In-camera HDR landscapes from AK & Marketplace

Last week I was at WDW with a friend, and though I brought both my DSLR and my NEX, I ended up shooting the entire 5 days with only the NEX5N. ; It was too hot, and since I was with a friend I didn't want to bog us down with big camera kits and tripods, so the NEX just worked out better as the light kit for moving around.

As usual, the sun can was brutally bright and the contrast incredibly harsh at times, so it was a great time to play with in-camera handheld HDR. (camera takes 3 frames in quick succession, aligns, and merges them in camera for a single HDR photo. ; HDR can be used in Auto, but I generally preferred to set the HDR level myself - the more mild landscapes that just needed a little shadow boost got HDR +1 or 2 (EV), while some of the more extreme direct-sun shots I cranked up to HDR +5 or 6 (EV).

'Normal' looking exposures or more extreme tone-mapped style can all be obtained out of the camera...some may prefer the more extreme look, others the more natural - I experimented a little with the more extreme but tend to like the more natural.









This required HDR cranked up to +5 to recover the deep shadows in the courtyard with the sun setting behind the building:


Here I wanted the deep orange sunset colors, but at the same time the foreground was nothing but silhouette when I metered the sky, so using HDR+3 let me bring some of the shadows back to life while maintaining the sunset rich colors:


But I also wanted to experiment a bit with more HDR, so I decided to see what happened when I cranked up to +5 or +6 (I can't remember if this was 5 or 6, but it was one of them)...it gives more of that 'tone mapped' look, where the foreground is much more vividly exposed and in detail:


It was fun shooting with this mode, and suits the lazy side of me, since it could be done handheld, like any other shot, one press of the shutter, and no post processing needed - and not slowing down my friend's trip by stopping every 10 feet to set up a shot!
--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

 

Justin these are great! ; I love the French Quarter courtyard shot. ; I want to go over there this fall and spend some time photographing the whole place. ; There are a ton of spots I think could be great. ; I am a huge fan of the sunset +3 vs +5 or 6. ; I love that the foreground is still shadowed but the details are all there. ;

 

Paul - Might be a temporary thing when you tried - I'm seeing them all, even when I refreshed my cookies. ; Site might have been down for a few minutes. ; I've been having lots of encounters with sites having cyberattacks the past few days, slowing or freezing them...same might have happened to my photo host site.

Thanks Jeff - I completely agree with you on the sunsets - I do like the more muted, natural looking one. ; I did want to 'experiment' with the more extreme HDR just to see how it handled it in-camera...it has that classic tone-mapped look and surprisingly didn't need any contrast tweaking, but in the end the first 'feels' more like how it looked to the eye for me.

 

Thanks guys. ; Admittedly this wasn't one of my more 'photocentric' Disney trips, but still tried to squeeze in some shots when I had the chance. ; I ended up taking about 450 shots the whole trip - obviously not all that much compared to when I go specifically for photography! ; But the little camera certainly let me take more than I would have with the DSLR this trip, and some of the 'trick' features let me even shoot low light, dark ride, etc all handheld and with basic kit lenses.

The in-camera HDR is so convenient for this type of situation, where you might not have the time to set up a tripod and take a bunch of bracketed shots, but still need to capture impossible dynamic range. ; Same goes for the in-camera noise reduction stacking mode, which let you get by with night scenics handheld at high ISO but without the noise penalty.

 

those are nice!
I use the hdr setting in my iphone all the time! You're right, it makes it easy. The only drawback is you cant have the flash on manually in hdr mode.

 

I wish the 1dx would have included the in-camera HDR. ; I love that feature on my G1x and use it (suprisingly) quite often.

 

Yep - I've been enjoying in-camera HDR for about 4 years now - really a great mode to have. ; Just as with stacking and panoramas, it's always going to yield optimal results if you have the time and inclination to take all the individual RAW shots, process, stack, merge, process more, etc. ; But what a PITA! ; It's nice to have the option for more instant gratification where it's no more difficult or time-consuming than any other single shot!

 

that you did, G, but i shot an event last night with my 1dx (debut voyage for the new body) and OMG were the results spectacular. ;

 

Sorry for the bump - not looking for any more comments - I just am trying to figure out why this post doesn't show up in my posting list. ; Maybe it was a fluke but it doesn't show up in 'new replies to your posts' or when I clicked on my name and searched all my post history. ; Maybe if I reply to it, it will add it back to the list.

EDIT: ; Yes, that has added it to the 'my posts' list now...both this reply comment, and the original thread. ; Weird - I have no idea why it didn't show up before! ; And in the 'new replies to your posts' it never showed up for Tim's comment on 9/30.

All is well now...just had to figure that out!!