HDR & Fuji GFX 100s

[maddogmurph]

My question surrounds producing HDR images that look real.

What methods are people using for creating realistic HDR?

More backstory behind my use case follows:

When I'm in high dynamic range settings, if I shoot for the shadows, the highlights are blown, and if I shoot for the highlights, the shadows are nearly unrecoverable in the "natural" sense of how things look with the eyes. Therefore I need to either bracket and exposure blend, or use an in camera tool I have yet to discover (however I've always found in camera blends don't make things look "realistic" typically). The goal here is to have a scene with call it 16-18 stops of dynamic range (rather than the max 12.5-13 stop in camera) that our eye sees, so the shadows have detail but are still dark, and the highlights have detail but are still bright. I'm wondering what tools and methods, or instructional options people have utilized to create these types of HDR scenes that look completely natural (not the typical slide highlights down, shadows up in ACR method that for me makes things look unnatural and frankly awful). My workflow is probably going to be to stack the images, then utilize luminosity masking, however, I've found when I only have (2) exposures (one for light and one for shadows) the result can sometimes not blend particularly well. Any insight or discussion around tools, or methods others are using is appreciated.

[Ken Schuster]

Have you tried one or more (in opposition to each other) variable NDs?

[maddogmurph]

Have you tried one or more (in opposition to each other) variable NDs?

There's two main reasons I would never use a VND:

1. The artifacts, color shifts, & detail loss
2. Post production achieves the same results, especially if you're bracketing and blending, but most of the time, just by doing a "sky selection" in ACR - or using luminosity masks. This approach only hits the spots you want.

But this is really kind of off topic of true to life HDR blending. Typically I will double process a single exposure that's underexposed the highlights (so they aren't blown). Bring in the shadows and try to correct for shifts, and then come back with the dark exposure and recover all the highlights. But this method leaves a lot of problems with contrast, and after years of experience, isn't really producing the results I'd like.

[Rand47]

With the GFX 100, a typical 3 frame bracket (0, +2, -2 ) gives me all the information I could want for exposure blending in Photoshop.   

Rand

[mcbroomf]

I use Lightroom Classic to do all of my HDR blending and use it frequently.  I've never liked the over-processed look that was prevalent many, many years ago and it was difficult to get images looking right without a lot of fiddling.  Software has come along by miles now and to my mind you have to work pretty hard to make something look garish.  PS has the same algorithms in ACR.

[MichaelEzra]

SNS HDR is the best software for this purpose.

[BFD]

Are you looking for that HDR "look" or just want a big dynamic range. With the 100s, you should be able to hold all tones with a single exposure. I rarely even bracket any more—only on a commercial job so that I "look" professional.

[vjbelle]

Dana...

Very, very impressive work. 

Best to you and your work....

Victor B.

[vjbelle]

SNS HDR is the best software for this purpose.

Michael.... Thanks for the software link. Much better than past efforts. Been a long time since I have tried any software of this type. 

Victor B.

[Dave Gurtcheff]

Can someone supply a link to SNS HDR? I google searched and found a link and when I clicked on it my Malware protection warned me not to go there.
So many damn thieves/scammers  out there.
Thanks very much.
Dave in NJ

[Dave Gurtcheff]

I searched again and found the legit web site and down loaded the free version. If I need more features I will gladly purchase one of the upgrade versions. The original site I found looked so damn legitimate it fooled me. These scammers make sites look very real.
Thanks for the recommendation. I don't do much HDR anymore as the "HDR Look" is usually identifiable, but I would like to retry using my GFX 100S. When I used HDR several years ago I used my Sony A7RIV with IBIS and used a monopod and got away with it. Has anyone tried auto bracketing with the 100S and monopod? I am 86 and very rarely use my heavy tripod anymore.
Thanks again, and stay safe.
Dave in NJ