Friday, April 3, 2009

Nikon D90 and HDR Photos!


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I'm a big HDR fan and love doing it as much as possible. I'm sure you have seen tons of HDR (high dynamic range) photos all over the place lately. If your interested in trying it yourself i can suggest a couple of programs you will need. I personally use Dynamic Photo HDR by Media Chance but most people use Photomatix by HDR soft. Both work great in my opinion but Dynamic Photo HDR is cheaper to buy.

The photo i did above of the water fall was done using my D90 and Dynamic Photo HDR software.

For more on how to do HDR images here's a couple of good links for you!
PhotoCamel Video Tutorial - This is were i learned
PopPhoto

13 comments:

Negro said...

I'll switch pretty soon from compact cameras to DSLR's, as I become a more serious photographer. My father has had 35mm SLR's and DSLR's (The D300 most recently), and through the years I've learned a thing or two. Now in college, studying Multimedia Design, I needed to go one step up and I decided to go with the D90 all the way. I'm glad I found this blog, my camera should arrive this Monday, can't wait! And back on topic, HDR photography is a brilliant method I can't wait to explore!! You have a new avid reader!

RAIN on Wesley said...

Hi,How do u make your photo can have and view in "Large View" mode in your blog?
It is need add coding in HTML?

Scbbbc said...

Negro, Have you started doing any HDR yet with your new camera?

Scbbbc said...

Wesley, I use Flickr and link to a larger photo from the blog.....

Paul said...

Hello,
I just got my D90 specifically to dive into HDR photography. A few weeks back a friend and I took some HDR shots with his Cannon camera and it was quick and easy. Three auto bracketed shots rapid-fire -2,0,+2. A few minute in PhotoMatix & we had one. Awesome!

I have spent the last two nights trying to reproduce that experience with my new D90 & I cannot get the camera to cooperate. I have read the manual, Googled many sites and the closest I have gotten requires three pushes on the shutter button, but I do get all three bracketed. When I check my settings the some things have turned off on there own. Does anyone out put together a setup guide to do the following on the D90?
1) Set up bracketing for -2,0,+2
2) Set up 3 shots with 1 push of the shutter
3) Images saved in RAW form.

Thanks in advance.
Paul

Scbbbc said...

Hey Paul, I'll try doing this tonight to see what happens with my D90. I dont usually do my HDR with 3 bracketed shots just one raw then i make two more in adobe raw set to -2 and +2. But i'll see how your set up works tonight and let you know what happens.

Scbbbc said...

Ok Paul, I set up the D90 to do some bracketing for HDR and had no problem. 3 quick burst shots one push of the button...Exposure 0,-2,+2 shot in raw! Just as advertised. Hope you are having better luck now!

Panamawise said...

Hi Paul and SCBBBC, I am about to purchase a D90 body (upgrading from my D40X and I wonder if it´s a wise decision since my purpose is precisely experimenting with HDR and Photomatix. SCBBBC has responded to Paul but left the door open! Will I be able to do 3 quick burst shots one push of the button...Exposure 0,-2,+2 shot in raw? There are contrary opinions in other sites claiming that the autobracketing on the D90 is limited to a maximum of 3 shots with a maximum separation of 2 EV. Thanks for the badly needed advice!

Scbbbc said...

Daptin, Whats up! thanks for asking. Yes, 3 burst shots in raw, bracketed. 0,-2,+2 works great. True you cant do 5 shots with the D90. Upgrade it's a great camera. I went from the D40 to the D90 also...When i had my D40 i used to do my HDR with one raw image. I'd opened the photo in my Raw program and use the exposure slider to make 3 or 5 different exposures and save each file 0,-2,+2 to my desktop then open them in my HDR program......Worked great! have fun....

Panamawise said...

SCBBC, your advice is well apppreciated. I would have hated to get the D90 and found out that it was not suitable for HDR. Thanks a million!

Panamawise said...

Paul... would you care to provide an update about your experience with D90 and HDR? Thanks in advance!

Unknown said...

I have a Nikon D90 and can't seem to figure out how to do the settings for HDR photography. Can anyone help?

Unknown said...

These are the steps to set up your Nikon D90 (per Nikon) for HDR photography. This procedure, if set up correctly will allow you to take a photo (only 1 click on the shutter release) and receive 3 images on your memory card...

1. select Menu...
2. select the pencil
3. select bracketing/flash
4. select auto bracketing set
5. select WB bracketing
When finished, hold bracket button down (left side of camera) and use both command dials to select 3F and how much + and - you desire.

If you can not see bracketing setting with the button held down while in WB bracketing (this happened to me)
then push the +/- and the AF button down at the same time for 3 seconds (these buttons are located at the top of your camera) After that you should be able to see it.

Oh and while in WB bracketing, continuous mode does not work. However, you only have to click once and you get your 3 exposures.

If you want to shoot raw, then you can not do it this way. Instead select AE bracket, Raw and continuous.

Per Nikon, something to consider is you don't get the best quality when shooting continuous.