When the Editor asked a while back if an HDR photostitch was possible, it sounded easy enough, so I said it was. Turns out it's doable, but - as I did it - it's limited and was a LOT of work.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized I wouldn't be able to shoot anything that involved clouds, the sky, the moon, etc. because a lot of long exposures are required for HDR and during that time, clouds move, the sky darkens, and nothing stops the moon. Steadiness and consistency are HDR staples.
I do like shooting carnivals at night, but haven't done a photostitch or HDR at one, so since Holy Trinity Church's carnival was this week, I decided to try both.
The wet week aside, Friday and Saturday nights are always jammed and since I need some maneuvering space aound my tripod, I went last night. The downside of that is that a photo of a carnival without big crowds isn't very exciting.
Bright lights are also a problem with HDR, but maybe they wouldn't be too bad (they were very bad).
I had to turn the camera sideways because of the amount of interesting verticality at close range. This meant I would have to take more photos. An average stitch for me is about 6 photos. This one was 10 (x3 HDR exposures for each photo) for a slide-to-slide 360º.
So how do I actually put all this together and make an HDR photostich? Having never done this before, I figured I'd make 3 stitches - one for each exposure - and then HDR the 3 together. Good in theory, bad in practice. HDR compresses everything and I wound up with something that was about 2" high.
The only other possibility was to HDR the 30 full-size files in groups of 3 and see if I could stitch the 10 results together. It worked.............but it doesn't look that great.
I expected 3 or 4 lens reflections from the bright lights, but not a hundred (plus other sky weirdness). I've only seen that happen when there are lots of tiny water drops on the lens. I had also done a regular 10-photo stitch before the HDR stitch attempt and while the problem showed up there slightly, this is horrible.
Of course, I have to realize that I'm doing this with a compact camera and unsophisticated free programs and stubbornly didn't bother to look for tutorials or advice online, so you get what you pay for. I'll learn from this and, hopefully, do better next time.
And, yes, I realize that some of the attendees had the nerve to bring their faces to the carnival, but everyone knew I was photographing (some tried to jump in and ham it up), I was out in the open in a bright area, my bright orange timer light was flashing furiously before each exposure, and the cop in the far right frame questioned and cleared me.
My advice? Make believe the lens reflections are balloons.
As usual, click to enlarge.