new to bracketing and using PS to do something with it....

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Quite possibly the first image (for critque) i've ever uploaded here so be gentle :)

I've never really done anything with bracketing before and/or used photoshop (CS2) to create a final image - comments, suggestions, abuse on the attached image? I've not spent hours on it, was just experimenting but interested to know thoughts

(i know there are marks on my sensor, will sort that....)
 

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So what did you do then Dan, talk us through it and we can tell you if you are in the right track, or possibly offer some other tips.

I'm guessing you are after pp advice primarily so you can practice and learn the techniques. With regard the shot try and find a scene with interest, drama and better light.
 
Yeah shot not really inspiring, just example :) . What would you say is better light?

Converted raw to DNG and used the automate>merge to HDR in PS..... actually, i basically followed this tutorial - https://luminous-landscape.com/photoshop-cs2-hdr/ - and then some adjustments in 'Levels' in PS

I usually use Lightroom (3.2) to do editing of regular photos so im not all that au fait with PS for this type of thing
 
Since you've bumped the thread..

The merging is convincing - there's no unpleasant artefacts and it doesn't look over-processed. I know you did it for the exercise but I suspect that you could have got this from a single frame either by using a graduated filter or a quick tweak in Lightroom.

I think.. you might be better off concentrating on other things before the merging. The horizon is wonky, the gate isn't quite sharp and the scene as a whole isn't that interesting. It might have worked better if you'd shot from a lower viewpoint.
 
You are braver than me, I've only just started to use ps (i normally do everything in lr) and i haven't posted anything for critique. Maybe i should, but it scares me ;).
 
@juggler thanks - the shot itself wasn't intended as an example of loveliness (straight horizons are always my down fall) - I just took a photo where I thought there would be a difference between sky and foreground enough to try it merging 3 shots to try that, but appreciate the less exciting photo may have made it difficult to judge technique. :)

What tweaks in LR would you suggest as an alternative to this method? I've never had much luck bringing up darker foregrounds in LR so was trying a different approach
 
Well, it depends on how bright the sky actually was. I'd guess that a gradient filter applied to the sky to bring down the highlights and another to bring up the shadows in the foreground would have the same effect with minimal loss of quality.
 
It would be nice to see the 3 individual bracketed shots as well.
 
The "classic" case for this kind of thing seems to be a photo taken inside a church looking at the stained glass windows and trying to capture the inside of the church and the colour of the windows. With a high contrast subject like that it might be easier for people to comment. You can achieve the same thing in your kitchen looking out of the back door on a bright day or under a bridge bridge/underpass/tunnel.

I've never had much luck bringing up darker foregrounds in LR
Generally it is recommended to "Expose to the right" (ETTR) which means over expose slightly so the histogram moves to the right, that way the shadows are well exposed and as @juggler said above, apply a graduated filter in LR to bring the sky back. It is better to darken light areas because lifting shadows introduces noise
 
The image you've posted doesn't appear to have a huge dynamic range (in v simple camera terms 'the number of stops between the darkest shadows and brightest highlights') But without seeing the composite images, there's not a lot we can tell.

"Merge to HDR" functions are fairly straightforward - insert images & click the button. The key is to get the right number of shots, correctly exposed, into the software in the first place. To do this...

- Choose your aperture & ISO. (Example ISO 100, f11)
- Point the camera at the point where your highlights are exposed how you want them. Make a note of the shutter speed. (example 1/250 sec)
- Point the camera at the point where the shadows are exposed how you want them. Make a note of this shutter speed. (example 1/4 sec)
- Set your camera up, manually focus (or auto focus then switch to manual to stop focus shift), manually set ISO & Aperture.
- Take a number of exposures starting with a shutter speed at one end and working your way in increments (most people use whole stops - but you can use half-stops or even third) to the other. (Example 1/4 sec, 1/8 sec, 1/16 sec, 1/30 sec, 1/60 sec, 1/125 sec, 1/250 sec)

What you can see is that "three shots" may not be enough for the scene, or it may not even be needed at all. It depends on the dynamic range available. Understanding why you're doing what you're doing is the key here. The button push in Lightroom/Photoshop/Photomatix is the last step and the results coming out of it will all be reliant on how much effort you put into the preparation. I find that doing what I do also really slows me right down and forces me to consider composition. Which is only a good thing.

A good test of technique is in a room in your house with windows. Take a photo of the room and try and expose the outside as well as the inside. With one photo, the camera is unlikely to be able to do it well.

Finally - Grads - like Simon mentioned - will reduce the brightness of the sky, bringing the dynamic range down to a tighter gap. They're OK until you have some detail that you want to retain that pokes into the dark bit of the grad which you then need to potentially go and fix in post. Don't get me wrong, I love my grads, but there are times when they're not the answer.
Apologies if you knew all this - or if this is far more than you needed to know... :)
 
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@juggler I've never had much luck bringing up darker foregrounds in LR so was trying a different approach

Generally it is recommended to "Expose to the right" (ETTR) which means over expose slightly so the histogram moves to the right, that way the shadows are well exposed and as @juggler said above, apply a graduated filter in LR to bring the sky back. It is better to darken light areas because lifting shadows introduces noise

This.

I am a fan of exposure blending and have created a tutorial on Talk Photography. Here is the discussion for it with an example at the bottom if you scroll down. https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/luminosity-masks-photoshop-cc.624566/ The overview tab takes you to the tutorial by the way.

But, to agree with @sirch, for now you may want to work on getting the best quality files too work with in your RAW converter (still shoot brackets because one day you may need them).

Exposing to the right is about capturing a washed out nearly clipped RAW file with all the data and maximum colour/tonal information available. I even ignore blinkies (highlight warnings) when doing this because they relate to the JPEG preview on the camera screen. Look at, and live by your RGB histogram, if there is not a line crawling up the right hand side of the graph it is not overexposed. The principle of exposing to the right is great, and in doing it you need to stop thinking of the mentality of pushing shadows in post production.

So once you have your very bright washed out RAW file you actually pull it back to the left to darken it. Then you can pull your shadows up to bring out detail in them, but here is the thing. You are not pulling these shadows, you are non destructively returning them to there exposed state, you are actually pulling midtones and highlights down instead. For this reason an ETTR file will not have noisy shadows with poor colours, and just so long as you haven't blown the highlights it will still have great detail there.

This is a rubbish photo taken at harsh light o clock but is an example of what you can do with a single ETTR RAW file in LR;

Expose to the Right by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

Have a look at my settings in the basic tab and if you have any questions just ask.

I suppose what I am saying is learn about ETTR (google is your friend) and just concentrate on getting out and shooting nice scenes, working on the light and your composition whilst keep checking your histogram (21st century light meter) to make sure they are good exposures. For the majority of scenes this is enough to produce a good shot. Blending can come later.
 
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Thanks all for this - i will sit down with a cup of tea and have a proper read. Landscape is such an unknown beast to me and I'm trying to find the best technique to get some shots I'm happier with when I go away in September, been thinking about filters, bracketing and what I can do better in lightroom. Last trip I generally aimed at exposing the sky/lighter areas correctly and then the dark areas just looked a bit rubbished, even at low ISOs.

I will have a proper read through and, no doubt return! :)
 
i had trouble remembering which images i used to make the above, but i have now attached the originals (i thnk), which were taken into LR and then exported straight out agian.
 
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