HDR critique required!
 

Been playing around with a trial from Photomatix Pro recently and thought to post up some results, not sure if I'm choosing the right exposure balances so if anyone who processes these images themselves I'd like some pointers.

Basically, I used a borrowed Panasonic FZ18. 2 stops under, mid range and 2 stops over. I guess every scene requires a different set up, or do folks automatically use a uniform pattern of exposure settings or automatic bracketing?

Hope all of that guff made sense!!

The pics, the forth being the finished image.

Matt

Most cameras have automatic bracketing. My cameras both have -/+ 3 and -/+5, the first one seems to suit most situations.

I think the final result is pleasantly natural looking, unlike many HDR shots. So, it seems you have a good mix of over and under exposures for this particular scene. It will vary, depending on the specific lighting conditions at the time. If you switch to manual exposure and take a wide range of over/under exposures, ensuring the aperture remains constant for the whole set, then you will have a good base of material to process. If you have the shot available, you can do something with it. If you later find out you would have been better to have one that was just that little bit more under/over, it's too late by then.

User Guide to HDR
 

I think you might be interested in this link to Vanilla Days the creator is a keen user of Photomatix and shows some excellent examples.

Graham