Is it just me or is the LRc HDR functionality useless?

[merkk]

I pretty much never use LR's hdr merge function. I shoot a lot of bracketed images and it's just too clunky to work with lots of bracketed shots in LR. But occasionally I just have 1 or 2 sets of brackets. And once in a while I'll let LR take a crack at merging them. And everything time it does it seems completely useless to me. Because to my eyes, the merged image looks almost exactly the same as the middle bracketed shot. Maybe the highlights are just slightly turned down, or shadows turned up just a tiny bit. But it's such a small difference that it's useless. I always use a 3rd party HDR app.

Is the HDR functionality in LR just completely useless? Or am I doing something wrong?

[defaultc2fn59fz53i6]

ISO Bracket works because there is change in the recorded file, the raw file only contains that much data, I dont know why Tiff worked but no longer works, I really need to use the Tiff because beside Fujifilm's RAF being better in fuji's Silkypix, my other camera which is a sigma needs to use its own software as well and it only utputs tiff beside jpg too

[richardplondon]

Merging to HDR from bracketed non-Raw files, AFAICT a significantly greater span of exposure bracketing can be expected to be needed IMO (for a given scene, towards a similar end result).

While this HDR workflow doesn't only work with Raw, in particular the bracketing recommendations usually made will tend to presume Raw.

For non-Raw input, I remember some years ago getting nice results with Lr/Enfuse (even so requiring all the camera's autobracketing range, or even more with some subjects).

I agree with others that bracketing ISO gain alone, is much less likely to capture what you need from some more difficult scenes. It may be fine in other, less challenging cases - plus, one's expectations and requirements may change over time too.

[JohanElzenga]

It's not so much raw or RGB (though raw is better) it's all about exposure of the sensor. You create more dynamic range by merging images that were created by exposing the sensor differently. Changing the ISO does not change the exposure of the sensor. It changes the analog signal amplification after the exposure has taken place. That is why it does not increase the dynamic range of the merged image.

[defaultc2fn59fz53i6]

what about this? this is tiff, but exposed at different shutter at same iso, bracketing still doenst work, sigma shoots with x3f, which cannot be processed at all, what should i do?

[Per Berntsen]

Please explain what you mean by "doesn't work".

The HDR image has a wider dynamic range than the two tiffs.

It could do with some more editing, start by increasing Exposure a bit, then adjust Shadows and Highlights if needed. The sky may blow out when you increase Exposure, but can probably be recovered with the Highlights slider.

I would set Clarity to zero before doing this, it darkens the shadows. 

[defaultc2fn59fz53i6]

the merged one has didnt keep highlight detain nor shadow, and that clarity thing was the auto setting after merging

[Per Berntsen]

The histogram doesn't indicate clipped highlights in the merged image.

And you need to increase Shadows and/or Exposure to reveal the shadow detail.

I usually disable the Auto setting, because it introduces several edits I don't want.

You will get better results using raw files as source files for HDR, since they contain a lot more information than tiffs.

[richardplondon]

The merged image does not show clipped whites but does show clipped blacks: so more and nicer looking detail will be available in the shadow areas - given different adjustments.

I suggest: start with both Exposure and Contrast judging by the generality of the picture without paying too much attention to the extremes. Judicious reduction of Contrast as a starting point can allow Shadows and Highlights to be used at less than their full power, avoiding the (IMO sometimes overcooked) HDResque "look" that Shadows +100 / Highlights -100 can often lead to.

Whites and Blacks can then be tweaked in response to these adjustments, for the desired pictorial feel: often, this may reintroduce some of the pictorial tonal 'drama', that achieving a completely smooth tonality may incidentally lose.

IMO - working from the top of Basic panel downwards in sequence, can be a good strategy for exploring the full capabilities of the imported file. And largely, doing so from a blank-slate start as if this was a new Raw file, working towards an entirely fresh re-representation of the original scene data.

[JohanElzenga]

HDR bracketing by changing the ISO is indeed senseless, even for cameras that are not ISO invariant. That is not how HDR works. What the ISO setting does is change how much the analog signal is amplified before it is digitized. It effectively means that you exposed all images exactly the same, so merging them does not increase the dynamic range at all.

[defaultc2fn59fz53i6]

well for some reason the ISO bracket did work, the lower exposure one gave highlight detail, the higher exposure reduced the noise in shadow, and the merge worked before but not any more for some reason