HDR Technique: ghosting at areas of high contrast

[VTEC_EATER]

Hey all,

Ive been trying HDR for some of my interior shots I do here for my office and Im having a bit of an issue when it comes to ghosting and "light sprawl" at high contrast areas, such as window edges.

I am attaching a couple examples here that I would like to get your input on and see if there is some way that I can correct for this, or shoot in such a way as to eliminate this. I find it very distracting and it makes my images have a bit of a "soft focus" feel that I'm just not going for. Here's what I'm talking about:

[Turo]

If the originals look better, you could always try to blend them back in to the HDR.

[VTEC_EATER]

Now, Ive corrected the second image with some cloning and healing brush to get rid of that, but the first image has all that drapery that cloning and healing brush just cant replace so easily.

In general, I'm kinda up in the air about using HDR for images with harsh contrast. In a situation where there's just a lot of shadows in a room, sure HDR works pretty well, but I don't know if I'm shooting these shots correctly to get all that great dynamic range that everyone talks about.

Any help would be appreciated.

[VTEC_EATER]

If the originals look better, you could always try to blend them back in to the HDR.

What do you mean exactly? Multiple layers, erase some here, blend in some there kind of work? Isn't HDR supposed to be another method of exposure blending?

[Turo]

What do you mean exactly? Multiple layers, erase some here, blend in some there kind of work? Isn't HDR supposed to be another method of exposure blending?

Pretty much, yea.

HDR is pretty much blending different exposures, but the algorithm doesn't always behave exactly 100% like we would like it to, so sometime I go back and blend one of the original shots with the HDR output (to fix certain anomalies). Not sure if it would work for you here, but you can try.

[TheObiJuan]

That would be my recommendation.
I would copy the HDR image into PS and then erase the ghosting parts at some level of opacity to blend it nicely.

[Prospero]

I think the problem is going to be hard to get rid of, because there is quite some detail around the window making blending with original exposures harder.

Was the glow also present in the images you blended? My guess is that the glow was also present in the brighter images. The glow you see here is not one that seems to be caused by tonemapping, because that glow would in be darker than the surrounding area.

IMO the best approach to getting rid of the haloing/glow would be to prevent it, for instance by shooting at times when the light outside is less bright.

Another thing you could try is covering the windows with white cloth on the outside of the room. This will make the light in the room much softer so that you won't need to use HDR. Also, it will make contrast around the edges of the window much less harsh.

[herc182]

Quite simply your photos dont cover the dynamic range of the scene.

doing it by the book you should spot meter the highlights then spot meter the darkest shadow, work out the difference in stops and ensure that the HDR photos you take cover this range. This may require more photos than your camera auto brackets.

[jcon]

VTEC, I think you are stressing yourself way more than you need to with this! The last thread with interior pictures was just fine. I just think youre doing overkill with HDR.

My suggestion... stick with what you did with the last set you posted.

[VTEC_EATER]

VTEC, I think you are stressing yourself way more than you need to with this!


Who? Me? Never... :)

The problem I am running in to is that I just do not have enough lighting. I have one SB800. Thats it. Large rooms just need more than one SB to properly light them. Right now I cant afford to buy another SB800 or 2 along with the stands and umbrellas, so I thought I would try the HDR technique.

My findings is that its just okay, but I much prefer a single shot to edit. I just can not seem to get the proper dynamic range I need with HDR. There are times where my highlights need 1/2000 shutter speeds, and the shadows need 2-3 seconds. That's a massive amount of dynamic range to get through and I'm just not willing to blend 10 different shots together, hoping that they all align just right.

Plus with this ghosting/veiling/light sprawl stuff I get at the windows in my long exposure shots, I just can't spend the time in post cloning that out.

I believe my best bet is to just get more lights and umbrellas on the cheap and go from there. I should take a look at the strobist pages and see just what might work best for me.