HDR Noise

[Simon Pullan]

Just been looking at the thread Ruined. Lovely photo and I have seen other HDR photos that I like so last weekend I decided to try for myself whilst on holiday.

I seem to get huge amounts of noise in my pictures using Photomatix. How to you manage to avoid this? I only have the trial version at present, does having the full version help at all or just remove the watermarks?

I'll try and post an image tonight, as an example.

[JimNotJon]

Full version is the same. Usually the better lit the image is, the less noise you will see. Hence its pretty pants at night.

Reducing the Gamma can also help stop the noise a little, and a photoshop plugin called Noise Ninja is also excellent.

[Simon Pullan]

Thanks Jim. Someone else suggested NoiseNinja so I tried it last night and it's brilliant. Apparently I should also be using low ISO for these types of shots (I was using 800).

Thanks again for your help.

[JimNotJon]

No Worries


Yeh the lower the ISO the better quality the image. But its not always possible to shoot with a low ISO, especially if you don't have a tripod.


Would love to see some examples Simon

[Simon Pullan]

Tonight, I promise.

[Simon Pullan]

As promised:







Please be gentle as this is my first try...

[Gingerbread Man]

Fantallytastic

[JimNotJon]

First time? Pffft!

They're fantastic, especially like the middle one, the HDR has really brought the clouds out, gives alot more depth, which is what I try and do, but you have captured it perfectly.

[Simon Pullan]

Thanks Guys.

I think the winter sun helps a great deal. There was lots of light around to get a good range and the fact that the sun was low meant that the clouds were more dramatic. Mid to late afternoon seems to be the best time for this style of HDR shot.

Today looks pretty good from here and if I didn't have to sit here I'd go outdide and take some pictures of Tower Bridge with crazy clouds behind.

[Fetchez la vache]

Those are all superb . Especially like #3 (different strokes and all).
I'm guessing it was CS + Photomatix + NoiseNinja to get these results?

Must try this myself!

[Simon Pullan]

Thanks.

First I put them through Photomatix. Then I used CS to Noise Ninja and unsharpen mask them. Finally I cropped/strightened/adjusted levels in Lightroom. The last bit could be done in photoshop but I haven't worked out how to use it yet and lightroom is much easier.

Just tried a nightime HDR this weekend whilst on holiday (again...) and I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out if I get a minute this week.