HDR comparison shots, plus a cute green frog!

[joshman (Josh)]

here we go, i had the opportunity to snap this little fella over the weekend, and do a HDR on him as well, with the idea of comparing shots. i love the HDR render of him, it's so much clearer, sharper and more appealing. pity he was dirty

taken with my new 28-90mm(thanks ezystyles, an extremely sharp lens) lens on the 400D.

what thinks ye?

[NQLD_Newby]

Nice shot Josh, that HDR sure does a great job of bringing out extra detail.

[gary]

Hi Josh,

Great result.

I note you appeared to have combined three images but I was
wondering if you happened to have the camera inadvertantly
set to Tv (shutter priority mode) rather than Av (aperture priority)?

The reason I ask is that in the one unprocessed comparison image,
when you look toward the back of the frog, the depth of field falls off and
it is out of focus. However, on the final composite, some of those
areas appear to be in focus making me wonder whether they fell
into the depth of field of the other two shots? For example, see
circled area below of single image and compare with HDR composite.

There is no doubt the HDR combined with the tone mapping has done
a tremedous job of maximizing the information in the image, particularly
with regard the detail in the wrinkes of the skin. However, I am not
sure if it can be attributed for the sharpening of the focus beyond the
depth of field of the single example image. Interested to know what the
other two unprocessed images were like in that area toward the back
of the frog.

Once again, a really nice image.

Best Regards

Gary

[joshman (Josh)]

to be honest, i'm unsure of the camera's shooting mode when i took these, however it would most likely have been 'Program' mode., the unprocessed photo is out of a different run of photo's, and not one that made it into the HDR. i think if i had shot it in Av mode, the image would be clearer and sharper even still. something to remember for next time

thanks guys!

[gary]

Originally Posted by joshman

to be honest, i'm unsure of the camera's shooting mode when i took these, however it would most likely have been 'Program' mode., the unprocessed photo is out of a different run of photo's, and not one that made it into the HDR.

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the response.

The fact that the unprocessed comparison image was not one of the images used
in the HDR composite makes more sense now.

One of the salient differences between the two images is that there is more
depth of field on the HDR image compared to the other image, simply because
the aperture would have be stopped down further on the HDR images.
At least that is my best educated guess.

In other words, despite the utiliity of the HDR and tone-mapping processes,
unfortunately they would not have been responsible for making the image sharper
or clearer. They would have helped bring out the details in the wrinkles
whereas otherwise those wrinkles would have been only assigned a limited
tonal range.

i think if i had shot it in Av mode, the image would be clearer and sharper even still. something to remember for next time

To avoid the depth of field changing between each bracketed shot, Av mode is
a recommended choice. Step down the lens to the aperture that provides the
desired depth of field (the depth of field preview button is handy for checking
this).

So to reiterate, HDR and tone-mapping won't make the image "clearer or sharper",
that's the job of good old fashion focus and the depth of field controlled by
good old aperture. However, it can assist sometimes beautifully with helping
in scenes that have a large range of lighting intensities or with enhancing details
that would otherwise have been assigned a limited number of tonal values
on the output device (i.e. the computer monitor). In the case of the frog, the
later has been achieved with stunning results. Once again congratulations on
a great shot and I appreciated the clarification regards the comparison image
as it made me pause for a second.

Looking forward to more. Keep 'em coming!

Best Regards

Gary