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JUST AMAZING !!!

those are some of the most spectacular pictures i have ever seen. absolutly breath taking!

HDR seems to be something that people either love or hate. For those non-purists, hdr lovin’ people, check this out: Okinawa HDR photography group….or maybe it should be called “graphic arts group the way some people would view it.

HDR photography was a technique mostly developed for virtual lighting in 3d applications. One of the founders of the technique is Paul Debevec. His research and work can be seen at:
http://www.debevec.org/

Cameras by default shoot at one exposure leaving light areas either blown out or underprocessed. HDR by default mimics the changing human eye more closely by allowing for various exposure adjustments. Essentially, they are multiple photographs shot of the same scene at different exposures then blended together. The computer can then accurately dial up and down the intensities of various light sources within a scene and even “guess” what an object may look like beyond the initial exposures taken.

For the 3d graphics world, this has huge implications in allowing 3d lighting artists to have greater control over illuminating their scenes. General photographers have taken this method and applied it to their still photography since Photoshop first popularized it by adding HDR in their CS releases – but keep in mind that it has it’s original roots within 3d itself.

I have a few examples of HDR images being used to light 3d models and various backgrounds on my website. Please check out the following 3d renderings using HDR photography – and look at the bottom three rows for some examples of scenes lit using HDR panoramas.

A well shot HDR will give the user an impression of what a scene actually looks like to the naked human eye. The examples that are shown on this page are often exaggerations of lighting conditions that are possible with tone-mapping software. Some of the results I think are brilliant. To others, these images may seem like an abomination and gross over-exaggeration of what “reality” really is. But needless to say, I think of this as an art form.

Keep in mind that these are essentially photographs superimposed on top of one another. It takes a lot of skill to shoot these scenes as you have to be still (especially at lower exposures), be very wary of moving objects as to not introduce further blur, and also have an eye for composition as well. It takes a lot of patience and experimentation on the photographer’s part. HDRs by themselves (for the most part) serve very practical purposes in the 3d artist’s world and most do not look like “exaggerations,” although they do tend to produce more accurate lighting conditions as a whole if done properly.

LOL at all the snobby dips#!tz posting comments. Anyone who thinks their subjective opinion is canon is an ass by definition. Love ‘em, hate ‘em, its just an opinion and you aren’t the arbiter of all that is right and proper in this world. Perhaps the haters just lack imagination, or have never experienced “enhanced” modes of consciousness. Sometimes the world does look that this, and more.

REALLY BAD ;
One cann’t admire the photo’s for the simple reason that the site is working too slowly, sooo sloowlyy ….. At a snail’s peace !!

I think HDR is very rarely done right. There’s too many cartoonish-looking images out there that give HDR a bad name. Here is an example of what HDR images should look like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42823328@N08/

i swear, that’s picture is really really good.
love it.. :)

How on earth did they take those bird pics in HDR? And how did they take that moving boat in HDR?

Did they use a different process or are they fake?

HDR is a technique. How long does it take to work a “photograph” and get it tone mapped, etc. I realize it takes usually 3+ photographs and appears to work best with a tripod. I am interested in how long from start to finish the amount of time it takes to make one of these photographs.

Please check out this pic here…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/justbaba/4072091400/

Like all new techniques, people will go bananas over it for a while, some will rave, some will froth at the mouth. Right now it’s being completely overdone, used simply for its own sake instead of being needed or suitable. But once the dust has settled we will be the beneficiaries of another tool that, properly used when it’s needed or appropriate, will have its place and special uses and further expand our medium.

I remember, in my business (movies) when the “Steadicam” was invented. Suddenly camera work was going crazy, rushing headlong up and down stairs, along twisting corridors, getting on and off moving vehicles, and all manner of crazy self conscious showy gimmicks that, for most part, added nothing except “cleverness” to either narrative or photography. Now, a good few years on, we have a wonderfully useful tool that, used in proper context, has made many a remarkable shot possible and enriched the spectator’s experience without, in most cases, them even being aware that a remarkable piece of technology has made possible the previously unthinkable.

But right now HDR is being turned into a young fad that I think I can happily wait out ’till it matures a bit. On the other hand I am already starting to borrow some of the techniques and avenues it has opened up ….. and that, for me, is how it should be ….. never close a door ………