Episode Summary 
Episode Summary
Matt Kloskowski gets more in-depth on showing you how to shoot HDR photography from Episode 02.
This video player requires Flash Player 10. If you are not able to watch the video, you may need to upgrade. Click here to install the latest version of Flash Player.
D-Town TV: Matt's HDR Bonus for Episode 02
Matt Kloskowski gets more in-depth on showing you how to shoot HDR photography from Episode 2
show sponsors 
[...] don’t forget to check out Matt’s video on how to merge your multiple images together to create an HDR photo using Photomatix Pro. Thanks [...]
Really nice guides!
Although I’d really like to see a higher amount of fps (frames per second) since it’s quite annoying when the mouse is jumping around on the screen and not floating around as it is in real life.
Tanks!
Quick one Matt – what version of Photomatix are you using and the plugin too? I just downloaded the latest versions (i had v3.x but wasn’t the latest) and I do _not_ get the same pop up dialog box that you get???? and also – I can’t get it for the life of me to save the TIFF and automatically have it back in LR2!?
Any flags needing to be set to see what you’re seeing?
Nice bonus video, but why is this not available for download as podcast ? Also for Moose’s video ?
Thanks
Jesper
Just found it – one has to choose File -> Plug-In Extras -> Export to Photomatix Pro
as opposed to right click Edit In -> Edit in Photomatix Pro
Wonder why there’s two methods and both different (he says scratching his head…)
Nice video on HDR Matt. Quick question, I have the D90 and on bracket I can only get 2-3 frames and not 5-9 why has nikon limited this for the D90.
Great video learned a lot on HDR.. Thanks
Great series guys, love it, but please make this and Moose’s video available as podcasts. I will watch these from time to time for refreshers! Oh and in two episodes, two great tips that I have already incorporated into my D300. The image scroll and zoom features were very good and would take me forever to find on my own. Thanks
Matt & Scott….Just great,
This show will be just like drugs. I will get hooked and always want more. This is just about the my only drug and of course my photoshop user magazine so I won’t worry…I won’t miss my weekly rendez-vous
Please, attach file of movie, the same as episode 2/1, thanks.
Around 04:30 into the movie, You say something like “Photomatix is known not to be a very good RAW converter”. Huh??? Can You tell something more about this point? On what is this based?
Great video.
@ dan – I’m curious about the same limitations on the D80/D90
Can somebody please help explaining this to me though. I have the D80 and it being limited to a max of 3 exposures in AB, wouldn’t that work for this method. You say you took 5 and only used 3 of them (-2, 0 , +2). What’s the benefit of doing the other 2 that don’t get used when you can set the offset to the -/+2?
Thanks, looking forward to more videos!
Agree with Jose Ramos and Jesper Skaerbaek Jensen all videos should be on the podcast. Otherwise it is quite pointless to subscribe for the D-Town podcast if we miss videos anyway.
Matt,
Quick question realted to Capture NX2 and Lightroom. Which one WHEN? Seems you do most of your work in LR, but saw you using it for black/white point adjustments in one of the videos. Can you elaborate on when you use them- I am a LR user, never used NX…
Thank you for this Matt! I’ve been doing HDR for around a year now and have learnt some valuable tips during the HDR process. Been having fun with HDR lately, been experimenting with HDR Panoramas and Time-Lapse videos. I was wondering, should I keep my focus on auto or manual I know with time-lapse I leave it on manual.
Hi! Scott/Matt
I enjoy D-Town very much. Will there be any tips on the lower price range dslr cameras? (90, 60)
also are you guys endorsing capture one? Thanks keep up the great work.
Thanks for the kind words everyone.
• Hendrik – Photomatix isn’t a very good raw converter and that comes straight from the folks at HDRSoft themselves. That’s why their own plug-in to Lightroom actually converts to TIFF first before going to Photomatix.
• Keenan – A lot of folks say to turn off manual focus and I’ve even recommended it once in a while in the past. Honestly though, I keep it on Auto Focus most of the time now. When I’m shooting HDR I’m usually focused at infinity anyway. I’m never shooting at f/2.8 (usually f/11 or f/16) so if the focus point does change a little, it’s not going to make a dramatic difference. Plus whatever I’m focused on isn’t moving so I really don’t have to worry about auto focus changing. It’s HDR so if it is moving throughout the 3 or 5 frames I take I’ve got bigger problems to worry about
• Joseph – The Capture NX tips are meant for those that got Capture NX bundled with their cameras (or purchased it) and use NX. If you’re a Lightroom user (which I am) then you’re probably ok to skip the Capture NX stuff. We’ve got lots of other training sources on Lightroom and Photoshop so we figured we’d stick with Capture NX for the Nikon show. Setting the white, black and gray points would be similar to setting the overall Exposure, Blacks and White Balance in Lightroom.
• General Bracketing comments – If you have a camera that only does 3 frames then check out the Bracketing Increment setting. Press the BKT button and rotate the sub-command dial to choose the exposure increment from values between 0.3EV and 2.0EV. You should be able to change it to 2EV increments which would get you -2 and +2 (which is what you really want).
• Ralph – We just did a D90 tip in the show that goes up next week.
Thanks folks!
- Matt K
Nice tips Matt.
BTW were you aware that when using bracketing the continuous release mode functions differently?
While normally continuous release keeps taking frames until you remove your finger from the shutter, when in bracketing the camera only takes the number of frames set for the bracketing then stops. This is very handy for HDR because anything you can do to reduce the time between frames can help reduce changes in the frame due to movement.
Woops well hush my mouth – trust me not to watch to the end of the vid until posting :0
Very informative video matt, thanks
Like the D-Town site
I can’t get the same dialog box you get-the one which allows you to select the export parameters and the option to stack with original
I get a dialog bbox which has me select the photos I want to export (same ones I’ve highlighted)
I’m running LR 2.3, Photomatix 3.1.3, and the plugin that came with Photomatix. Running Windows
Thanks in advance
I’ve been shooting HDR for a couple of years now and I love the effects. Always great to watch a video tutorial from another pro to pick up any other perspectives on the process that I fail to see.
I have always shot with 3 frames, +/-2EV. I noticed you shot 5 and ended up disregarding the +/-1EV frames, so I’m wondering why you even bother to do that in the first place?
Nothing in real life is 100% static, especially a landscape scene. Blowing leaves, grass, trees, water… movement in all these things can affect the final HDR image. On my D3, I set my command dial to Continuous High @ 11fps and just blast the 3 frames to reduce movement between frames.
With your 5 frame method, frames 1 and 2 will be tight together, but the difference between 2 and 5 may have more movement, which would affect your photo.
I’m just trying to get your understanding on that issue, since you didn’t cover it. I was hoping there was something I’m not seeing, since I do like to keep my file storage consumption to a minimum. If there’s no logical reason to take those 2 extra frames that overweight the movement differences between frames 2 and 5, then I will just continue to shoot 3 frames.
Hi!
And thanks a lot for your tips and tricks.
Could you provide stand-alone (downloadable) copy of your videos as it were with Premiere Episode? Or with any reason this is prohibited?
Thanks any way.
Ilya
These tips are wonderful. Now that I’ve created the new ‘zoom’ with the multi selector button set at “Medium” magnification—can you tell me if that is equal to 100%. If I’m checking for sharpness, I want to know what magnification I’m now looking at — right? Keep the shows coming and thanks for keeping them on line so I can catch up when I might be traveling.
Using bracketing could be great on the D300 if Nikon would enable bracketing in increments larger than +/-1. This is annoying because it wouldn’t cost Nikon anything. Just a freeware fix.
Of course, I can shoot nine frames and throw away four of them. But that reduces my framerate from six to three. This is not really state of the art for more than 30 years now. And framerate matters enormously with HDR because you don’t want too much motion between any two frames.
Wake up, Nikon, there is HDR outside of your labs. Enable +/-2 – bracketing on the D300 and on the D3 like you did for the D90 (and Canon did for all of their cameras).
Great job Scott & Matt! I have already changed the zoom function on both of my D-200’s (synchronized the times while I was at it too)… I look forward to future shows!
As usual, great job Matt. Crystal clear explanations. I know you boys use LR, but would really like to see more on NX2 or maybe reference other sites that explore NX2. Thanks. I look forward to more.
[...] Kloskowski zeigt in seinem Tutorial “Matt’s HDR Bonus for Episode 02” wie man den Weg des Imageprozessings optimal durchführt. Vielen Dank für diese Tipps – das [...]
Hey guys – nicely done! Please keep it up. And please count me in for another vote for more D90 tips. Thanks
thanks again. i have a question about battery grips, since you brought it up. i’ve seen battery grips for the 300 by companies like flashpoint for nearly $200 less than the nikon brand grips. would you recommend these as an alternative?
Your shows are great.
Thanks
This is my first exposure to HDR. Really great.
I tried something different and wonder what you think?
Imported a photo into LR then developed it twice +/_ 2 saving each to a file.
Now I used the three images in Photomatrix and was very happy with the result with no chance of movement between exposures.
Your shows are great. I just got a D300 & D90 and your tips really help. The HDR tips are great.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Your shows are great. I just got a D300 and D90 and the tips you gave really help. Love the HDR info also.
Keep up the great work. Thanks.
Great video – but why wasn’t the HDR bonus video in the feed? I would have liked to have watched it on my iPod instead of having to go back to my PC.
Can i just use a raw file and save 3 files tiff files from the same raw file. First having the 0 exposure, second with -2 exposure and third with +2 exposure?
heyho
Great Videos and greatings from austria!
Video stopped at around 9mins, I would love to see then end. Anyone else having this problem?
I got here looking for D90 reviews and tutorials. Great show!
I currently use a D40x. I want to upgrade to a D90. A friend of mine who has a D80 is adamantly against that. His opinion is that it is not a worthwhile upgrade. I don’t much care about the video capability of D90 but I like its support of lenses other than AF-S and the AE bracketing for HDR, which I haven’t tried but would like to.
May I ask for some pointers here? I don’t have the budget for a D700. Are there strong reasons for me to go D300 rather than D90?
Thanks and best regards.
Wow. I don’t know what to say. Matt, I totally respect your work, but you are way off base on Photomatix. It is a fantastic program if used correctly. However, the image you ended up with is totally ridiculous. You immediately went to “Details Enhancer” mode, which is the worst of the three options if you are looking for realism. “Tone Compressor” does much better, and doesn’t give you the prominent halos that I see all over your example image. Especially around that tree in the background. The tonal variation in that sky is completely unrealistic to any sort of real-world condition. For an even more realistic image, you can use the “Blend Exposures” option. I’ve found this to product the best images, even though it isn’t a true HDR process.
I would recommend trying all the options to get a feel for what they do, instead of just automatically going to “Details Enhancer”.
I would also recommend fixing a lot of tonal issues in Photomatix, if possible. While in Photomatix, before the final image is processed, you have the ability to pull information from all the blended images to create a proper exposure, instead of trying to pull this information out of a “flattened” image in LR or PS.
Finally, try using those -1 and +1 exposures. You should get better final results with more subtle variation in tones, although the processing will take longer.
Photomatix can produce excellent images, and not the cartoon you have created, if you learn to use it properly. Read the manual, it doesn’t take long.
Hello from KL, Malaysia …
Great videos, Love the HDR ttrl. … keep up the great work.
Thank you
Indra
Brian, he did cover the reason, but if you don’t use a Nikon then you might have missed it. Basically most of the Nikons do not allow you to use +/- 2 stops, they max out at 1. So the only way to get a +/- 2 stop is by using a 5 bracket setting – i.e. you’re not missing anything, you are just lucky that you can achieve that setting on your camera
I think it is nice that you have this program for Nikon user. It is a big help for people like myself.
Jr
Thank You
I’m pretty sure that to do this you will first need to strip the EXIF data from the file – you might need to google this for the best way to do it – plenty of free apps out there for same.
I’m using Aperture…I can adjust the exposure slider and have an over-exposed and under-exposed photo…what will be the difference of this to actually taking 3 separate pictures with different exposure?
never mind it worked on this page but not on the home page. great tutorial. But I have 1 question. I am not using light room and do not have the plug in version, so would it be beneficial to create tiffs from bridge and then open those in photomatix?