café along the River Thames at Hammersmith.

Spoiler!

Hammersmith Bridge at night time.

Spoiler!

[poehalcho]

pretty damned amazing, especially the 2nd one.

[Luiei]

Thanks man Little over an hour later it's fully grey and raining. London can be a bastard sometimes! Was thinking of trying to get some nice photos today.

[*BlackFox]

That first one is awesome!
Damn.. I want to see MOAR! lulz

[Shomari]

My left eye blew up when I clicked show on the first spoiler. (In a good way).

[Luiei]

Cheers ^^ I'd love to get some more pretty sunrise/sunset HDR's but stupid London. Cloud free days are rare here! Was even raining when I took that 3rd one a couple of hours ago.

[inky]

I love the first one

edit:

Btw, I forgot to ask you earlier. How did you go about doing HDR? Manual in PS or Photomatrix? And from a single RAW or Exposure bracketing? Surreal look usually works best with taking several different exposures so I'm guessing that's what was used but I could be wrong (might be just in the setting). I've being doing mixture of both to try to bring out the colors without going too surreal but I still haven't managed to get the exact results I want.

[Luiei]

I love the first one

edit:

Btw, I forgot to ask you earlier. How did you go about doing HDR? Manual in PS or Photomatrix? And from a single RAW or Exposure bracketing? Surreal look usually works best with taking several different exposures so I'm guessing that's what was used but I could be wrong (might be just in the setting). I've being doing mixture of both to try to bring out the colors without going too surreal but I still haven't managed to get the exact results I want.

Ah yeah I do Exposure bracketing, 3 RAWs ranging from +2ev to -2ev. Using Photoshop, take them in and change a bit in the original RAWs (same changes to them all looking at the original Exposure to see how it looks). Then merge to HDR and do some HDR toning. The way I do it it's not that hard to keep them from looking surreal, but I like to go over the top and make them look artistic haha!

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Such nice photos. They actually make me kind of miss London

[inky]

I tried working with 6 different exposures before but it's such a pain in the ass (3 bracketed RAW - 2 edited exposures from each).

I usually stick with 4.
2 RAW (-2, +2) and just changed the exposure levels. I stopped keeping the .TIFF files though since that shit ate away at my memory. I would just dump them right after. Either that or 1 neutral shot except in sunny skies.

My only concern with working with bracketed shots is when I don't have a trusty tripod or I have moving subjects. My hands are normally steady but even without the heavy ghosting, you still get those minor rough-looking gradients, especially with sunsets/sunrise skies. I prefer making them as smooth as possible now so I try to minimize the number of exposures I take. I got 1 HDR image that came from a single RAW file (Queens Bridge) and it came out pretty smooth and decent.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more from you. Anticipating to see some realistic shots with very vibrant colors =p

---
And if you're only doing Tone Mapping in PS but want to try out Photomatrix Pro, PM me.

[Luiei]

Thanks Dime

I tried working with 6 different exposures before but it's such a pain in the ass (3 bracketed RAW - 2 edited exposures from each).

I usually stick with 4.
2 RAW (-2, +2) and just changed the exposure levels. I stopped keeping the .TIFF files though since that shit ate away at my memory. I would just dump them right after. Either that or 1 neutral shot except in sunny skies.

My only concern with working with bracketed shots is when I don't have a trusty tripod or I have moving subjects. My hands are normally steady but even without the heavy ghosting, you still get those minor rough-looking gradients, especially with sunsets/sunrise skies. I prefer making them as smooth as possible now so I try to minimize the number of exposures I take. I got 1 HDR image that came from a single RAW file (Queens Bridge) and it came out pretty smooth and decent.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more from you. Anticipating to see some realistic shots with very vibrant colors =p

---
And if you're only doing Tone Mapping in PS but want to try out Photomatrix Pro, PM me.

Mmm yes I don't save any TIFF files either, I'm just doing photography for fun anyways. And yeah, I have a great big tripod which is very useful for HDRs. But annoying if you want to take one in the spur of the moment!

Hahah yeaaah actually I'm feeling these HDRs are, even though pretty, a bit over the top. Next ones will probably be a bit more realistic looking.

[Skyve]

Love the street in Streatham.

[Doron]

Gotta love London sometimes. <3

GJ!

[Luiei]

Thanks again guys, and updated with a photo from last night!

[Luiei]

Another, this time night photo.

[inky]

Great locations and good shots. But I would definitely advice going easy on the saturation/hardness especially with sunsets/sunrise shots, direct light, or if there's a lot of yellow involved.

Keep it up and keep them coming

[Priam]

Good locations, and the outcome visually is very appealing.

I would just try and be more creative composition-wise. That's what turns a pretty picture in a world class photograph.

[Luiei]

Good locations, and the outcome visually is very appealing.

I would just try and be more creative composition-wise. That's what turns a pretty picture in a world class photograph.

That's very true, thanks for pointing that out. Still feel very amateur haha!