tallmanirl
Posts: 272
Location: Ireland
Registered: 5 Jun 2008
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Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 13:13 GMT
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When I shoot a pano on a bright day, to avoid a sky overexposure, I set the exposure to match the brightest part of the image which underexposes a lot of the other stuff.
The same happens when I shoot buildings lit up at night (often streetlights intrude in the original shot). I know I can edit for all this stuff in CS5, but is there any way I can avoid it in the images in the first place? I want to keep the sharpness of of the original images. I use the Canon 5D with 17-40 or 70-200 L Lenses.
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Tourdesign
Posts: 52
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 24 Aug 2011
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 13:32 GMT
updated: 20 Oct 2011 at 13:33 GMT
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HDR is how I avoid over/under exposure in the example scenarios you've mentioned. I have to admit, I now shoot HDR (at least 3 separate exposures) in most shoots, unless I am in a situation where the light is absolutely even throughout. Sometimes I do shoot single shots outdoors, and usually allow the area around the sun to be overexposed, rather than having the rest of the shot look too dark
You could also try pseudo HDR, taking one shot and manipulating it in your RAW converter etc. I believe someone on this very forum posted a great piece on how they process single RAW shots to bring out the shadow areas, from what I remember it was a band playing on a stage outdoors.
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Mark Iveson
Posts: 17
Location: Harrogate, United Kingdom
Registered: 13 Mar 2007
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 13:52 GMT
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I have had some success using the fill and recovery options in ACR but, as a newbie to this type of photography I have been meaning to investigate the HDR workflow.
Is it best to shoot 3 exposures of the first scene then move on to the 2nd or shoot a full row at one exposure, then shoot the same row at a different exposure. I'd be grateful of any advice regarding this or pointers to books or video tutorials on the subject.
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Marco W
Posts: 111
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Registered: 12 Feb 2010
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 14:11 GMT
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Shoot 3 exposures of the first scene, then move on to the next as clouds etc can move when it takes to long between shooting different exposures of the same scene. You can set automatic -2,0,+2Ev bracketing in the 5D.
Compared to HDR, I prefer to use Exposure Fusion and you can give "EnfuseGUI" a try, it's an easy little program and free (donateware). Exposure Fusion ruduces noise in the final result and has a more natural look (and is more easy to process) then HDR.
I always shoot my panoramas with at least 5 stop brackets, even when you don't need to do HDR or Fusion to get detailed shadow/highlights, it easy to pick the right exposure when your (cameras) metering is off a bit.
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Gary Davies
Posts: 70
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Registered: 1 May 2009
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 14:18 GMT
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As alignment is critical it is best to shoot all the exposures first before moving the camera to the next shot. The best way of doing this is with auto-bracketing if your camera has it.
Depending on the contrast of the scene you may even have to shoot 5, 7 or even 9 shots to cover all the bases, although +/- 2 stops will generally do it.
BTW, HDR will not work if things are moving.
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Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 14:41 GMT
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I shoot RAW, and use Photomatix by www.hdrsoft.com
I found the information in the Tips & Tricks section of their FAQ to very helpful.
www.hdrsoft.com/support/faq_photomatix.html#tips
Pseudo-HDR, where several exposures are produced from a single RAW image, works well for outdoor scenes with moving subjects. I can output up to five exposures from a single NEF file when using Capture NX2. Photomatix sees them as 1-1/2 EV steps.
Judy
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Mark Iveson
Posts: 17
Location: Harrogate, United Kingdom
Registered: 13 Mar 2007
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 20:42 GMT
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OK, I've now shot 6 different exposures of each image in 3 rows. What would the next step be? Would you combine the 6 different exposures to produce 1 image of each viewpoint before taking to PTGui Pro or would you jpeg the whole set of images and dump into PTGui and let that do the work?
Mark
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Marco W
Posts: 111
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Registered: 12 Feb 2010
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 20 Oct 2011 at 22:35 GMT
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Before, I processed all bracketed photos for every position first and then stitched them to a final panorama.
Lately, I make 6 panoramas (for every shutter speed 1) and then process those to a final image with EnfuseGUI or Photomatix Exposure Fusion as it is handier in my workflow. I take the group of images with most balanced shadows/highlights (same shutter speed) and make a stitching template for the others 5.
Shoot raw and process to 16bit Tiff's for best quality.
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tallmanirl
Posts: 272
Location: Ireland
Registered: 5 Jun 2008
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 21 Oct 2011 at 23:29 GMT
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Thanks guys!
I'll try all those!
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GrantR
Posts: 1
Location: New Zealand
Registered: 1 Nov 2011
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Re: Avoiding Over & Under Exposure
Posted: 1 Nov 2011 at 3:13 GMT
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Take a close look at SNS-HDR software too. There are 3 versions and you can download a demo. IMHO it gives very realistic results and offers the best of Exposure Fusion + HDR. Like anything a bit of a learning curve but well worth it. I'm very happy with results shooting indoor 360s which have multiple over bright highlights in window areas. I'm using the Pro version. Website here -
www.sns-hdr.com/
Cheers, Grant
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