Good book on HDR?

[Moynihan]

Hello,

Looking for recommendations on a good HDR book.

I have just purchased Photomatix, and am using it with Lightroom.
My particular specs:
D200, remote release, tripod.
Continuous Slow Speed shooting
AEB

Interested in primarily (for HDR) landscape, new topographics, etc. Color & BW.

Prefer a more "natural" look rather than a CGI/cartoon look (not that that does not have a place also).

Have done a couple test shots, and so far, it is kind of like having a new camera of some kind  

Thanks for any thoughts in advance.

[Geoff Wittig]

Hello,

Looking for recommendations on a good HDR book.

I have just purchased Photomatix, and am using it with Lightroom.
My particular specs:
D200, remote release, tripod.
Continuous Slow Speed shooting
AEB

Interested in primarily (for HDR) landscape, new topographics, etc. Color & BW.

Prefer a more "natural" look rather than a CGI/cartoon look (not that that does not have a place also).

Have done a couple test shots, and so far, it is kind of like having a new camera of some kind  

Thanks for any thoughts in advance.

Michael Freeman's Mastering HDR Photography is probably the best basic guide to the technique and process of HDR. It's very approachable and pragmatic, and will get you up and running very quickly.
Christian Bloch's HDRI Handbook has a lot more detail on the principles and the nuts 'n bolts detail of software for HDR, such as the different high-bit file formats in existence. It's worth picking up if you become really interested in the subject, but probably a bit much for the casual user.

I use HDR all the time, and it's actually pretty easy to get a realistic looking rendering once you've learned how the software works. You may want to consider FDR Tools, which is a powerful but deceptively simple scripting editor with a graphical interface. It sometimes yields more realistic images than Photomatix, and it handles moving objects like clouds a bit more gracefully.

[Guillermo Luijk]

DR in landscapes is usually defined by the luminosity gap between the ground and the sky. It is easy to do a proper manual tone mapping of these clearly differentiated areas, and this makes IMO tone mapping programs such as Photomatix not only unnecesary but not recommended.

A good book about HDR for me would be that one which explained clearly:
- What DR is and what determines the DR captured by a digital camera
- What are the typical high DR situations the photographer will face
- How to maximize captured DR with a digital camera
- Some approach to manually tone map the high DR captured information

Not even a word about HDR software. So far, I find no HDR program provides results worth looking at (the closest I have found is the exposure blending done by TuFuse, and still manual tone mapping provides better results IMO).

BR

[Geoff Wittig]

DR in landscapes is usually defined by the luminosity gap between the ground and the sky. It is easy to do a proper manual tone mapping of these clearly differentiated areas, and this makes IMO tone mapping programs such as Photomatix not only unnecesary but not recommended.

A good book about HDR for me would be that one which explained clearly:
- What DR is and what determines the DR captured by a digital camera
- What are the typical high DR situations the photographer will face
- How to maximize captured DR with a digital camera
- Some approach to manually tone map the high DR captured information

Not even a word about HDR software. So far, I find no HDR program provides results worth looking at (the closest I have found is the exposure blending done by TuFuse, and still manual tone mapping provides better results IMO).

BR

Well, different strokes for different folks. Whatever works for you.
I started shooting slide film and using graduated neutral density filters, then moved to digital capture with manual masking and compositing of separate highlight & shadow exposures. This worked okay, but was often absurdly labor-intensive and not always predictable.
At least in my humble experience, a good HDR capture and tone-mapping workflow can produce really excellent images that are photographs, not illustrations. It permits you to get enough exposure to minimize shadow noise, without the otherwise unavoidable blown-out highlights. For some images like back-lit coastal rocks at sunrise, HDR capture and tone mapping is the only method I can imagine for getting detail in both the bright sky and the shadowed rocks.
There are lots of cartoonish over-processed Photomatix images out there; some folks really like the way they look. Dan Burkholder has a produced a whole book of Photomatix illustrations from post-Katrina New Orleans (The Color of Loss).  But you can also get some really good photographic prints using Photomatix with a bit more restraint. Play with it and see if you like it. HDR capture is now a standard part of my repertoire; for some scenes it works beautifully.

[Guillermo Luijk]

At least in my humble experience, a good HDR capture and tone-mapping workflow can produce really excellent images that are photographs, not illustrations. It permits you to get enough exposure to minimize shadow noise, without the otherwise unavoidable blown-out highlights. For some images like back-lit coastal rocks at sunrise, HDR capture and tone mapping is the only method I can imagine for getting detail in both the bright sky and the shadowed rocks.

I agree Geoff; in fact I intensively use the technique you describe. If you read carefully what I said, you will realize the only difference is that I prefer to do manual tone mapping.

This scene had 12EV of real DR and was captured with 2 shots 4EV apart. Manually tone mapped to get a reallistic appearance with negligible noise in the dark shadows, and non blown but clearly more luminous outdoor views.

[Hoang]

GLuijk, have you tried Picturenaut? I have been able to get good results using it and then further editing the resulting TIFF in photoshop.

[Philip Weber]

Hello,

Looking for recommendations on a good HDR book.

I have just purchased Photomatix, and am using it with Lightroom.
My particular specs:
D200, remote release, tripod.
Continuous Slow Speed shooting
AEB

Interested in primarily (for HDR) landscape, new topographics, etc. Color & BW.

Prefer a more "natural" look rather than a CGI/cartoon look (not that that does not have a place also).

Have done a couple test shots, and so far, it is kind of like having a new camera of some kind  

Thanks for any thoughts in advance.

Back to the OP question, I have and can recommend the following:

1) The HDRI Handbook by Christian Bloch
2) HDR Photography Made Easy by Tony Sweet (DVD)

Of the two, I'd go with Tony's DVD.

I hope this helps...
Phil

[JDBFreeheel]

How about the rockynook publication, Practical HDRI by Jack Howard?

I've seen it but do not own it.

-Josh

[Moynihan]

Thanks for your replies.

[JDClements]

Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography by Ferrell McCollough.

Before getting this book, I was like a fish flopping around on the deck. After reading it, I understood what was going on, and how to use the programs.  McCollough covers both ends of HDR -- from surrealistic to "natural" results.

He also looks at five specific programs and compares their strengths and weaknesses and the type of effects they give: Photomatix Pro, FDRTools Advanced, Dynamic Photo HDR, Artizen HDR, Photoshop.

An excellent book.