gmcnaughton ([info]gmcnaughton) wrote,
@ 2007-03-06 01:42:00
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Entry tags:hdr, photography

Photomatix
I broke down and bought Photomatix last night, because it was recommended so strongly by the Stuck In Customs HDR tutorial.

For comparison, here is the same shot I posted yesterday, only processed using Photomatix instead of QtPFSGui. The color and detail are good, and the weird otherworldliness is almost gone.


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[info]hansandersen
2007-03-06 06:40 pm UTC (link)
Whoah.

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[info]gmcnaughton
2007-03-06 06:46 pm UTC (link)
You should try this out with your Nikon!

It works best if you use a tripod (even a mini one), or set the camera down on something so it doesn't move between exposures.

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[info]stiill
2007-03-07 12:36 am UTC (link)
Awesome! I didn't know people were even doing HDR photography. Very cool concept.

Linked from my blog, which should send you one half of a user.

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[info]gmcnaughton
2007-03-07 09:14 am UTC (link)
Yay, I like trackbacks!

I won't keep uploading them to my front page, because I took Too Many pictures, but here's another. Every one I render makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside:

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[info]stiill
2007-03-07 10:35 am UTC (link)
Awesome. Could you post a couple original shots, as well? I'd like to get a feel for what's going on here....

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[info]gmcnaughton
2007-03-08 07:13 am UTC (link)
Good call -- check the latest post, I put up the "before" photos for this image.

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[info]jephly
2007-03-07 06:54 am UTC (link)
Very pretty.

So a better merging algorithm results in a significantly better looking image. That means these are non-trivial algorithms. Have you found any sites that talk about how these merges work? I'm curious...

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[info]gmcnaughton
2007-03-07 09:08 am UTC (link)
Thanks! Yeah, the tone mapping algorithm that converts the HDR back to a JPEG makes a world of difference. The PFStmo web page has links to various academic papers.

The naive ones take the brightest/darkest pixels and scale everything in between. This leads to low contrast, washed-out-looking images.

The good ones take small areas of the image and scale their luminosity independently. Since your fovea only sees a small area at any given time, and your eyes are constantly adjusting to compensate, your experience of a scene is stitched together from small, properly-exposed, high-contrast inputs. These algorithms simulate that... even though the overall image is false (the scene never looked like that), it simulates how things APPEARED when you were actually looking at them.

Stuck In Customs describes it along these lines: HDR is the answer to having to tell people looking at your vacation photos, "you really had to be there."

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[info]lightlinn
2007-03-07 04:03 pm UTC (link)
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hey, I DO feel like I was there. Thanks for the pretty.

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[info]gmcnaughton
2007-03-07 10:11 pm UTC (link)
Heheh, anytime! They're so much fun that you'll probably be sick of seeing them on your friends page soon. :)

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