Hello,

I have my first camera that has an HDR option. Actually it is in my Sony Xperia phone (20.7 MP, f2.8) but it does an OK job, about as good as any small PAS.

After experimenting with the HDR feature I find that I don't like the blurred look in some areas and in general find the images look kind of fake. I want to do more work with this and plan to get another DSLR with this feature but am wondering if I should bother.

What is your opinion of HDR as a photography tool? Gimmick or the future?

Thanks,
Bryan

I have dabbled with HDR a bit in the past and don't do it much anymore. I find a tripod imperative to keep the ghosts and blurred stuff at bay. Processing so it's not super fake looking is an art also, although the software is getting better. I prefer to use the black card technique if I'm just trying to cover a larger dynamic range, such as a sunrise or sunset photo where both the foreground and background are properly exposed, vs a sunrise/set shot where the colors of the sunset are correct the the foreground is a silhouette.

On my DSLR I dont think I've ever used the HDR feature I just bracket manually and blend them in post.

Well if you know Photoshop fairly well you can do HDR without all the blurs involved.It does the same thing HDR does, which is to brighten the highlights and darken the shadows without the blurring effect. Here is a link that better explains it. As far as in camera HDR goes, don't have it and don't want it. I can do it in post.

fake HDR effect

Do not have in camera capability, have and occasionally use Photomatix Light
When I do use it I use bracketed exposures taken on a tripod.
Tonemapped .jpg on default settings.
Fused .jpg on default.

I do not use it a lot as most of the photography I do is Road Race focused and granddkids

butthead

Thanks for the feedback and examples, very helpful. Pretty much what I expected, just like most aspects of photography, the equipment can only do so much.

I have also taken a single image and made duplicates which I over and under expose then blend them in photomatix. Works especially well on moving objects where even a tripod wont help you.




Here is a regular IIRC 7 stop bracketed HDR, blended/ tone mapped (whatever its called) in Photomatix. The tree would have been a silhouette without HDR and due to it's odd shape would have been hard to do black card technique.




And lastly here is an example of black card technique, where I captured a large dynamic range with one exposure.

red, how long of an exposure did you do on the 3rd shot? Did you use a ND filter?

The HDR mode on a phone just gives you a JPG. Part of the fun/appeal of HDR is the ability to manipulate the range of tones as you see fit from the garish to the photorealistic.

With a DSLR, an HDR mode would be just the same. Better would be taking a series of bracketed RAW images that are later blended in Photomatix, Lightroom 6/CC, or Photoshop. If you are interested in HDR, you will certainly buy Photomatix of the Nik HDR software to play around. If you really get into it, you will be drawn to digital blending in Photoshop as in the Jimmie McIntire website linked above but that is many skill levels above in-camera HDR.

quote bbrown6057: "red, how long of an exposure did you do on the 3rd shot? Did you use a ND filter?"

I don't recall specifically but we'll say 8-10 seconds for the foreground and maybe 1 second for the sky. I used a 6 stop ND filter for this.

Oops, just looked at the exif data, looks like it was a 21s exposure, but I do know I was using a 6 stop ND.

ok not to sound stupid here but how do you get exposure for sky and a dif exposure for the foreground while sitting on tripod? Do you take few of each before to know what settings you want before you actually take the ones you want?

quote bbrown6057: "ok not to sound stupid here but how do you get exposure for sky and a dif exposure for the foreground while sitting on tripod? Do you take few of each before to know what settings you want before you actually take the ones you want?"

With the 6 stop ND installed I spot meter the sky, let's say it's at 1s, then spot meter the foreground, let's say that was 10 s. Then compose shot, set timer for 10s, then I use a piece of black felt and hold it in front of the lens in such a manor as to block only the sky. Start the 10s exposure gently shake the black card so it does not leave a hard line in the photo, after 9s of exposing the foreground you remove the card entirely so the foreground got the full 10s and the sky only got 1s. Make sense.

yes makes perfect sense thanks. I bet that's tricky not to get the felt into the foreground part of it isn't it.

quote redoleary: "

quote bbrown6057: "ok not to sound stupid here but how do you get exposure for sky and a dif exposure for the foreground while sitting on tripod? Do you take few of each before to know what settings you want before you actually take the ones you want?"

With the 6 stop ND installed I spot meter the sky, let's say it's at 1s, then spot meter the foreground, let's say that was 10 s. Then compose shot, set timer for 10s, then I use a piece of black felt and hold it in front of the lens in such a manor as to block only the sky. Start the 10s exposure gently shake the black card so it does not leave a hard line in the photo, after 9s of exposing the foreground you remove the card entirely so the foreground got the full 10s and the sky only got 1s. Make sense."

Have you ever tried a graduated ND filter to make this process easier? I have one but it is only 3 stops and not enough to get the huge amount of range you have in your awesome images. Thanks for the description of your process.

Thanks, I've got a 2 or3 stop ND grad but rarely use it, Because like you said you still can't get the full dynamic range plus I enjoy playing with the black card technique.