I really love when you say "I really don't know what I'm doing". You have a great ability to catch the audience. By the way, by default Lightroom adds Contrast (25), Blacks(5), Brightness (50), Constrast curves (Medium), Sharpness and Noise reduction. I tweak down these excessive settings in the three raws before exporting to Photomatix with a great latitude. Then I tweak the processed image back in Lightroom
Ignore my comment about getting photomatix on your other hdr video lol. I love how honest you are. most people dont tell you about how alot of what they learn is through trial and error and that is why i watch all your vids
You can press the button ONCE, and it will take THREE pictures with DIFFERENT iso's and exposures on each image, automatically? If so, how exactly do you do that?
Dave what you might want to try is changing all your photos to JPEG first, before dropping them into photomatix. Trey Ratcliff also stresses this is important, because photomatix automatically changes everything to JPEG anyway and claims its worse than your normal programs that convert to jpeg, The Photomatix Reps also admit its better if you convert your pics to jpeg from your favorite source first.
dave, you're blessed, with so many help and instructions. Please, tell us, what's the format of file you up to youtube, to get so much quality, even on '360' in their options ? is mp4 wmv ? mov? flv ? and what's the specifications of renderized file ?
@Devdog1618 thats what bracketing is for, it allows you to take 3 pics at one so u can check different exposures, you do that by selecting the exposure meter and rolling the main dial wheel
Hey Dave! Thank you for your videos! I bought a 550d 4 weeks ago and I´m really happy with it! I learned so much from your videos and its great to watch them, because you teach in such a friendly way! I gave you an video response called "Coffee" one of my latest vids, made with my 550d - hope you like it! :-)
hi dave, your posts are always so clear and sharp. what are the equipment you use (camera, lenses) and post production workflow? which softwares and codec do you use to render for youtube upload? thanks
After you adjust each picture to the lighting you want in CameraRaw, then put each picture as a separate layer in photoshop. You can align each picture by adjusting the transparency of the top layer and moving it to the right spot, then take the transparency off. Mask off the parts you want to be shown from the bottom layer.. you can set a feather on your mask if you like or you can even do it with a brush on the "clear" setting. If you mask off parts, just clear them or delete the selected mask
hey i know you like MysteryGuitarMan so i thought i would tell you this.. I seen him yesterday at guitar center in LA, he bought speakers.. he tweeted them
@Devdog1618 If you turn set the camera to continuous shooting mode when using bracketing shots it will automatically take all 3 if you hold the button down. The other option that Dave uses is to set a delay (so the tripod doesn’t shake with your finger on the release) which when bracketing is enabled will shoot as if in continuous and you holding the release down.
@BustedToyPRODUCTIONS Also, the class of your SD card can affect the speed pictures are taken. Especially in RAW format. The higher your SD card class, the faster it can write the pictures to the card.
@m3h5l5 I meant noise and grain in your footage not audio. Is there a certain kind of light setup that you before every video because there is absolutely no noise or grain in there.
Are you shooting at 100 iso? HDR normally increases noise quite a bit... so if you are shooting at 100 iso its normal for your pics to have noise levels equivalent to 400 iso or higher depending on the conditions.
Hi! I don't know if you can do this but...could you explain the difference between Photoshop, Light Room and Illustrator? I see that photographers use different programs but these 3 are the most comon ones and I was wondering if you could explain the differen between each one.
The T2i is the 550d. It is branded a T2i in the States and a 550d in Europe. But they are exactly the same camera, just sold in different areas of the world. Same as the T3i in the states which is the 1100d in UK and Europe.
Hi Doug. Good video. I get very mixed results with Photomatix, no smooth lines, lots of grainy stuff. I see many excellent HDR Photomatix shots online -- but I struggle to get anything approaching good. I get better results from the free (!) program Luminance.
@Eonasdan It doesnt HAVE to but it helps a ton. If you are carefull with a steady hand and tripod or a camera remote you can manualy adjust the exposure between each shot. Much much trickier to do especialy if there is any motion in the scene but it can be done.
Best way I've found to minimize noise is to use Trey from stuck in customs HDR tutorial and import the 3 raw files you take into photoshop and do the layer mask trick. This lets you blend out the noisy dark colors in the HDR with more of the original RAW file's cleaner dark colors. Check it out on his page. it's in part 3 - "stacking and aligning" and is pretty much the missing piece here to get richer cleaner darks. It takes a little work but well worth it.
Can you create an HDR manually? Like, overlaying the 3 images in Photoshop? Or do you need a program? Oh, and, do you have to shoot in RAW or can you do it in JPEG?
i always use reduce ghosting, except on rare occasion ghosting looks good, its good to use a PL filter & sometimes a nd2, when you want a really good hdr u should take apx 9 test pics each one 1 step more, on sm not raw, then u take a good look at the exp your getting at each step, then decide which 4-6 pics you want to take then take the ones that show each individual range the best dont use equal steps one range might be 2 steps up the next exp range maybe 4,
hi dave, have you tried to develop raw files with canon's software? I think it's better than lightroom especially noise reduction wise. thanks for sharing
I was wondering if there was an answer to the question about the Q button. When I hit the Q button, it does the same for me, it doesn't allow me to change the setting like it does in the video. I'm using fireware version 1.0.6, might this be the reason? How can I get the 3 quick pictures?
Go to menu 1- go to Expo.comp./AEB and adjust the defference that you want it to be betweent the shots exposure. 2 - go to the botton where you can choos to take one picture or with timer and choos the second choice which is the continuos shooting. as soon as you press the shutter all the way and keep it pressed the camera will take the three shots you need with the multi exposure you need.
Hey Dave, I have all my settings the same as you but when I hit the shutter, it takes a long time to take the picture, then counts down and does that again, it doesnt do 3 quick photos like yours, im not sure whats different. Also, when I hit the Q button, it just takes lets me change the aperture. I dont know whats going on, anything you can think??
Photomatix previews usually look pretty noisy. When you export the TIFF you'll notice how much smoother it looks. It's really day and night of a difference.
Yes but you can't press the shutter button once, and it takes 3 sets of pictures with different exposures and ISO etc! Which was my whole point with getting Magic Lantern ;)
i maybe 23 hrs too late to reply! But no the T2i(550D) doesn't, you have to manually set or take separate exp shots an layer them together in Photoshop or some other HDR program. Alot of 2011 & later model cameras have come out with HDR mode like the T4i, i believe even the iPhone 4s has it also
Idea for the noise. If shooting RAW make sure you convert to Jpeg before importing to Photomatix. Photomatix seems to do a really bad job at converting.
@xxzeroxx125 Go to you 1st setup menu (wrench icon), scroll down to screen color and you can change it from black text on white to white on black, white on dark blue, or black text on tan.
i tried that program too and my only complaint was the noise was unbearable. i have no idea why it was so bad. a different program i had more luck with and found easier to use was "DYNAMIC PHOTO HDR" try that and see how your luck turns out.
Once you get the masking done and revealed all that you want, then flatten your image. and go to HDR toning in photoshop or then take the flattened image into lightroom and do your HDR toning there. Pixelmatix is for people who would rather save time and have "ok" results rather than do it yourself and be totally satisfied.
Great video though the bit when you put the camera into bracklet mode, blink and you miss it. I had to rewatch parts of the video several times so get what you actually did.
You should not do HDR this way. It is nice to have a program that does all the work for you by layering the photos and balancing out the exposure. But I HIGHLY recommend you do that process yourself in photoshop CS5. As you know, RAW images are the best images your T2i will take. The end result should not be so pixilated, something went terribly wrong. The first thing I would do is download "CameraRaw" for photoshop. Gives you amazing control of your raw images.
@drumat5280 Ok, I just found it. It's in the first yellow wrench menu, then it says screen color with a number next to it. What probably threw me off was the number. Why they wouldn't just put the name of the color next to it baffles me. Thanks for your help!
@drumat5280 I'm not English, sorry. In summary, do this to the three raw files before sending to Photomatix: Contrast: 0, Blacks 0, Contrat curve: linear, Brightness: 0, Camera Profile: Neutral. Other things like Sharpening and Noise reductiion can be tweaked as needed. This will send very flat, boring images to Photomatix. But the resulting processed HDR TIFF will be more pleasant to work with back in Lightroom.
thanks for the introduction. a really nice man doing a nice explanation except that maybe when you are using the software, you can be more positive about what you doing :) anyway, shows me how to do hdr. thank you very much!
I really love when you say "I really don't know what I'm doing". You have a great ability to catch the audience.
By the way, by default Lightroom adds Contrast (25), Blacks(5), Brightness (50), Constrast curves (Medium), Sharpness and Noise reduction. I tweak down these excessive settings in the three raws before exporting to Photomatix with a great latitude. Then I tweak the processed image back in Lightroom
Ignore my comment about getting photomatix on your other hdr video lol. I love how honest you are. most people dont tell you about how alot of what they learn is through trial and error and that is why i watch all your vids
You can press the button ONCE, and it will take THREE pictures with DIFFERENT iso's and exposures on each image, automatically? If so, how exactly do you do that?
@xxzeroxx125 it is deep within the menu settings, sorry I can't remember where you can change that exactly, hunt around you will find it.
@BustedToyPRODUCTIONS do you have it set for 2 sec rather than 8?
@coralioballester How do I tweak the default settings down like you have within lightroom?
@england2345able the new photomatix has a de-ghosting feature for that it works great.
@RCOproductions1 I grew up in CT and live in CO now.
Dave what you might want to try is changing all your photos to JPEG first, before dropping them into photomatix. Trey Ratcliff also stresses this is important, because photomatix automatically changes everything to JPEG anyway and claims its worse than your normal programs that convert to jpeg, The Photomatix Reps also admit its better if you convert your pics to jpeg from your favorite source first.
i really like the way you do things: from your editing, your honesty, and even the flow of the video. SUBBED!
dave, you're blessed, with so many help and instructions.
Please, tell us, what's the format of file you up to youtube, to get so much quality, even on '360' in their options ? is mp4 wmv ? mov? flv ? and what's the specifications of renderized file ?
@iraqattacker what is really bad?
@Devdog1618 thats what bracketing is for, it allows you to take 3 pics at one so u can check different exposures, you do that by selecting the exposure meter and rolling the main dial wheel
@ps3psnps3 32gig I have it listed on my gear page.
Hey Dave!
Thank you for your videos! I bought a 550d 4 weeks ago and I´m really happy with it! I learned so much from your videos and its great to watch them, because you teach in such a friendly way! I gave you an video response called "Coffee" one of my latest vids, made with my 550d - hope you like it! :-)
@FastRedPonyCar wow, thanks I will have to try that.
hi dave, your posts are always so clear and sharp. what are the equipment you use (camera, lenses) and post production workflow? which softwares and codec do you use to render for youtube upload? thanks
After you adjust each picture to the lighting you want in CameraRaw, then put each picture as a separate layer in photoshop. You can align each picture by adjusting the transparency of the top layer and moving it to the right spot, then take the transparency off. Mask off the parts you want to be shown from the bottom layer.. you can set a feather on your mask if you like or you can even do it with a brush on the "clear" setting. If you mask off parts, just clear them or delete the selected mask
hey i know you like MysteryGuitarMan so i thought i would tell you this.. I seen him yesterday at guitar center in LA, he bought speakers.. he tweeted them
@Devdog1618 If you turn set the camera to continuous shooting mode when using bracketing shots it will automatically take all 3 if you hold the button down. The other option that Dave uses is to set a delay (so the tripod doesn’t shake with your finger on the release) which when bracketing is enabled will shoot as if in continuous and you holding the release down.
@BustedToyPRODUCTIONS Also, the class of your SD card can affect the speed pictures are taken. Especially in RAW format. The higher your SD card class, the faster it can write the pictures to the card.
@m3h5l5 I meant noise and grain in your footage not audio. Is there a certain kind of light setup that you before every video because there is absolutely no noise or grain in there.
Are you shooting at 100 iso? HDR normally increases noise quite a bit... so if you are shooting at 100 iso its normal for your pics to have noise levels equivalent to 400 iso or higher depending on the conditions.
Hi! I don't know if you can do this but...could you explain the difference between Photoshop, Light Room and Illustrator? I see that photographers use different programs but these 3 are the most comon ones and I was wondering if you could explain the differen between each one.
The T2i is the 550d. It is branded a T2i in the States and a 550d in Europe. But they are exactly the same camera, just sold in different areas of the world. Same as the T3i in the states which is the 1100d in UK and Europe.
Hi Doug. Good video. I get very mixed results with Photomatix, no smooth lines, lots of grainy stuff. I see many excellent HDR Photomatix shots online -- but I struggle to get anything approaching good. I get better results from the free (!) program Luminance.
@Eonasdan It doesnt HAVE to but it helps a ton. If you are carefull with a steady hand and tripod or a camera remote you can manualy adjust the exposure between each shot. Much much trickier to do especialy if there is any motion in the scene but it can be done.
@Devdog1618
Use the Bracketing (Exposure auto bracketing) function of your camera.
Best way I've found to minimize noise is to use Trey from stuck in customs HDR tutorial and import the 3 raw files you take into photoshop and do the layer mask trick. This lets you blend out the noisy dark colors in the HDR with more of the original RAW file's cleaner dark colors.
Check it out on his page. it's in part 3 - "stacking and aligning" and is pretty much the missing piece here to get richer cleaner darks. It takes a little work but well worth it.
Wow Man. You are an awesome teacher as you said correct me if I am wrong it attracted all of our attention. Nice Video Keep It up.
Make sure you set your camera to continuous shooting. It's the button on the left side of the SET button
Can you create an HDR manually? Like, overlaying the 3 images in Photoshop? Or do you need a program? Oh, and, do you have to shoot in RAW or can you do it in JPEG?
i always use reduce ghosting, except on rare occasion ghosting looks good, its good to use a PL filter & sometimes a nd2, when you want a really good hdr u should take apx 9 test pics each one 1 step more, on sm not raw, then u take a good look at the exp your getting at each step, then decide which 4-6 pics you want to take then take the ones that show each individual range the best dont use equal steps one range might be 2 steps up the next exp range maybe 4,
what lens did you use???
and thanks for the video ill give it a try
hi dave, have you tried to develop raw files with canon's software? I think it's better than lightroom especially noise reduction wise. thanks for sharing
how do you find the setting when you start the videoo again? somebody please help meee
I understand all the settings when you're taking the shots but how did you get it to take 3 consecutive shots?
@camtheman very cool!
Hey Dave how do you have no noise in your videos?
it's in the timer settings. or you just take 3 shots manually.
I was wondering if there was an answer to the question about the Q button. When I hit the Q button, it does the same for me, it doesn't allow me to change the setting like it does in the video. I'm using fireware version 1.0.6, might this be the reason? How can I get the 3 quick pictures?
I see you have Lightroom - how about using that for killing noise ? It does it effectively as far as I'm concerned.
Go to menu
1- go to Expo.comp./AEB and adjust the defference that you want it to be betweent the shots exposure.
2 - go to the botton where you can choos to take one picture or with timer and choos the second choice which is the continuos shooting.
as soon as you press the shutter all the way and keep it pressed the camera will take the three shots you need with the multi exposure you need.
@bonsaibonesjones There are no window shaped filters.
Was that a fighter jet at 3:06 ?
is an additional software required to make an HDR image with the T2i?
@DJSu6Zer0 near Boulder
Hey Dave, I have all my settings the same as you but when I hit the shutter, it takes a long time to take the picture, then counts down and does that again, it doesnt do 3 quick photos like yours, im not sure whats different. Also, when I hit the Q button, it just takes lets me change the aperture. I dont know whats going on, anything you can think??
I do the Photomatix with the RAWs before I run the finished photo through light room, and don't have that noise issue.
Photomatix previews usually look pretty noisy. When you export the TIFF you'll notice how much smoother it looks. It's really day and night of a difference.
Yes but you can't press the shutter button once, and it takes 3 sets of pictures with different exposures and ISO etc! Which was my whole point with getting Magic Lantern ;)
Couldn't you use a filter to darken the outside to bring it to the same exposure level as the inside.
how do u get it to take all 3 pics with just 1 press of the shutter? i have to press it 3 times.
i maybe 23 hrs too late to reply! But no the T2i(550D) doesn't, you have to manually set or take separate exp shots an layer them together in Photoshop or some other HDR program. Alot of 2011 & later model cameras have come out with HDR mode like the T4i, i believe even the iPhone 4s has it also
How do you get the black screen. that shows all your settings. Mine is white
and I cannot figure out how to get it to go black
a quit question, how do you set up the camera for 3 shots at a time for HDR? =)
love my 32gb card, my friend.. your vids are an awesome resource, Getting my money's worth outta my t2i, it was a good buy. Enjoy buddy.
I select the same setting as you at 1:18 but its not taking 3 photos... it's only taking 1.
Idea for the noise. If shooting RAW make sure you convert to Jpeg before importing to Photomatix. Photomatix seems to do a really bad job at converting.
wait is there a way to change your menu color from white to black
@drumat5280 I'm assuming he is referring to the noise...I also have a t2i and dont't have this problem. hmm, weird
How do you set the self timer? Thanks in advance.
@xxzeroxx125 Go to you 1st setup menu (wrench icon), scroll down to screen color and you can change it from black text on white to white on black, white on dark blue, or black text on tan.
Try to set the Luminosity to a lower level, that one is a big reason for the noise level :)
Devdog it does it automatically once you said the aeb and exposure
Would you like to tell me how it's possible for me to do it then? Because It's working for me and I do not have Magic lantern installed...
Or Magic Lantern :) Press 1 time, and it takes 3 pictures with different exposurers and ISO's automatically :)
@Devdog1618 you hold the shutter button :)
i tried that program too and my only complaint was the noise was unbearable.
i have no idea why it was so bad.
a different program i had more luck with and found easier to use was "DYNAMIC PHOTO HDR" try that and see how your luck turns out.
Where did you get photomatisc pro?
Menu > 2. "Settings Tab" > Exposure Correction/AEB (the one with the -2..1..0..1..+2 ) > Turn the Wheel behind the iso button to the right > OK
when you raise your exposure in lightroom noise will show up. just use the noise reduction : ) cheers!!
how can i put hdr to my canon eos 550d? is it a setting in the camera or what? i dont get it:(
@drumat5280 oh ok, this looks like five parks area? im from colorado as well.
Once you get the masking done and revealed all that you want, then flatten your image. and go to HDR toning in photoshop or then take the flattened image into lightroom and do your HDR toning there.
Pixelmatix is for people who would rather save time and have "ok" results rather than do it yourself and be totally satisfied.
you can shoot 1200 raws on on memory card!? how big is that card?
@Dannysubliminal I get 570 on my 16GB card so it has to be around the 32GB mark, maybe a little more. :S
Great video though the bit when you put the camera into bracklet mode, blink and you miss it. I had to rewatch parts of the video several times so get what you actually did.
@Devdog1618 - just set self-timer (2 sec) and for 1 press will take 3 pics. Regards from Poland :)
are you from colorado?
You should not do HDR this way. It is nice to have a program that does all the work for you by layering the photos and balancing out the exposure. But I HIGHLY recommend you do that process yourself in photoshop CS5.
As you know, RAW images are the best images your T2i will take. The end result should not be so pixilated, something went terribly wrong. The first thing I would do is download "CameraRaw" for photoshop. Gives you amazing control of your raw images.
@xxzeroxx125
its in the menu, screen color
Do you have it set to take RAW and jpeg?
@drumat5280 Ok, I just found it. It's in the first yellow wrench menu, then it says screen color with a number next to it. What probably threw me off was the number. Why they wouldn't just put the name of the color next to it baffles me. Thanks for your help!
Thank you! I'm going to work on that all day with my 550d! :)
yes this happened to me, set it to self timer mode not self timer continuous
By setting the camera to Self timer 2. Sec mode
@drumat5280, Hi Dave! Can I do that with my cs5 (64-bit) because I don't know how to use Photomatix 4.2 (32-bit)
I'm the exact same. First day with my new camera and have NO IDEA what's going on!
Exelente..... DEFINITIVAMENTE EL MEJOR TUTORIAL QUE HE VISTO...
No u must configure that on the expose setting i dont know how to explained it well for my bad english
it's not in camera, its just taking 3 shots with exposure bracketing and compositing hdr on your pc
when i upload the picture photomatix, they come out with straight lines.
@drumat5280 I'm not English, sorry. In summary, do this to the three raw files before sending to Photomatix: Contrast: 0, Blacks 0, Contrat curve: linear, Brightness: 0, Camera Profile: Neutral. Other things like Sharpening and Noise reductiion can be tweaked as needed. This will send very flat, boring images to Photomatix. But the resulting processed HDR TIFF will be more pleasant to work with back in Lightroom.
Anyone know why my 550D takes 6 pictures instead of 3?
a 550d has HDR? mines doesnt
thanks for the introduction. a really nice man doing a nice explanation except that maybe when you are using the software, you can be more positive about what you doing :) anyway, shows me how to do hdr. thank you very much!
@Calgocubs21 I am trying to figure out the same thing.
muy interesante...gracias thank you....very goog picture tecnic.
You dont need to know if your right or not ? If you like it and are happy with it good!!! Your doing it well !