Bracketing for HDR with the SL

[Thc879]

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i recently got back from a trip to Switzerland where I took many bracketed shots with my SL using its automated bracketing feature and then processed them in the Photomatrix software to get an HDR final photo. I was very pleased with the results and much prefer HDR to using grad ND filters. The range was often very extreme between the snow capped mountains and shadows in the valley. The SL limits the number of exposures for bracketing to 5 so I used either 0 +1 +2 -1 -2 EV or 0 +2 +4 -2 -4 EV. Does anyone know if I would get noticeably better results by doing it manually with 7 exposures instead of 5 so I could fill in the gaps for those shots with a very high EV range?

[Bill W]

Hard to say as every photo has different issues with shadows and highlights. Post a few of your examples and let us see your results so far. 

[Thc879]

here is one example,  but at a very low resolution jpg in order to meet the file size for posting requirements. This link may work to show more. https://www.facebook.com/1400606604/posts/10213340956863996/

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Edited December 14, 2018 by Thc879

[Bill W]

I like your photo but I see a lot of banding issues with the sky. HDR will do this if you are not careful. 

[verwackelt]

If photomatix is feeded with the raws, the banding should not occur. If feeded with processed tiffs, 16 bit tif are better.

[Thc879]

Thanks Bill,  the banding was caused when I reduced the jpg quality to 0 in Photoshop so I could get under the 500k max file size that the Leica site requires. The link I showed might show the photo a little better.  There is no banding in the high quality original output of Photomatrix.  I just was not allowed to upload that here.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Thc879

[Bill W]

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7 minutes ago, Thc879 said:

Thanks Bill,  the banding was caused when I reduced the jpg quality to 0 in Photoshop so I could get under the 500k max file size that the Leica site requires. 

I usually use jpg quality 8 and set the long side to 1280 and get the best results. I think the max file size is 1000kb for a sponsoring member. It pays to join.😃

[Thc879]

I probably should join,  I will look into it.

[Brian C in Az]

On 12/14/2018 at 12:30 PM, Bill W said:

I usually use jpg quality 8 and set the long side to 1280 and get the best results. I think the max file size is 1000kb for a sponsoring member. It pays to join.😃

Or, for non paying members set the long side to 568 and your file should be just under the 500kb limit

Edited December 16, 2018 by Brian C in Az

[jaapv]

But you will get a small image in that case. I would not recommend that..

If you use Lightroom jat set the long side to 1280 and the max. file size to 500  in the export dialog. Lightroom will do the rest.

In other programs just idrop the jpg quality.  Normally the needed compression would be in the order of 8. 0 like the OP used should never be needed. The resulting image deterioration is virtually invisible on the internet.