HDR Merge help

[wintersdesign]

looking for some assistance creating a better result using hdr merge.

Shooting on canon eos m

iso 800

f/4

I've attached the exposures (1/15 through 1/2000). I'm a novice with this technique, so the result from hdr merge is heavily shadowed (attached as hdr). Wondering if someone could give some tips on what to do to achieve a better result? Thanks.

[JohanElzenga]

The first problem is that the outdoor area in even your darkest picture (hdr-6) is still way too bright. That is why you will never get a good result with this series. The second problem is that you apparently used 'Remove Ghosts' quite strongly, even though there should not be any ghosting because nothing is moving in the image. Remove ghosts created those ugly blotchy grainy areas.

[wintersdesign]

Thanks for that info! Removing the ghosting definitely helped. I attached a different result. To acheive an even better result, you are saying I need to go longer than 1/2000, correct? My question would be how can I acheive that, I attached the canon settings. Should I alter the shutter at the beginning of the excercise?

[JohanElzenga]

You should go faster than 1/2000. Or, if your camera can't do that, shoot with a smaller aperture. That would be better anyway. You shot this at f/4, meaning that you do not have a lot of depth of field. A scene like this would be much sharper overall if you shoot it at f/8. Use a sturdy tripod!

You should also start at a different base exposure. Your brightest images were much brighter than needed, and your darkest image wasn't dark enough to properly expose the outdoor scene. So start darker.

[wintersdesign]

update, is the darkest image still too bright? the second image is the merge...

[JohanElzenga]

Yes, the darkest image is still on the bright side. There is no detail in the sky and also the building with the white wall seems close to being over exposed. Look at how dark the image of WobertC is. It does seem that the weather was rather dull, however. That won't help creating a nice outdoor scene.

[Rob_Cullen]

For real estate HDR photos- Two frames will usually be sufficient-

1) Exposed for the outdoor scene (find this exposure by pointing camera out a window!)

2) Exposed for the indoor scene that has enough detail in the shadows.

You will find then that (with Development) the 32bit HDR DNG has all the tones needed for a suitable final image.

[Theresa J]

I agree with @WobertC. When capturing frames for HDR the first and last matter the most. The ones in the middle don't make much difference. For the longest exposure make sure to capture details in the darkest areas, and in the shortest exposure make sure all the highlight detail is captured.