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General Category => Hackensack Discussion => Photography...........the way I see it (Moderated by BLeafe) => Topic started by: BLeafe on February 07, 2013, 01:23:10 AM

Title: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on February 07, 2013, 01:23:10 AM
I've been noticing HRD images lately, so I wanted to try it.

HDR is a range of methods to provide higher dynamic range from the imaging process. Non-HDR cameras take pictures at one exposure level with a limited contrast range. This results in the loss of detail in bright or dark areas of a picture, depending on whether the camera had a low or high exposure setting. HDR compensates for this loss of detail by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels and intelligently stitching them together to produce a picture that is representative in both dark and bright areas.

Many of the more interesting HDR images are computer renderings that make them appear more like paintings than photographs. I'm just taking my first baby steps with this, so I'll stick to having the images look like photographs.

I don't own an HDR camera, but I don't need to. All I have to do is take 3 pictures of something and download an HDR program that will essentially take an normal exposure and put a too-dark one and a too-bright one on top of it. You MUST use a tripod so that the framing is identical throughout.

For my first attempts, I shot a normal exposure and then underexposed one image by 2 stops and overexposed another by the same amount. A program sandwiched them and the results were pretty interesting.

First, I tried it out with on Kipps Bend. The first picture is the normal, unmanipulated exposure. You might think that a too-bright image and a too-dark image might cancel each other out, but they don't.

If you look at the big chimney in the lower right of the second image, there is now good detail on the side that's very dark in the first, but the high-rises on the horizon are darker and more detailed than the first image, while the water looks the same in both.

Another HDR image - done at night - was much more striking. The scene is a bit to the left of the daylight image (Harley's is in both), but SO much more is revealed in the HDR image.

I think I'm gonna have fun exploring HDR.

(click to enlarge)


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on February 15, 2013, 04:30:29 PM
So I've been experimenting with HDR to see what works and what doesn't. When something comes out interesting, I'll post it here.

I took this yesterday. As usual, click to enlarge:


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on February 15, 2013, 08:25:23 PM
Nice hues.  Where were you?
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on February 15, 2013, 09:28:38 PM
Home.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 02, 2013, 08:42:29 PM
Here are 3 more.

Usually, these are done with a minimum of 3 exposures for each image, but one exposure in each one didn't line up properly, so only 2 were used.

Considering that a third of the information was missing, they still come out kind of interesting.

(click to enlarge)

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 05, 2013, 09:00:17 PM
Kipp's Bend - a half-hour before sunrise today:


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on March 05, 2013, 09:21:07 PM
I really like these. So is it possible to do a panoramic HDR image?
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 05, 2013, 10:48:43 PM
Sure......and there's 3 times as many chances to screw it up.

If ONE image in one set of 3 exposures doesn't line up perfectly, you have to go with 2 exposures and that will produce an image in the stitch whose exposure will look different from the others, rendering the whole thing useless.

But it's a good challenge with 3 times the satisfaction if all goes right.



Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 10, 2013, 07:27:25 PM
After Friday's snow, there was a pretty colorful sunset. Normally, I'd post shots that would show an interesting sky and a very dark or black foreground. HDR brings out the foreground, which I wanted to show the snow.

Unfortunately, HDR exacerbates the blue cast cameras usually give snow. Fortunately, PhotoShop exists to fix that.

Because my roof was a slippery, slushy mess, I stayed inside, but held my roof door open with one foot while two legs of the tripod were in the snow and its other leg was in my apartment.

It probably looked funny, but it worked.

Click to enlarge.


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on March 10, 2013, 07:40:00 PM
The first one looks apocalyptic, - like a mushroom cloud in the distance. Paterson maybe. 
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 14, 2013, 11:20:23 PM
Despite the high wind on the roof this evening, I got the first 3-shot image, but it was just too brutal tonight. The tripod almost blew over and all 3 shots were blurry on my next attempt, so I took the second composite from indoors.


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 16, 2013, 08:38:29 PM
Today's High Dynamic flurries

I don't know why the arrows are orange - they use the same yellow paint for those as they do for the lines and numbers.


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 19, 2013, 08:07:39 PM
I was looking out of my window that faces the First Presbyterian Church's steeple while snow was falling last night. To the left of the steeple, I could see something glowing red, so I HDR'd it.

In the picture, the church roof at the bottom has orange snow and Passaic St's is yellow (don't eat the yellow snow).

I asked Rev. Steve what the red might be, but he wasn't sure. I took a look just now and it's a light of some sort on the front property, but I'd rather not go out and find out that it's some mundane thing when the mystery is much more interesting.


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - WHITE MANNA
Post by: BLeafe on March 23, 2013, 01:35:17 AM
Finally!


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on March 23, 2013, 02:15:16 AM
Looks like a classic painting. Why "finally"? How many attempts before this perfect shot?
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 23, 2013, 09:30:26 AM
Why "finally"? How many attempts...?

All of them!  :laugh:

I wanted a good night image of the building with the neon lights on, but when you expose so that the neon looks good, everything else is way too dark. By the time you adjust to make everything else visible, the neon is blown out.

HDR fixes that IF I shoot at dusk - otherwise, the black contrast of night makes the neon too bright. Dusk calms that contrast down, plus it lets you have a nicer background that shows the sky, trees, and the river.

This "photo" is actually 3 tripoded photos with shutter speeds of 0.3, 1.3, and 6.0 seconds (at f8) and taken from across the street, where I had to avoid any traces of headlights/taillights from moving cars from both directions on River St and coming off Passaic St onto River. Sometimes, there weren't 6 seconds (+ 2 more for the shake-avoiding self-timer) available in the traffic light cycle to do that, so it took a few light cycles to get the necessary 3 exposures for the one image...................and I did 5 different images, for a total of 15 exposures (actually more when a few car lights snuck in that I immediately deleted). This was the best group-of-3 image.

I found an online HDR program that I can just plug the 3 exposures into. It blends the 3 into one image and after that, a little iPhoto twiddling and, voila - a White Manna hamburger....................shot.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Homer Jones on March 23, 2013, 10:43:58 AM
A taste of Americana in Hackensack. The photo is like a painting you would have found in Look or Life Magazine 50 years ago.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 23, 2013, 01:23:55 PM
Thanks, Homer.

I did a couple of other HDRs in the neighborhood last night that I'll post soon.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Homer Jones on March 23, 2013, 03:16:07 PM
The fact that you can make out the faces inside the restaurant sort of reminds me of a Norman Rockwell composition.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on March 23, 2013, 06:31:53 PM
Or Edward Hopper, but Hopper is more subdued.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on March 27, 2013, 02:11:30 PM
I was looking out of my window that faces the First Presbyterian Church's steeple while snow was falling last night. To the left of the steeple, I could see something glowing red, so I HDR'd it.

I asked Rev. Steve what the red might be, but he wasn't sure. I took a look just now and it's a light of some sort on the front property, but I'd rather not go out and find out that it's some mundane thing when the mystery is much more interesting.

Mystery solved. Yep - mundane.

Original and source:


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - SECOND REFORMED CHURCH
Post by: BLeafe on March 30, 2013, 10:53:34 PM
My next-door neighbor, 2Ref (Second Reformed Church):

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - THE BERGEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Post by: BLeafe on April 03, 2013, 03:50:05 PM
.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Post by: BLeafe on April 10, 2013, 01:30:38 PM
It was much darker outside when I shot this.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - SUMMIT AVENUE
Post by: BLeafe on April 24, 2013, 01:30:21 PM
When I'm driving on Summit Ave, my eye is always drawn to the contrast of houses with hi-rises right behind them (my other eye is on the road, of course), so I took a walk there (and a bit of Prospect Ave) one recent evening to do some HDR shots of houses, hi-rises, the Jewish temple, the sky, and a section of railroad track I hadn't seen before.

The track shown is the Susquehanna line west of Summit and - while not much to look at as far as HDR is concerned - shows the split that branches off toward Lodi.

I didn't know where that track across Essex St came from................now I do.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
Post by: BLeafe on April 29, 2013, 03:01:06 PM
(actually, "Holy Trinity Church/School/Convent")


I could have picked a different night with a more interesting sky, so maybe I'll go back and do it again.

1. This is my favorite, though I think the building at 505 Main St behind the church came out more interesting.

2. This is a somewhat duller variation. The good news is that there are fewer wires in the picture. The bad news is that the angle puts a "Do Not Enter" sign near the main entrance.

3. The school is just not that HDR-able, but I think I see one of Editor's old drawings still hanging near a classroom window.

4. The convent is absolutely not an HDR candidate, but I did one anyway when I noticed that every bit of flora on the property had been removed/cut at ground level and shredded (see pile on the right between the convent and 50 Anderson).

I have no idea what that's about.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on April 29, 2013, 03:38:01 PM
Would you ever photoshop out the utility wires or is that cheating?

Very nice.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
Post by: BLeafe on April 29, 2013, 04:09:51 PM
I wouldn't consider it cheating. HDR itself could be considered cheating - especially with the photo-editing manipulation that goes into making the images more interesting.

I've used PhotoShop for certain aspects of some images, but to get all traces of the 8 wires out of the first image would be pretty painstaking, time-consuming work for me, considering all the non-solid backgrounds behind them.

It's a lot easier to just bitch about the fact that the wires are there and then mention that their presence is historically accurate for the time period (even if the colors aren't).

You buying any of this?

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on April 29, 2013, 04:35:23 PM
Lots of PhotoFudging going on here:

I used an HDR program to create this, but the 3 exposures aren't different............in fact, they're exactly the same, so there's no real increase in dynamic range. The only variable is that I took the 3 images 10 minutes apart.

The HDR program made 2 of the 3 moons BLACK with orange halos! I have no idea why, but I had to change that. It was important to get that 3rd moon in because that's the one that put moonshine (or a semi-reasonable facsimile of it) on the river.

There were other problems - some of them still pretty evident - so this was pretty much a failed experiment.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Homer Jones on April 29, 2013, 04:59:00 PM
The rear of 505 at sundown +/- 30 minutes  might give you some great results just looking at the one Holy Trinity
Photo above.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: BLeafe on May 04, 2013, 01:33:01 AM
The rear of 505 at sundown +/- 30 minutes  might give you some great results just looking at the one Holy Trinity Photo above.

Believe it or not, that was taken 7 minutes after sunset. The +2-stops exposure made everything look much brighter than it was.

Meanwhile, here's a typical Hackensack sky:

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - BENDIX & TICK TOCK DINERS
Post by: BLeafe on May 05, 2013, 03:00:00 PM
Click on the Bendix one to enlarge.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - PARK-ROOF-RIVER
Post by: BLeafe on May 19, 2013, 05:00:30 PM
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Title: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - My first HDR PHOTOSTITCH
Post by: BLeafe on May 23, 2013, 06:33:21 PM
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 360ยบ.

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.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Editor on May 23, 2013, 10:34:30 PM
Very trippy.  I like it.  The lens reflections don't bother me at all. The vibrant-colored lights are what make the HDR images interesting to look at, - like the diner shots you've taken.


Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - My first HDR PHOTOSTITCH
Post by: BLeafe on May 24, 2013, 09:08:11 PM
Did anyone notice the bad chop job that the stitching program did? Just to the right of the Funnel Cake stand, the Zeppole Calzone stand got halved. It's not instantly obvious because not much else in the vertical stitch line looks too bad - especially the trees.

As I mentioned previously, I had done a regular stitch (small version below) before I tried the HDR version. In it, you can see both stands as one complete unit and also that more people are clearer because there was only one exposure for each of the 10 component images instead of three.

A lot fewer lens reflections are evident, but without the 2-stops-over HDR exposure, the church and the trees are barely visible.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
Post by: BLeafe on May 24, 2013, 09:17:15 PM
As I was walking down Pangborn Place toward the Holy Trinity Church carnival two nights ago, I noticed how lit up the side of the church was from the carnival lights, so I did a couple of HDR's on it after I shot the carnival.

The moon was in and out of the clouds, so I had to capture that, but the more interesting thing I saw was the shadows of the ferris wheel on the church.

On the other HDR image, the 2-stops-over exposure was for 15 seconds. As soon as I hit the shutter, I saw the headlights of a car that had just turned onto Maple Ave from Main St. I was hoping that the car would move slowly and stay out of my frame and not reach Pangborn in those 15 seconds, but it did (the lights are not from the car parked in front of the church).

Under the "ONE WAY" sign, there's a bright, reflective "DO NOT ENTER" sign that I blacked out because it's probably not the best thing to show near a church's front door.

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - very cool!
Post by: Homer Jones on May 24, 2013, 09:55:57 PM
The word "surrealistic" defines the second Holy Trinity photo.
Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - THE ILLUMINATED GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE
Post by: BLeafe on May 28, 2013, 05:23:36 PM
Yesterday was Memorial Day. I've always wanted to get pictures - especially HDR pictures - of the George Washington Bridge when it was illuminated and the flag was flying.

Of course, they took the flag down early yesterday. There was a big stink a couple of years ago about the Port Authority doing that. I thought it was resolved that the flag would stay up at night on holidays, but apparently that's only on July 4, when I'm usually shooting the Hackensack fireworks.

It's just as well - HDR shots of the flag wouldn't come out well if wind was moving it.

The next problem: Fort Lee Historic Park - where I wanted to shoot from - closes at dusk. Fortunately, I was informed by a Palisade Interstate Park cop that it closes to CARS then............I could still go in on foot.

So I did.

I shot 14 sets of 3 images each, starting at dusk and ending with a black sky. The black sky HDRs turned out to be the worst ones............HDR made them come out very weird. I like weird, but those were bad weird.

Just like the HDR image I made of the Bergen County Courthouse, what is white becomes yellow. All the individual exposures I shot show white illumination, but the HDR program says otherwise. Maybe I need an HDR program that contains Pepsodent (there's an old TV commercial reference for you).

Actually, I like the yellow. I can't find any lit-GWB images online that are that color, so they're unique.............for now, anyway.

The first image below was taken at 8:23pm. It's a nice, mellow HDR look. The second and third pictures (8:42pm) are the same HDR image - just manipulated differently. The fourth image (8:51pm) is my favorite.

The great range of visual information that HDR provides is shown to full advantage in that image. Every apartment building, every tree near the NY tower base, and every distant lane-informing overhead sign is clearly visible. You wouldn't see any of that in a normal night photo (well, maybe the signs............but not as clearly).

I chopped off the upper part of the NY tower because - as you can see in the other shots - most of it wasn't illuminated. This let me get closer views of the bridge's sparkling "necklaces" and that stunning Hudson River surface, which seems to reflect more light than the original sources put out.

When I was shooting, there were maybe 4 or 5 other photographers there. By the time I was finished, no one else was there. And not a single light was left on anywhere in the park - not the parking lot, not the road, and not the paths. It was a VERY spooky walk back to Hudson Terrace, but a compacted metal tripod in my hand was a comforting companion.

Title: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - 29 LINDEN ST.
Post by: BLeafe on May 30, 2013, 04:37:16 PM
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Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - 29 LINDEN ST.
Post by: BLeafe on June 02, 2013, 10:55:13 PM
Tonight's was a little on the insane side:

Title: Re: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging - The new Anderson St Station
Post by: BLeafe on April 23, 2014, 04:25:47 PM
Before the station signs go up,  I decided to make some regular HDRs from multiple angles. I was interrupted by a train, but couldn't run to the front of it (halfway up to Clinton Place), set up, and take 3 shots before it left, so I got one shot of it and combined it with a station shot.

That looked bad, so I used an option called ghost reduction and it seemed to eliminate the station, but still left a weirdly-cool HDR image of the train that was ripe for some manipulation.

When the signs DO go up, I'll probably repeat the process so Ol' Homer knows where it is and stays oriented.   ;)