![]() ![]() I personally think Aurora (paid, although older versions are sometimes given away with magazine subscriptions and such like) is the best HDR tool, but you can get some really good results in HDR Projects. If you have Lightroom that also has built-in HDR support. exe to the desktop and go from there (although IIRC it just saves the result in a "standard" location rather than offering a choice). ![]() Note the Nik tool is a Plugin but you can just (on Windows) drag a link to the HDR Efex 2. Another free option used to be HDR Efex 2 which is part of the Nik Tools which were Google and are now DXO, and were available as a free download when they were Google, so might still be around. (Registering if you haven't done it for a Franzis tool before is also an adventure, but the tools are good IMHO.) I do like their HDR tool and think it is well worth installing. I really like the Franzis Projects tools and some are quite excellent (their B+W converter is the best I know and Sharpen Projects is again excellent once you get away from its default attempt), so I always try to see if I can help people get over the initial learning curve. It's best to use a Tripod (or random bit of scenery to rest the camera on - a bean-bag can be great) to shoot the bracketed images, but if they are shot close together (many cameras have bracketing options that will shoot the images in a short burst, or even have in-camera HDR options where you can choose to keep the original images), ideally with stabilisation in-lens, in-body or both, then you can still get good results. Often three images at +/- 2 stops is fine, depends how much detail is very bright or very dark in the image. (where the centre of the group is the correct exposure). So for example three images at +/- 3 stops could be 1/60th, 1/500th, 1/4000th ![]() Some cameras built-in bracketing feature can change the ISO rather than the shutter speed to avoid a too-low shutter speed for one of the shots, which is okay if it's low, but high ISOs will cause issues due to the increased noise. Don't adjust the aperture as that will change what is in focus. To clarify shooting at +/- two stops means with a shutter speed 4x and 1/4x the correct exposure. One issue is making it look natural - although some people like more unnatural looks, that's for the photographer and audience to debate (personally I'm not a fan of overblown HDR effects except in rare subjects). It must map that range onto the 8 or 10 bits of brightness your monitor supports (or whatever your printer allows, etc.), but you still see a lot more Dynamic Range from the original scene. The HDR software then chooses to use the bright detail from the first image and the dark detail from another. However by taking 3 (say) 14 stop images each separated by 3 stops you get information for 20 stops of brightness (so for the Sunny Window in the dark room you have a shot showing what is outside, but that shot won't show what's inside, it will be mostly black but you have another shot with the interior detail and the window is white). You can have 20 stops of brightness in a scene, so whatever exposure you choose a lot of the detail won't appear (you should get everything on a dull day with 8 stops of brightness in the scene though). What the camera's exposure system allows is for you (or it) to choose what brightness level that range is arranged about. Cameras can only capture 12-14 stops (factors of 2) of brightness (outside that range you get white at the bright end and black at the dark). "High Dynamic Range" is referring to enabling you to see more of the brightness range in the original scene. I have a train to catch so this will be a quick update to my last comment on HDR Projects.
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