Rapid HDR on Canon 5D2?

[spotmeter]

I am processing photos I took recently, and I am having problems with HDR. I am not taking the successive exposures rapidly enough to prevent movement in clouds or shadows.

My current process on my 5D2 is to take a test exposure so that I have space to the left of the histogram. In this way, I know I have information in all the shadow areas.
I use Live View so that I have no shutter bounce, and I use a remote, always on a tripod.
I have the camera set to manual.

Once I have the initial exposure, then I take successive exposures of 1 stop less each until I have information in all the highlights. I change the exposure by moving the speed dial.
This can often be 8 or 9 stops.

The problem is that this takes too long.
Does anyone have a process for more rapid HDR on the 5D2?

[BernardLanguillier]

The problem is that this takes too long.
Does anyone have a process for more rapid HDR on the 5D2?

You can probably work on this both at capture and in post:

Isn't there a bracketing function that can help automate this? Besides, do you really need 9 images 1 stop appart? I would think that 4 or 5 images 2 stop aparts should be enough.

Besides, do you really need HDR in the first place? The following image is from single exposures (shot with a D3x but some recent posters claim that the 5dII is even better DRwise so it should be similar), I was first considering it shooting it with HDR because of the significant contrast range, but realized that I would have ended up mapping all this information back to this level anyway.



Regarding post processing, I don't do much HDR, but don't software like Photomatics have a masking capability or multi-layer output that enables the manual correction of moving subjects? PTgui for sure does have this capability and could be one option if everything else fails. It is anyway far superior to anything else but Autopano Pro as far as aligned of the images goes.

Cheers,
Bernard

[markhout]

Sorry for replying beyond my actual knowledge - I shoot D300. Autobracketing is easy and simple 5 shots -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 within a second. Handheld is not a problem at all - Photomatix will take care of it. This one is handheld, and the visible movement is in the leaves (in the mid foreground), not in one of the bracketed images.

Mark

[Gordon Buck]

A general technique is to use auto bracketing, then dial in a negative exposure compensation and repeat the shots, dial in a positive exposure compensation and repeat.  This may give some duplicates (depending on the settings) but provides more shots with less touching the camera than auto bracket only.

[Fritzer]

A general technique is to use auto bracketing, then dial in a negative exposure compensation and repeat the shots, dial in a positive exposure compensation and repeat.  This may give some duplicates (depending on the settings) but provides more shots with less touching the camera than auto bracket only.

That's basically how one does it with the 5D2 ; Canon has restricted bracketing to 3 shots and 2 stops max in each direction.

To do a semi-automatic bracket of more shots, without overlap look here .

[Guillermo Luijk]

First I think using any HDR software like Photomatix, without the ability to mask areas of the scene so that they are taken from a unique source image, is not recommended in moving scenes.

Second shooting 1EV apart is crazy and unnecesary, and moreover you need to touch the Canon camera producing missalignment. You'd do better by setting the obsolete {-2,0,+2} bracketing, making sure the -2 shot is an ETTR shot with maximum exposure possible right before starting to clip the highlights. Then use a remote shutter and mirror lockup or better shoot in Live View mode which keeps the mirror up all time. For most real situations these 3 shots 2EV apart will be far enough to capture all the DR.

Regards.

[clawery]

Another idea is to push the file in post.  In Capture One Pro you could use one image and process it -2,-1,0, +1,+2 and then use Photomatix to blend them.  This isn't the perfect solution, but might be worth trying for objects or scenes that move.  If you are using a MFDB you would have the dynamic range to truly pull it off.

Chris Lawery
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[Luis Argerich]

To the OP: With all due respect to the other posters ignore everything and do exactly what GLujik says here:

First I think using any HDR software like Photomatix, without the ability to mask areas of the scene so that they are taken from a unique source image, is not recommended in moving scenes.

Second shooting 1EV apart is crazy and unnecesary, and moreover you need to touch the Canon camera producing missalignment. You'd do better by setting the obsolete {-2,0,+2} bracketing, making sure the -2 shot is an ETTR shot with maximum exposure possible right before starting to clip the highlights. Then use a remote shutter and mirror lockup or better shoot in Live View mode which keeps the mirror up all time. For most real situations these 3 shots 2EV apart will be far enough to capture all the DR.

Regards.

^ This is right

[stever]

I also agree with Gluijk, particularly on 2 stop spacing.  +/- 2 is usually enough outdoors except for sunrises and sunsets (and may be enough for practical purposes even then), and is just about never enough for indoor outdoor scences.

I really like the IR remote control with the 5D2.

The one book that i've found to be practically useful is Mastering HDR Photography by Michael Freeman.  His categories of HDR situations is extremely helpful and discussion of alternative programs is understandable.

[Tony Ventouris Photography]

A quick way I take HDR sets with the 5D2 is with live view.

Set the camera to the 2-second timer mode.  Set auto-bracketing at -2, 0, +2.  Switch on live view and compose, set exposure base.  Handhold very steadily and actuate shutter.  After the 2-second timer ends the three shots will fire off in succession automatically and without the mirror.  With fast exposure times this greatly reduces handheld error between the shots.

[Jumping]

A quick way I take HDR sets with the 5D2 is with live view.

Set the camera to the 2-second timer mode.  Set auto-bracketing at -2, 0, +2.  Switch on live view and compose, set exposure base.  Handhold very steadily and actuate shutter.  After the 2-second timer ends the three shots will fire off in succession automatically and without the mirror.  With fast exposure times this greatly reduces handheld error between the shots.

I'm wondering whether a new feature with the use of sRaw1 or sRaw2 would help.  Here is the idea:

Has anyone heard of Canon thinking of altering their sRaw1 and sRaw2 raw file creation to allow for HDR photography? The thought would be to be able to have the camera create 2 or 4 individual Raw files for sRaw1 and sRaw2 from the same image. Each of the raw files generated from the same image would utilize different pixels in the 2x2 matrix. You would still have the smaller number of pixels in each file (sRaw), but each file could be individually biased with a different ISO or exposure. So, with this in mind you could have two or four sRaw files created all at different exposure values. These could be used to create a HDR picture without the issues of different time capture that you have when you take the images separately. With leaves blowing in the wind I have always been disappointed with the multiple HDR images blending them together.

[Hoang]

Usually, I set up the camera for MLU and 1/2 stop increments instead of 1/3rd. Then, I use histogram to get a correct ETTR shot. Then, I rotate dial / exposure up 2 stops / 4 clicks. Then I enable the bracketing + shoot 3 shots with remote shutter cable. Then, I move the dial / exposure up 6 stops / 12 clicks and fire off three more shots. This gives a "0" (no clipping, ETTRed) shot, +2, +4, +6, +8, +10. I never understood the stupid -,0,+ style of bracketing for digital, you'd want the darkest shot to have no clipping of course, but I would consider that the base ETTR shot.