Here’s some steps I’ve used for generating some motion/video out of HDR stills. There are many different workflows and I’ll touch on some of them from an overview perspective now. The first one is the workflow I employed for an older clip shot at Eden Gardens State Park in North West Florida. For reference, this is the clip (overview to follow below it).

HDR Video – Eden Gardens 2008 from Michael James on Vimeo.

I shot it with a Nikon D3 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens.  It sat on top of a fluid head tripod I use for video work. I also had a shutter release cable attached to the D3. I set the camera to automatic bracketing and once I determined the mid point I switched from aperture priority to full manual so that each of the AEB sequences I was about to fire would be EXACTLY the same.  I determined I would not need to go a full 9aeb and set the D3 to fire off 7 shots with 1EV steps between.  I lowered the settings of the camera to shoot JPEG in a size that is larger than HD.

Also of critical importance is locking down white balance.  I chose Daylight here (an obvious choice), but will often dial in an exact Kelvin setting for other lighting situations (although Kelvin WB selection is generally not available in lower end DSLRs).

If I wanted to shoot RAW I would not have been able to have captured the entire tilt move in just over 60 seconds due to the buffer issues, but the lower JPEG setting meant I would never tap out the buffer and could shoot burst after burst easily.  Also, because the steps were only 1EV jumps between each of the 7aeb captures, I was comfortable only shooting JPEG.  I would NOT attempt shooting JPEG for anything larger than 1EV jumps between each shot for this type of approach.  Time was critical here to capture the entire tilt move in a short period of time.  (I shoot RAW for all my other typical HDR workflows, including HDR Timelapse)

The shutter release of the camera was set to continuous so that I could hold down the shutter release cable button with one hand to fire off a full 7 shots at 9fps while keeping my other hand on the tripod handle to make small incremental movements to tilt up after each 7aeb capture.  I do it this way to be quick enough to capture the entire tilt move seen in the video in a little over 60 seconds.

To repeat myself slightly now…, I have the camera ready to capture the brackets in continuous shutter release mode and then prepared for the first AEB capture by aiming the camera slightly below the horizon into the deep shadows.  I then fired off a burst by holding down the shutter release cable button and quickly moved the tripod a very small (unmeasured and done by eye) amount; slightly tilted up for the next capture.  Then again held the shutter release cable button to fire off another 7aeb and repeated this process until the tilt to the sky was complete.  This took all of about one minute to capture.

Back home I dump the images to a folder on the computer and then I launched photoshop to begin the merge to HDR process.  You don’t have to use photoshop as the program to merge to HDR, but back in 2008 when I put this together that was the process I used.  I had a few scripts that I had created that had photoshop merge to HDR and then use custom settings to tonemap out to 16 bit TIFFs.

I employ two alternative workflows these days.  One of which is where I merge to HDR in applications that batch merge and have them save .EXR files for each merge.  Those .EXR files are then imported into either Adobe After Effects or Eyeon Fusion and then I use open source plugins to do the tonemapping in those compositing programs as well as the ensuing optical flow.

But in 2008 those plugins did not exist yet and this process I’m still describing was the workflow I used for the Eden Gardens sequence.

What you see below in the screen shot (click to enlarge or right click and open in a new window) is one of those 7aeb sequences in the merge to HDR dialogue. I’m just showing you that to show you that the dynamic range of the scene was pretty large for an outdoor shot and the sky was blown out when you could see the leaves straight ahead and the leaves were pitch black when the sky was properly exposed.

Like I said, there are several programs out there that can automate the process of merging and tonemapping your brackets and I plan to cover how to use them in this capacity in some future posts and training, but the process I employed here was a home grown merge to HDR and tonemapping recipe I used for Photoshop CS3.  In the end I had 30+ Tiffs from that automated process to then use as the skeleton for an image sequence.  I then take those Tiffs to the next step for optical flow treatment.

Before I move to that next step, here is a larger view (click for larger image) of a single tonemapped frame, along with the 7 shots above the top of it showing you the dynamic range covered for that one image.

The next step I did then was to take the TIFFs into Apple Shake which treats the group of single images like a sequence.  I then used custom settings (see image below; click to enlarge) to expand the number of frames to be created BETWEEN each of the frames I was importing into it.  In other words, Apple Shake was now going to create the frames and guess at the pixel movement between the frames I shot in the garden.  There are other programs such as After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Fusion, etc that can accomplish the same thing with optical flow, but I used Shake in this instance.

I also recropped the image in Shake to match the ratio of HD footage and had it export the sequence as 1080p ProRes footage which I planned to send to Final Cut Pro to add audio and titles (see image below; click to enlarge).

Then I imported the 1080p footage into Final Cut Pro (see image below; click to enlarge) and added sound and some titles to export to various formats (including a web version which exists on Vimeo).

I’ll be speaking briefly about HDR and HDR Video at NAB via an invite from Mike Seymour of FXguide.com.  It falls under their time slot in the Post Pit at the NAB Show. If you plan on being at NAB, come say hi  :)

Tuesday April 13th, 4pm – 4:30pm.  Lots of topics going on at the Post Pit Mon-Wed linked here:
http://www.nabshow.com/2010/education/post_pit.asp

I’ll be in Vegas from Friday April 9th (land 5pm) and leaving Friday April 16th (afternoon flight).  A “Work-cation”.  I’ll be shooting far too much and often to consider it a vacation.  But this is what workaholic geeks do in their spare time!

I had the pleasure of speaking with Carl Olson of 16 x 9 Cinema who runs the Digital Convergence Podcast. He interviewed me about HDR photography, HDR Video and in the process I also explained a little about how I got started and a bit about my typical workflow.

The podcast where I discuss HDR – HDR Video is linked on his blog HERE.

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Show notes & his iTunes feed is on his blog and I’ll repost that and shownotes below as well:

AAC (iTunes) version here: Digital Convergence Episode 5

RSS Feed: Subscribe to the 16×9 Cinema Digital Convergence Podcast

Subscribe in iTunes here: 16×9 Cinema Digital Convergence Podcast

Links from the podcast:

My Website: Digital Coast Image

Michael James on Twitter: HDRphotography

Jay Burlage – HDR filmmaker (Michael James cites Jay as a leading source of information on the OpenMoco project and creator of gorgeous time-lapse cinema. Check out Jay’s video below.)

Jay Burlage on Twitter: MiLapse

Jay Burlage’s YouTube Channel: MiLapse

OpenMoco – Open-Source Photographic Motion-Control

Promote Control

LR/Enfuse – Enfuse for Lightroom

Red Epic / Scarlet

Dynamic range of a camera’s sensor varies per model. Some manufacturers are better than others. The chart below shows scientific, but real world results of testing a camera sensor’s dynamic range. The tests were done by DXOmark.

Bigger is better when it comes to Dynamic Range of a sensor. It means you can capture more shadow detail and more highlights in a single shot. If you shoot architecture or landscapes you already appreciate the challenge of capturing a high contrast scene that has a massive dynamic range.

For HDR captures, this is incredibly relevant because an HDR file is only as good/clean as the RAW data you feed into the merge.

You can see below that Fuji was WAY ahead of it’s time with the S3 & S5 (fuji’s S3/S5 results apply when using the extended dynamic range feature which is controlled by a camera setting). It is no wonder that so many wedding shooters swore by that camera for shooting beach weddings and other high contrast scenes. As of now only the D3x can better the dynamic range of a S3 or S5 in one single shot.

The relevance to High Dynamic Range Imaging is the following. Lets say you capture a bracketed sequence with only 3 shots. Which of those cameras above do you think will give you the best data to work with when merged to HDR? Remember, an HDR file is only as good/clean as the RAW data you feed into the merge. If each RAW shot you feed into a merge to HDR has by itself a large dynamic range, then you increase the quality of the HDR file.

This is why I groan when I see someone shooting with a Nikon D3x or Fuji S5 Pro say you only need to take X shots to get X results.  Each camera is completely different in terms of its ability to capture dynamic range so when you limit your bracket to only 3 shots, the dynamic range of your sensor becomes incredibly relevant. As you fill in the gaps and take more shots with tighter EV steps it fills in data gaps and provides cleaner RAW data for the entire range.

I first touched on the subject of dynamic range of camera sensors about six months ago and there is a little more insight in that post which is linked HERE.  Other articles surrounding dynamic range, auto bracketing and FPS capture are linked as follows:

Autobracketing for HDR – Camera Specs

Fastest DSLRs for HDR Capture (wide AEB range only)

When I see someone say their HDR files and tonemapped images have noise issues, my first question is? How many shots did you take and what EV step between?  Because I can tell you I have ZERO, NONE, NADDA, ZILCH, GOOSE EGG issues with noise in my files.

Why?  Because I bracket big and tight.  Sometimes I’ll bracket a scene with 13 images at .7EV between steps or even more shots with only .3EV steps between.  And yes, it takes a lot longer to merge to HDR, but it also means the averaging that occurs in software from darks to lights between the RAW data you feed it will result in BOTH cleaner data (less noise) and milder hue/saturation shifts (better color reproduction).

I get asked weekly how my images look so free of noise, natural and how I control saturation levels.  That last paragraph is HALF the battle folks.  It took me about 2000 HDRs to finally figure that out and even though I recently crossed 13,000 commercially delivered images tonemapped from HDRs, I’m still learning and tweaking.  I’m far from satisfied with my own results.  It is a constant challenge for myself even to fight “overcooking” images to the point that a client comments “it looks fake”.

It is critical that you understand my goal is to get to the point that someone can’t tell I’ve employed a High Dynamic Range Imaging workflow / pipeline. I’m not there yet.  If your goal is to create colorful and possibly more saturated images than I am gearing for then you might not want to bracket tighter like I do because when luminance ranges get stretched in software using only 3 shots from an AEB sequence it by default will create hue shifts and saturation issues that you might actually want for your images (particularly if you are going for artistic and/or grunge looks).

Even if you don’t shoot for HDR I hope the chart at least enlightens you to the abilities of those camera models.  I’ve purposely eliminated the medium format cameras that DXOmark has on their site.  If you go to their site and want to check these stats out yourself then look for the following tab on their site (image below). When you do, that data will populate the field on the right so you can see the various cameras and how they stack up.  The X axis shows time so you can see when each was released in comparison to others.

HDR tutorial requests about my high dynamic range imaging workflow have come in via email (my photography site email) for a couple of years now. Again a couple more last night, but this time through the form on this site that I finally “fixed”.

So my question is… what do you need help with the most? Use the Contact Me page to send me what area you need help in the most whether it be HDR Capture (camera settings), choosing a camera for HDR Capture, HDR Post Production like HDR in Photoshop or HDR in other apps, Tonemapping, or otherwise.

In 2006 when I first heard about HDR there was very scarce information online to work off of.  HDR Tutorials were geared towards grunge looks and I was seeking to provide my clients nearly photo realistic looks for real estate work. Back then there were very few players in the market for applications and I decided to just use Photoshop from Merge to HDR – to tonemapping – to final tweaks.

Late last year weather turned bad here for weeks so I took some time to peek around the net and even some books at Barnes and Noble just to see what was out there in terms of HDR Tutorials and HDR Training.  I was amazed to see so many “gurus” or folks posting tutorials either slamming Photoshop for HDR work or quickly moving folks on to Photomatix because the sliders are easier to work with for beginners.  The slider issue I understand totally, but the steering away from Photoshop for HDR work I don’t get at all.

For example, one of the many things I like about using Photoshop for HDR is it is a complete high dynamic range pipeline from raw to final output.  That and you can view the entire exposure range in pieces simply by opening up multiple windows of the same view.  You navigate to the top menu to WINDOW>ARRANGE>NEW WINDOW and presto, another window of the same file you are working on opens in a new window.  If you just merged to HDR here in 32 bit space in Photoshop, then this second window has another exposure slider at the bottom to change at will that has no impact on the file, it is simply for viewing purposes.  You use the slider at the bottom of that new window to adjust the exposure range of the image you want to view in that one window.

That slider  is NOT some kind of adjustment layer, it is just for viewing purposes.  So you can open multiple windows, place the exposure slider to various under/over exposed settings so that as you make changes to the document here in 32 bit space, those changes update in each window.  This way, you can make local or global changes using various adjustment levels over either parts of the image or the entire image and see the results across the ENTIRE exposure range via viewing the multiple windows you’ve opened.

Here is a screen capture to understand what I’m talking about.  What you see is nine windows opened and I’ve adjusted the exposure slider at the bottom of each window.  I took that screen capture after I had merged to HDR and before I made my tweaks in Photoshop in 32 bit space.  Once I finished my adjustments and then tonemapped out to a 16 bit TIFF, I made some final tweaks right there in photoshop and the image on the bottom was the result.

Photoshop is VERY capable at creating photo real images as a single application pipeline – from Merge to HDR to final output right in Photoshop.  I would say if Photoshop’s pipeline has a major fault it is that it is TOO GOOD at keeping saturation levels under control and makes creating grunge and technicolor images a more difficult process because it doesn’t over saturate colors and it doesn’t create wacky artifacts like other applications do.

It blows me away when I see “gurus” poo pooing photoshop as being lacking for editing HDR images.  There are so many things you can do right there after merging to HDR waaaaaaaay before you ever go to the menu to choose IMAGE>MODE>16 bit to tonemap it down.  And you can work in layers in 32 bit mode just as you can in any other mode so if you know photoshop well already, then why are you taking your HDR images to other applications, then bringing them back to photoshop when you could just do everything right there in Photoshop?

Give it a chance.

I can’t provide a link to an online tutorial showing how to take advantage of the full capabilities of Photoshop’s HDR workflow because I never found anyone else using it like I do.  I’m sure others use it this way and they are either too busy shooting to create tutorials (I can relate to that) or such tutorials do exist and I never found them.

Like I said, with nobody to turn to in 2006, I just starting farting around in Photoshop and eventually figured stuff out on my own.  Even Photoshop CS4 still has ZERO help files for working this way in 32 bit space, which is probably why so many folks use Photomatix Pro and the like.