Last week I saw the topic on HDR. Personally I seldom take time to use tripod and shoot some shot for making an HDR. Besides I can't get it under control in Photoshop, so have to buy HDRsoft or something like that.
But very often I make a one-shot-HDR. Especially in Photoshop Lightroom 4 and shooting in RAW instead of jpg, you can get great results.
- increased the color temperature (white balance) from 4800 to 5800 Kelvin
- increased shadows +53, making dark areas lighter
- decreased whites -67, making overexposed areas darker
- increased clarity +42, to make all edges sharper I would like to see your examples of 1-shot-HDR's!
Just one other shot of mine:
@brumbe IMHO yes. Especially in a RAW-photo there is so much detail, the default interpreting of pixel values is not always what you want. You have to choose. In the compare-photo I started with, you can see that there is so much black and as you can imagine the sun part in the right half was overexposed, completely white. But when using the exposure sliders in LR it appears that there is even detailed information in the blacks and the whites. So, when I make this visible, I think I enlarged the dynamic range and can get (almost) the same effect as with HDR software and a number of shots. I have to say that this works the best with low ISO and it will raise more problems when you used let's say 2000ISO. You have an other opinion? Please share!
At the end of the day, it's the resulting image that counts and it's certainly possible to get an HDR-like effect using a single image. There's software available that will do it, and as @djepie has demonstrated quite well, the effect can also be simulated with some editing in Lightroom or Photoshop. Shooting in RAW really is a must as he said, since you need the maximum amount of data possible to be able to perform the necessary editing.
From a purely technical definition of HDR, however, a minimum of two and for better results, at least 3 images are needed. Here's why. By definition, HDR is a composite image that exceeds the maximum dynamic range the camera can capture in a single shot. Now, every camera model has a different dynamic range - and it's getting better all the time - but for the sake of this example assume you're using a high end DSLR with a dynamic range of 10 f-stops. That's really pushing the envelope - most are still in the 6 or 7 f-stop range, but assume 10. This means that, in a single image, your contrast range will be about 5 stops to either side of your mid point. When you bracket 3 shots using a 3 f/stop bracket and combine them using HDR, that same camera will then have 16 f-stops of contrast (on average) instead of 10. If you bracket 3 shots with 5 f/stops bracket, you end up with 20 f-stops of contrast. 7 f/stops bracket gives you 24-f/stops of contrast from that same 10 f/stop contrast camera. That's what gives you the "High Dynamic Range." It truly requires you to bracket so as to extend the maximum amount of contrast your camera can capture in a single shot. (This is also why Canon 5D M3 users aren't too happy that the HDR function built into the camera only brackets 3 f-stops. Great feature, but it limits the range!)
That's the technical answer for a true HDR image. As I said at the start, though, an HDR-like effect can be obtained from a single image, and that's really what matters.
@kannafoot so then it is HDR like and NOT actually HDR. So at the end of the day it is just an awesome editing job that is worthy of its own praise, but still not hdr.
@brumbe Yes, that's correct. Very common usage of the term "HDR", though, has also come to imply a certain effect, not just the technique used to achieve it. There are a number of tools available - Redynamix as a PSE plugin, for example - that are used to produce that effect with a single image even though it's not true HDR.
@kannafoot Thanks for your extensive and profound explanation! I think HDR commonly is done via multiple shots, because last years it has been the only way to get a higher dynamic range. But when you look what the terms means, I think a 1-shot-HDR still brings what wikipedia describes as HDR:
"High dynamic range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a set of methods used in imaging and photography, to allow a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging methods or photographic methods" I totally agree that the effect with more photos can bring a much higher dynamic range, that's obvious. But for me it's not worth a fight ;-)
Anyhow I am still interested to see other examples of 1-shot-HDR.
I will have to try doing this! I don't have the software for HDR.
Also my camera has some HDR program but I don't know if there is good free software out there.
I will try the 1 shot as you suggested to see what I can come up with! Great inspiration idea!
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http://gizmodo.com/5168454/how-to-create-stunningly-realistic-high-dynamic-range-photographs
From a purely technical definition of HDR, however, a minimum of two and for better results, at least 3 images are needed. Here's why. By definition, HDR is a composite image that exceeds the maximum dynamic range the camera can capture in a single shot. Now, every camera model has a different dynamic range - and it's getting better all the time - but for the sake of this example assume you're using a high end DSLR with a dynamic range of 10 f-stops. That's really pushing the envelope - most are still in the 6 or 7 f-stop range, but assume 10. This means that, in a single image, your contrast range will be about 5 stops to either side of your mid point. When you bracket 3 shots using a 3 f/stop bracket and combine them using HDR, that same camera will then have 16 f-stops of contrast (on average) instead of 10. If you bracket 3 shots with 5 f/stops bracket, you end up with 20 f-stops of contrast. 7 f/stops bracket gives you 24-f/stops of contrast from that same 10 f/stop contrast camera. That's what gives you the "High Dynamic Range." It truly requires you to bracket so as to extend the maximum amount of contrast your camera can capture in a single shot. (This is also why Canon 5D M3 users aren't too happy that the HDR function built into the camera only brackets 3 f-stops. Great feature, but it limits the range!)
That's the technical answer for a true HDR image. As I said at the start, though, an HDR-like effect can be obtained from a single image, and that's really what matters.
"High dynamic range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a set of methods used in imaging and photography, to allow a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging methods or photographic methods" I totally agree that the effect with more photos can bring a much higher dynamic range, that's obvious. But for me it's not worth a fight ;-)
Anyhow I am still interested to see other examples of 1-shot-HDR.
Also my camera has some HDR program but I don't know if there is good free software out there.
I will try the 1 shot as you suggested to see what I can come up with! Great inspiration idea!