The Master of the Nets Garden in Suzhou, China. Three photos (AEB sequence) were taken without a tripod, however only two of them were
used: the under-exposed and the over-exposed. The images were loaded into easyHDR PRO and used to create a pseudo-HDR result with "Smart Merge" method
(with strength = 0). The tone mapping parameters were only slightly changed as compared to default settings - compression was increased a bit and
the "Mask" strength was a bit reduced.
Via Garibaldi - a street in a medieval castle on Isola del Giglio, Italy. This is an example of using HDR image processing techniques in case of night
photography. The brightest objects in such scenes mostly are isolated light sources like lamps and their illuminated surroundings. The brightest
area size is relatively small as compared to the entire image. Because of this it is hard to compress the entire dynamic range of the scene and at the same
time preserve local contrasts in other parts of the image. By using the "Local Contrast" algorithm implemented
in easyHDR PRO we can prevent loosing details or even amplify them (see the wall texture).
Sunset over the Arno river in Florence - view from Ponte Santa Trinita. Three photos were taken without a tripod, so they must have been
aligned with easyHDR PRO manual alignment tool before being merged together. In this case the "Image Stacking" method was used to generate a
pseudo-HDR image that was later tone mapped. As compared to the default tone mapping settings the "Compression" and "Saturation" were a
bit increased and the "Mask->Strength" was slightly decreased. The "Local Contrast" effect has also been strenghtened a bit to make the
clouds look a bit more dramatic.
Dwarf pine on the slopes of Sniezka mountain, on the Czech Republic side. Only 2 photos were used - one underexposed and one exposed at camera's automatic settings.
The photos were taken without a tripod and were later manually aligned with easyHDR PRO.
The "Local Contrast" feature was used in easyHDR PRO to get a more dramatic look of the clouds and to bring out more detail in the snow.
Moat in Old Town part of Wrocław. Three hand-held photos (-2, 0 and +2EV) were aligned with the manual alignment tool in easyHDR PRO, then
merged to HDR with "Smart Merge" method ("Strength" = 0) and tone mapped. The tone mapping parameters were all left at default values!
Here is a sample evening shot that has a very wide dynamic range. The camera
is not able to cover the full dynamic range that ranges from bright western sky
to dark, east facing slopes and building walls.
This example shows the advantages of using easyHDR PRO on a single RAW photo. Digital camera records the same dynamic range of the
scene regardless in what format it stores the image data - in JPEG or in RAW. However image in RAW format is better
for further processing as it contains more detail.
When the camera writes JPEG it compresses the recorded 12-bit (or better) data to fit it into 8-bit per channel format.
By doing this quantization losses occur and also typically some dynamic range is lost, because of the compression
characteristics that is used.
The photo on the left is a JPEG as it is produced by the camera. On the right side there is a RAW image after treatment in
easyHDR PRO. Note that there is more detail in clouds.
EasyHDR PRO and its tone mapping operators can also be used to enhance single JPEG photos. A well exposed photo is enhanced in the example
above to bring out the detail in clouds and to make the colors more vivid.
In this case the shadowed palm trees were too dark, as compared to the blue sky, to be properly exposed. In similar cases we can use a
flash to lighten the closest objects, but it produces shadows and has limited range. EasyHDR PRO was used here to brighten the shadows, while
preserving the highlights. As compared to default settings only Mask->Strength was increased a bit.
Very strong "Local Contrast" effect can be used to enhance almost flat details. In the example above the texture of the wall is strenghtened
so much that the photo gets completely new life. The result is far from reality, but in this case it doesn't matter.
