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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
HDR and Strobes
Sam Morris, Photographer
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Henderson (Las Vegas) | NV | USA | Posted: 11:19 PM on 09.15.10 |
->> Does anyone have any experience using HDR and strobes? I have a food shoot tomorrow (don't worry, it's not editorial) and I want to pull out the shadows in the restaurant while only strobing the food. Fire the strobes in only one of the frames? In each frame? In each frame and bracket the strobe output as well?
Thanks for any info. |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 11:44 PM on 09.15.10 |
| ->> Since the shutter speed is what is changing while the aperture stays the same, it shouldn't matter if the strobe is firing at the same power with each exposure. |
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Sam Morris, Photographer
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Henderson (Las Vegas) | NV | USA | Posted: 12:24 AM on 09.16.10 |
->> Actually, the aperture would stay the same as I like to shoot food fairly wide open and use ambient to fill the shadows from the strobes. I would use the shutter speed to make the shadow areas in the background open up.
I have only used HDR a couple times just to experiment and have a vague understanding of it, so I think if I am popping the strobe on each exposure while dragging the shutter to open the shadows it should work. I was just fishing for any information because, well, someone out here in SS Land may have done it and save me some time and/or have some ideas. The editor I am working with on this threw HDR out as a suggestion to fix something I shot today, something that I would normally fix because I shoot their photos RAW and just try to pull it out in post. |
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Erik Markov, Photographer
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anywhere | IN | | Posted: 12:49 AM on 09.16.10 |
| ->> Don't know what hdr software you're using but with photomatix which I use there is also the option of doing exposure blending. There's no hdr effect to it, it simply blends the various frames together for a final image. Sometimes it works sometimes not. I've used the technique for some lightpainting I've done and it's worked pretty well, I tried it with an illustration I just did and it didn't work so well, I'm cutting and pasting in ps from various frames b/c it's easier for this specific one. The technique can be hit or miss, but it's a possibility to consider if your software had the option. |
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Jack Howard, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Central Jersey | NJ | USA | Posted: 7:33 AM on 09.16.10 |
->> Sam, if you've got time, check out the chapter on Flash and HDR in Ferrell's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Dynamic-Digital-Photography/dp/1600591...
He basically describes a multi-strobe output image utilizing only a single speedlite. It's a pretty cool technique and seems to be what you're looking for.
And you may want to also look at FDRTools' Creative Merger function, which I describe briefly in the middle chapters here:
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-HDRI-2nd-Dynamic-Photoshop/dp/1933952636/re...
Why this matters: This Creative merge operator allows you to minimize or override camera metadata information which is usually leaned heavily upon to determine overall 32-bit tonal range color and luminosity information in all programs--but if you are messing around with strobes, strobe output, shutter speed, etc, you may get very strange and unpleasing results when you attempt to merge your source frames to a single 32-bit HDR file in most merge operations in most other programs.
Good luck, and let me know if this helps! |
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Gray Quetti, Photographer
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Jacksonville | Fl | USA | Posted: 10:26 AM on 09.16.10 |
| ->> Here's another article on HDR and bracketing flash on the Photography for Real Estate website. http://photographyforrealestate.net/ Scrool about 3/4 down page for article. |
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John Korduner, Photographer
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Baton Rouge | LA | United States | Posted: 11:12 AM on 09.16.10 |
->> I've grown weary of hdr, but I couldnt live without exposure blending. I'd think the simplest solution is to do whatever is necessary for the food, then take a couple more pics for the background, then just use photomerge in ps...use a quickmask to conceal/reveal. It makes a huge difference for windows, but you may need a Gaussian blur layer to blend.
Another simple option if it's a large area is to take a primary pic. The with an off camera flash have someone directing it towards each area of interest that is underexposed....again, photomerge, and just mask/unmask your areas of interest. |
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