RAW vs. TIFF in HDR

Should we load RAW files directly into HDR software: Photomatix Pro, HDR Expose 2 or HDR Efex Pro 2 for creating HDR image or should we convert the RAW files into TIFF files before input into the software.  The argument for RAW is that the software gets the most original complete information to start with thus should give us a HDR image that contains the most information.  However, that may be too much of a good thing.

For us who use Capture NX2 to open our RAW file, we do not even see how the real original RAW file looks like.  Nikon has various default setting in the program and what we have set up (Picture Control, D-Lighting, Auto Distortion, Auto Lateral Color Aberration, etc.) in the camera is also directly brought into the program.  The RAW file open in Adobe's ACR then gives more of the realistic look of the RAW file.

The following HDR images were created from five shots of five different exposures: +2, +1, 0, -1, -2 taken with my D700 and 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 ED VR lens at Mosaic Canyon of Death Valley.

 This image was created from RAW files using HDR Efex Pro 2 as plug-in of Photoshop with the "Dark" default setting.  It looks pretty good until I look closely.

 I can see the lateral color fringes in the cloud but most noticeably between the rock and the sky.  I do not see them normally when I open the RAW file in Capture NX2, because they are corrected by the default setting.

I then converted the RAW files into TIFF using Capture NX2.  The white balance was as shoot (automatic), Picture Control was as shoot (Neutral), Auto Distortion on and Auto Lateral Color Aberration on.  They were imported into HDR Efex Pro 2 and the HDR image was created using the "Dark" default setting.  I can see this image is a bit more contrasty and also warmer than the previously one from RAW files, most likely due to the Picture Control setting.

The most notable change is the red and blue lateral color fringes between the rock and the sky now disappeared, although I can still see the left over shadow.  Those in the cloud still can be seen that is not too much of a problem.  HDR Efex Pro 2 does have a Chromatic Aberration correction function at the HDR merging step, but the automatic built-in function in Capture NX2 certainly works easier.

May be I should use a better lens next time such as 24-70mm f/2.8 that may give me less chromatic aberration.

Nikon V1,10mm 2.8, HDR Efex Pro 2: 緣麵屋enishi

This is the only Taiwan outlet of the famous Japanese Noodle shop, 緣麵屋 (Enishi).  We went once a month during the past several months.  The usual wait is one hour.  The people on the left were having the noodle in front of the kitchen, the people on the right were waiting patiently.

Here is the kitchen, we can see how the noodles are made.

It is not me who was eating the noodle, but I got the seat next to him after one hour wait.

Not only the noodle is cooked right in front of us, but each piece of meat is fired before it is served.

This is what we came for 沾麵.  The soup is hot but the noodle was rinsed in cold water to keep it "Al Dente" or in Taiwanese "Q".  We dip the noodle in the soup before we eat it, very nice indeed.

HDR Expose 2 vs. HDR Efex Pro 2

 I have detailed before in one of my blog (http://graceandbradley.blogspot.tw/2012/07/her-for-interior.html), how I generated the above image using HDR Expose 2 from five images: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, and white balance the resulting HDR image in Photoshop using one more image lighted by a flash.  HDR Expose 2 has a different way of generating HDR image, which is quite good and interesting.  Although I have further adjusted the image in Capture NX2, it seems the resulting image still lack a little "punch" that we normally see in HDR image.  In a way, it is very good and looks like a normal photograph!

I did the whole thing again now using HDR Efex Pro in Photoshop CS6.  I also did the white balance for the interior as described before using an image lighted by flash.  This time I have been able to generate an image with more "Punch", more detail contrast, better reflection from the floor, etc.

Photomatix Pro vs. HDR Efex Pro 2: Zabriskie Point, Death Valley

 I have often troubled by, although the histogram show that I have all the information in the RAW file, how can I actually get the image I want without extensive adjustment using Photoshop or Capture NX2, which sometimes is beyond my ability.  The above image was taken at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley in the early morning last January.  The image was under-exposed one stop and the histogram looked perfect.

This is a HDR image generated by Photomatix Pro from three images: -3, -2, -1 stop exposure.  Now, it is quite nice.  Since "-1" image already contains all the information, why do I have to use HDR to get the image as I want.

This image is generated using one single "-1" RAW file by HDR Efex Pro2, used as plug-in in Photoshop CS6.  Almost as good as the HDR image from Photomatix Pro.

HDR Efex Pro2 allows me to play with all the HDR adjustments (Tone Mapping, etc.) for just one RAW file.  The result is quite good, as long as the original RAW file already contains all the information, no clipped high-lights or shadows.

Nikon V1 with FT1 Adapter and 80-400mm, 105mm Micro Lens

Nikon V1 with a 400mm lens makes a combination equivalent of 1080mm.  The image size is about 10.1 MP.  At 300 dpi, it can make a print of 13x18.6 inches.  In Taiwan, the largest size print that I can get from commercial Fuji Frontier printer is only 8x12 inches.  Thus, the image size is more than enough if I do not do any cropping.  The caveat is Nikon 80-400mm VR lens is not a G lens thus can only be used as manual focus lens on V1.  The ISO was set at ASA100 in order to get best image quality.  The combination of camera and lens is quite light weight, but since I need to manual focus, I set them up on my Gitzo GT2541 tripod with G2272M fluid head.  Most shots were done at 400mm (1080mm) thus the VR function of the lens must be shut off.  The focusing aid in the eye piece was quite useful.  When using FT1 on V1, only the center focusing point is working.  That was not too much of a problem.

After toyed around the 80-400mm for a while, I changed to 105mm Micro lens.  This combination is equivalent to 283mm.  The 105mm Micro lens is a G lens, thus auto focusing was working on V1.  Compare to 80-400mm, the 105mm V1 set up is so light weight and easy to use, I shot quite a few images off-hand.  The following images were all shot with 105mm lens except the last one.

When I was ready to pack the camera, I saw what most photographers would hope to see in the nature, something to add interest to the image.  In the distance, a tiny frog was sitting by a water lilly.  Thus I took out and set up the whole thing with the 80-400mm lens again and got the following image.  It is worth the trouble.

The image quality was incredible for these pictures, as good as if not better than my D700.  When I took out my older images that were taken with D700 at the same location.  The size of the images actually was much smaller than the ones from V1, because I had to do a lot of cropping.  Using the 80-400mm and 105mm on V1 given me such a long reach, I hardly need to do any cropping of the pictures.  All of them are around 8x12 inches at 300 dpi.

One famous photographer once said, to make an appealing photographs, we have to think like a bug, getting close and into the scenery.  The long reach of the V1 with 80-400mm and 105mm gave me just that.  Although I was on the solid ground by the pond, looking through the eyepiece, it gave me the feeling that I was a little bug flying in between the flowers,  Although, I would not get too close to the frog!

The take home massage from this exercise is that V1 is capable of delivering very high quality image.  I have all the V1 lenses, they can give images as good as smart phone, which is quite useful.  However, in order to really realize V1's potential, we have to use the lowest ISO possible and FT1 adapter with the much better FX or DX format lenses.

Today's Sunset

Stormy Night

Early in the evening, a thunderstorm was raging behind 觀音山, probably somewhere around 桃園.  It put up an amazing show of lightening as seen from our balcony.

College Friends at Danshui Home

The Construction Site at 建國南路

HDR for Interior

In one of the webinar of Unified Color, the maker of HDR Expose 2,

Part 1: http://youtu.be/mdRogMSf4Tk
Part 2: http://youtu.be/bKVIsztmmcQ

the photographer, Michael James, lets out a little secret of how to balance the indoor white balance with the out door white balance in Photoshop.  I followed his suggestion and did an exercise myself.

Five bracket shots, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2  EV apart were shot with D700, all the tungsten colored lights inside the living room were turned on.  An additional image was shot using SB-910 flash mounted on the camera with the head pointed toward the ceiling.  The RAW files from the five bracket shots were directly imported into the HDR Expose 2 and a HDR image was created using the Optimal preset and saved as TIF file.  The RAW file of the flash photograph was brought to Capture NX2 to create a TIF file.  The two TIF files were then opened simultaneously in Photoshop CS4.

The flash image was "Select All", "Copy", "Paste" onto the HDR image as first layer with the HDR image as the base layer.  Both layers were then aligned together using "Auto-Align Layers...".  The first layer of flash image was then selected, the blend tap was change from "normal" to "color", a perfect white balanced image appeared, for both the indoor theme and the outdoor theme.  The layers were flattened (Flatten Image) and saved as a new TIF file.

The new file was further adjusted for color saturation, contrast and sharpness in Capture NX2.  Finally, the image was brought into PTLens for automatic lens distortion correction and slight rotation and prospective adjustment.  The final image was cropped by Capture NX2.

The outdoor theme may seems to have a little green tint, that is actually the color of the tinted glass on the patio.  The color of the sky and mountain above the tinted glass still has a good white balance.

Photomatix Pro vs. HDR Expose 2

When creating HDR image, I always struggled between creating an image that has a more dramatic look or creating an image that is as realistic as possible.  Photomatic Pro has been the one that I used for the last two years.  HDR Expose 2 is the one I just downloaded.  I like both programs because they allow me to import RAW image directly into the program to create the HDR image without going through the RAW converting program.

The following HDR images are created from 5 bracket shots, 1 EV apart between each shot.  They were photographed at Colmar, France.

 This one is tonemapped in Photomatix Pro.

 This one is fused in Photomatix Pro.

This one is created with HDR Expose 2 then adjusted with Capture NX2.

The two programs work quite differently.  In Photomatix Pro, I have to try hard in order to create a HDR image with less so called HDR-look.  On the other hand, I often obtain a relatively flat image in HDR Expose 2 that I need to bring into Capture NX2 to further adjust it.  Thus for me, Photomatix Pro gives me images that have more HDR-look.  The HDR Expose 2 gives me images that look more realistic.  Both are good but serve different purpose.

Both programs create images in TIF format, thus I can no longer use the automatic lens distortion function of Capture NX2 to correct the image.  I bring the images to PTLens for the automatic lens distortion adjustment as well as any necessary prospective correction.  It is much more practical than Photoshop for this purpose.

Nodal Point, Lens Distortion & Panorama

One of the little project that I set out to do when I was on the Cape this time is to find the proper nodal point of my camera (D700) and lens.  Every simple point-and-shoot camera can now make very decent panorama pictures (stitching several pictures together).  However, to make technical correct panorama picture, one need to correctly identified the nodal point of one's camera and lens to avoid parallax errors.

The nodal point should be directly over the center of the tripod, thus when the camera is rotated to make panorama images, parallax shifts can be avoid.  The usual way of finding the nodal point for a particular set up is to aim the camera at two poles, one closer to the camera and the other one in the distance.  When the camera is rotated over its nodal point, the relative position of the two poles to each other should not shift.  If he camera is not rotated over its nodal point, the relative position of the two poles as looking through the camera will change as the camera rotates.

To do this properly, I used the MRR-CL II nodal slide and the BH-40 LR bullhead from Really Right Stuff on top of my Gitzo GT2541 tripod.

The first one I did is for my 85mm 1.4 lens.  The nodal point is at mark 10 of the MRR-CL II nodal slide.  It is almost at the center of the lens as I expected.

The surprise is for the 24-70mm 2.8 lens, the nodal point is at the front limit of the lens.  To avoid the parallax shift, the lens needs to be used close to 70mm.

The nodal point for the 70-200mm 2.8 VRII lens is at the foot of the lens.  However, to avoid any parallax shift, the lens needs to be used at longer than 100mm.

I then used the 85mm lens set up to take 7 pictures of the back garden to make a panorama.

As you can see that I did not have the camera perfectly leveled, otherwise the panorama is perfect.

Here is the image after leveling and cropped in the Photoshop.

At 300 dpi, the image is 71.5 inches wide!  The image has an uncannily flat feeling since everything is correctly proportioned without any distortion.

Here is a panorama of three images taken with 70-200mm lens set at 110mm with the camera turned vertically.

As you can see that the computer has to adjust the image according to the distortion of the lens, the two images on the right and left have to be widened toward the outside edges, and the railing is also not straight.

When the lens distortion of each of the three images was corrected in NX2 then stitched together in Photoshop, the railing is now straight but the two sides are still widened a bit, although less than the image before.

The final cropped image still looks very good, at 300 dpi it is 25.6x13.3 inches.

Thus for me the perfect setup for panorama image will be using the 85mm 1.4 lens which has almost no lens distortion.  As leveling is also very important in the panorama image, my complete setup for a real job will be Really Right Stuff MPR_CL II Nodal Slide with PCL-1 Panning Clamp on top of the Gitzo G2272M fluid head and Gitzo GT2541 tripod.