There I was facing a photographer’s nightmare. A great subject in late afternoon Sun causing deep shadows on one side and bright light on the other. A range of “stops” I knew my camera was never designed to capture. Then I remembered my previous work in High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and looked the nightmare in the face and took this set of photos.
HDR set of three photos taken at -2, 0, +2 exposure stops.
I faced the AT-AT right out of a Star Wars movie at Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ Star Tours attraction in Walt Disney World and knew I had gotten what I needed to defeat the extreme light conditions. My blaster being Photomatix by HDRSoft to merge the three photos together and produce the image I saw.
The AT-AT protecting the entrance to the Star Tours attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. Image produced by Photomatix from the three photos above.
Now, where did I put my Lightsaber?
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The HDR technique gives awesome images. If the input to it is good as yours here.
I have tried photoshops HDR, but I am not satisfied with the results.
What happens if there is wind and the moss on tree moves? (I presume it is Spanish moss)
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You should try Photomatix, Carsten. You can download a 30 day trial from HDRSoft’s website at http://www.hdrsoft.com/
If the trees move between the shots, the result will look like a long exposure photo with movement. I did try some HDR on a windy night later that week. It looked okay but I found the movement distracting for the subject I was photographing.
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I will try Photomatix. Thanks Scott.
The great challenge is to find suitable motives.
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Thats one heck of a shot.
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Thanks, iMac!
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Impressive result!!
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Thank you, Birgitte!
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Pew-Pew-Pew Pew-Pew “Red 6 to Gold Leader – cable away!”
Very nice demonstration of the technology. The blast patterns and tree shadow on the walker reveal just how much detail can be pulled in this method.
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Dave, that’s what really impressed me about HDR. How it pulls detail and texture from the images is frankly magical. Check out the ones I did on waterfalls last fall. Totally blew me away when I created them.
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HDR was the way to go for this image, it really adds interest. Without it it would look a little…. boring.
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Thanks, Michaela (I think!) 🙂
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Nice use of HDR!
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I believe I am getting the idea of WHEN to use it. Still need to work on the processing part.
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Wow, talk about saving an image. What a fantastic shot, Scott. I love the HDR you did on it. I just don’t seem to be able to get my HDR shots to spark.
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Dave, you really need a big contrast in light to make it work really well. The scene near the Air Canada Center you posted recently comes to mind. I think that would have made a good HDR photo.
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That’s impressive!
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Thanks, Terry!
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Photomatix is the most used by Pro HDR Photographer. Good HDR photo you have…..not overdone..maybe a bit halo there…
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Wow..what a great HDR photoblog you have. I’m still learning HDR processing and, by seeing sites like yours, I should get better. Thank you for your comment!
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Nicely done, Scott. I really need to play with HDR. I’ve never tried it and I’ve seen some really great results. Thanks for posting the Photomax site – I will give it a try!
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Very nice, I like the shot (framing) and HDR isn’t overdone which is great too. I am learning HDR too see mine here: http://martinsoler.wordpress.com/category/hdr/
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