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Author Topic: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6  (Read 6408 times)

Rhossydd

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Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« on: April 23, 2015, 05:36:08 am »

In a word; Good.

Despite my surprise that it didn't build full 32bit HDR files, the choice of 16bit DNGs seems excellent now I've run a few HDR sets through the process.
The ability to work the merged file as a raw file in LR is excellent allowing a good range of options.
It seems to do a great job, with few artefacts and aligns handheld sets really well.

The Photomatrix eye burning crowd won't like it as it delivers really nice files that can be made to look very natural. I'm sure a few folk will manage to abuse the options to deliver some over saturated horrors, but for the rest of us that like the real world as it is, it's a great new feature.
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mcbroomf

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2015, 07:42:24 am »


The Photomatrix eye burning crowd won't like it as it delivers really nice files that can be made to look very natural. I'm sure a few folk will manage to abuse the options to deliver some over saturated horrors, but for the rest of us that like the real world as it is, it's a great new feature.

I for one will be very happy with this.  Although I've used PM pretty much since it's inception it was not always possible to get a natural looking image out of it (although it got better and better).  I probably have quite a few older Canon files that would be worth revisiting.  I'm not using it anywhere near as much these days though as I've switched to a Sony ...
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dreed

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2015, 07:47:33 am »

I for one will be very happy with this.  Although I've used PM pretty much since it's inception it was not always possible to get a natural looking image out of it (although it got better and better).  I probably have quite a few older Canon files that would be worth revisiting.  I'm not using it anywhere near as much these days though as I've switched to a Sony ...

Which Sony did you switch to?
Did you keep any lenses?
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mcbroomf

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2015, 08:15:15 am »

I used all 1ds series Canon's for years, also 5D and 5D2, then bought a Nex5N, was wow'd by the sensor and got the A7r when it came out to get back to FF and up to much higher MP for large printing.  Most of the lenses used on the Canon were adapted manual focus though; OM, Leica, Contax etc.  The only Canon I used regularly was the 17mm TSE, sometimes the 85/1.2L  I use all of these on my A7r together with the 24mm TSE II now.  I don't have any use for AF though.
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Cayman

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2015, 12:56:58 pm »

I do like the HDR ghost reduction and the ability to see what it is de-ghosting.   I did a test with a setting sun, waves in the ocean, and dark cliffs and it produced a good result.   However, the tone mapping was still not as realistic as just using the middle exposure from the D810 and doing auto toning in Lightroom 6 or Capture One.
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rdonson

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2015, 02:45:53 pm »

My initial assessment is "good" as well.  Ease of use is excellent. 

t certainly won't put a hurt on Photomatix or Nik HDR Efex Pro as they seem much more flexible.  I also think the selective deghosting on Photomatix is ahead of the curve.  I tried a few examples of some very challenging sets of images for deghosting and Photomatix came out ahead for me.

If you want to create a natural looking image from a series of shots, Lr6 HDR will likely please.

Just my $0.02
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Regards,
Ron

KarlGohl

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2015, 04:31:13 pm »

My first try was on a set of bracketed shots (taken about a tenth of a second apart) of my wife hiking below an oak tree.  Even with deghosting set to High, LR didn't detect the ghosting, so she is made up of pixels from both images (see attached - click it to view it larger).  The attached is a 551x714 crop out of a 6000x4000 image.  I didn't notice the deghost failure until I zoomed in on the image.  Perhaps some people would not have been bothered by it.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2015, 04:48:29 pm by KarlGohl »
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Alan Klein

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2015, 05:05:45 pm »

Karl:  I think you need to buy your wife new pants.  Hers are pretty craggy.  Also, the picture seems under-exposed to my eyes with not enough contrast.

jnmoore

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2015, 06:50:06 pm »

I do a fair amout of gigapan work and need to batch folders with triplet exposure into HDRs. I use PM and it works fine and saves me time; no I don't like grunge and use the same preset 95% of the time. There must be a way to batch a folder with Lightroom's new tool?
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Simon Garrett

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2015, 04:57:57 am »

My initial assessment is "good" as well.  Ease of use is excellent. 

t certainly won't put a hurt on Photomatix or Nik HDR Efex Pro as they seem much more flexible.  I also think the selective deghosting on Photomatix is ahead of the curve.  I tried a few examples of some very challenging sets of images for deghosting and Photomatix came out ahead for me.

If you want to create a natural looking image from a series of shots, Lr6 HDR will likely please.

Just my $0.02


I use HDR relatively little, as I find I can recover sufficient DR out of a single D800 raw very often.  As an occasional HDR user, ease of use is key for me.  LR6 HDR is certainly easy to use, but no one would accuse it of speed.  On a couple of quick tests comparing LR to Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 to Photoshop CC 2014 HDR:
  • On one, Nik was best, LR6 a distant second and Photoshop hopeless
  • On the other LR6 made a perfect job of it, neither Photoshop nor Nik handled highlights very well

My quick take: none of them a clear winner in all circumstances.

But that was a very quick test, barely worth $0.01.
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PeterAit

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2015, 08:39:36 am »

In a word; Good.

Despite my surprise that it didn't build full 32bit HDR files, the choice of 16bit DNGs seems excellent now I've run a few HDR sets through the process.
The ability to work the merged file as a raw file in LR is excellent allowing a good range of options.
It seems to do a great job, with few artefacts and aligns handheld sets really well.


My experience is pretty much the same - I am quite happy with the natural look of the merged images.
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rdonson

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2015, 11:44:32 am »

My quick take: none of them a clear winner in all circumstances.


Agreed.  That's why I use all 3 products for HDR.  It seems quite dependent on the scene and desired final outcome.
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Regards,
Ron

Hans Kruse

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #12 on: April 25, 2015, 09:41:27 am »

In a word; Good.

Despite my surprise that it didn't build full 32bit HDR files, the choice of 16bit DNGs seems excellent now I've run a few HDR sets through the process.
The ability to work the merged file as a raw file in LR is excellent allowing a good range of options.
It seems to do a great job, with few artefacts and aligns handheld sets really well.

The Photomatrix eye burning crowd won't like it as it delivers really nice files that can be made to look very natural. I'm sure a few folk will manage to abuse the options to deliver some over saturated horrors, but for the rest of us that like the real world as it is, it's a great new feature.

I agree. I have done some HDR during the last days and the look is very similar to editing a single RAW image which is really good. So far I'm impressed.

MBehrens

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2015, 11:45:41 pm »

HDR seems OK. I like the 10 stops of exposure, however the Highlights and Shadows sliders seem to max out very early. It would be nice to have some additional range on these sliders too.
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Schewe

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2015, 12:50:53 am »

It would be nice to have some additional range on these sliders too.

That's a likely update in the future...Eric Chan (not sure where he posted it–it may have been in an email that should prolly be under NDA :~( that for HDR, more range would be useful. So, I suspect after the dust settles for LR CC/6 and ACR 9, that there will be some traction for that.
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richardpeters

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2015, 04:07:16 am »

From my initial playing around with these HDR merged DNGs, Contrast seems particularly useful for modifying the tonal intensity/smoothness/breadth of a merged HDR (along with Exposure of course).

Contrast is not very often mentioned as an adjustment, but seems to work well and powerfully "on the input side" - in assigning the basic picture range.

Highlights and Shadows and Clarity etc can perhaps be thought of, as then tweaking things more presentationally, "on the output side" - doing in effect the same job, thus not requiring any added stops of "power", in the case of an HDR image than they do in the case of a standard one.

HDR seems OK. I like the 10 stops of exposure, however the Highlights and Shadows sliders seem to max out very early. It would be nice to have some additional range on these sliders too.
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dreed

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Re: Initial impressions of HDR in LR6
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2015, 09:40:30 am »

Whilst running a HDR merge in Windows, I tried to swap to another app to do something else (12 images takes a while.)
Lr keeps flashing itself to be on top. If I minimise the main screen, I get that ok, but then the secondary keeps flashing as Lr keeps wanting to put its screen on top of the app there! Felt like a bad 3D game experience! Getting out of that situation required forcing Lr to close/exit.

The ghosting seems very primitive.. as per the thread in ACR 9.0 where I was using that (which I suspect also is the foundation of HDR in Lr.)

However the main thing that we all use HDR for is colour and nearly all of the landscapes that I've used with Lr have come out somewhere between "very good" and "excellent" for colour. I've used Photomatix and others for brief periods before and never had the same quality of output in so little time as I have with Lr.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2015, 06:52:15 am by dreed »
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