Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: henrikfoto on March 29, 2014, 04:38:57 pm
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I just shot my first HDR panorama.
Now I have 500 exposures in raw from a Nikon D800e.
What is the best software for this?
Do I have to merge togeter each hdr-frame separately and then put all into the
stitching-software, or is there a software that than do this hole process easier?
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If you go to YouTube and search for Forrest Tanaka he has a video on the topic. You will do the HDR first then stitch.
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PTgui does the intreated exposure Fusion + stitching extremely well.
I always do raw conversion in another application first, either C1 Pro or DxO.
Cheers,
Bernard
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What is the best software for this?
Do I have to merge togeter each hdr-frame separately and then put all into the
stitching-software, or is there a software that than do this hole process easier?
Hi Henrik,
Your workflow probably is best served by using at least 2 (or 3) applications for the best quality. Besides the Raw conversion process, which allows a lot of control over demosaicing / Chromatic Aberration correction / Capture sharpening / White Balancing / etc., I'd suggest a good HDR tone-mapping application for each individual tile, and finishing off with a stitching application of the tone-mapped tiles.
I personally prefer Capture One Pro for Raw conversion, SNS-HDR for HDR tone-mapping, and PTGUI is a very good panorama stitching application. YMMV.
If post-processing time is a dominant factor, I'd give PTGUI (Pro) a try, since it allows handling of Raw file input, HDR fusion tone-mapping, and stitching, all in one package. With a bit of care, you can always go back and reprocess the input files, change the input script, and re-use the control points that you established earlier.
Cheers,
Bart
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Thanks to all of you!
I think I will give PTGUI pro a try first after putting the raw files through C1.
Does PTGUI really do the HDR and panorama-stiching automatically in the same process?
(so you just load in all the pictures as a large batch and the program knows the rest)?
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Does PTGUI really do the HDR and panorama-stiching automatically in the same process?
(so you just load in all the pictures as a large batch and the program knows the rest)?
Hi Henrik,
It can, although depending on the images, you can get better results by splitting the processing into Raw conversion/tone-mapping/stitching.
Cheers,
Bart
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Yu could also try just shooting at highest resolution jpeg and letting PTGUI do everything with one go...see if you notice a difference from shooting raw hdr to JPG hdr...
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I'd also recommend you take a look at Autopano Pro.
You can do the panorama stitching and HDR in one go; or you can stitch then do the HDR processing, either all within the app, or use a specialist HDR/exposure blending tool.
Experiment a bit, see what works best for your styles and subjects. I've been generally happy doing everything in Autopano Pro, but for some scenes I've done multiple single exposure stitches, then loaded the resulting outputs into ImageFuser for exposure blending.
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I'd also recommend you take a look at Autopano Pro.
You can do the panorama stitching and HDR in one go; or you can stitch then do the HDR processing, either all within the app, or use a specialist HDR/exposure blending
+1
Cheers,
Jay
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Hi Henrik,
Your workflow probably is best served by using at least 2 (or 3) applications for the best quality. Besides the Raw conversion process, which allows a lot of control over demosaicing / Chromatic Aberration correction / Capture sharpening / White Balancing / etc., I'd suggest a good HDR tone-mapping application for each individual tile, and finishing off with a stitching application of the tone-mapped tiles.
I personally prefer Capture One Pro for Raw conversion, SNS-HDR for HDR tone-mapping, and PTGUI is a very good panorama stitching application. YMMV.
If post-processing time is a dominant factor, I'd give PTGUI (Pro) a try, since it allows handling of Raw file input, HDR fusion tone-mapping, and stitching, all in one package. With a bit of care, you can always go back and reprocess the input files, change the input script, and re-use the control points that you established earlier.
Cheers,
Bart
Hi Bart!
Is SNS-HDR better for tonemapping than Photoshop?
Henrik
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I have pt gui pro, I find that its HDR is OK but lacks some of the subtle controls of other HDR specific apps.
Also it takes a LONG time to chew through files.
Much MUCH better to batch HDR in photomatix or something then throw the blended frames at PT gui.
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Hi Bart!
Is SNS-HDR better for tonemapping than Photoshop?
Hi Henrik,
Yes, it is better in those areas that matter (image quality). Photoshop currently has a better anti-ghosting control, but the author of SNS-HDR says he's working on an improved version in that respect (it's supposed to be a free upgrade for current users).
Cheers,
Bart