The HDR Experiment #1

For some reason I am determined to master the HDR photo. It is a form of processing a number of images into one, and for some reason it doesn't like working for me. It's time consuming to edit RAW photos and then process them into HDR. I experimented by first creating a HDR image with the Betsy churn-outs and then editing the same photos in RAW. (Remember, I shoot in RAW + LG JPEG - and as I've discovered it's often a space waster...)

And just so you know the pain and effort I went to for this experiment, I was standing, (or actually crouching) in the middle of a line of bitey ants while I took all these photos - thank goodness for auto-bracketing!

Here are the first three JPEGS courtesy of my Betsy:

 And combined together for a HDR:

I then set about editing each of the RAW files corresponding to the three above to the highest quality and colour - increasing saturation, adding warmth and a slight magenta tint to each of them. The results:

Stitched together in HDR they came out thus:

The result is more colour and mood lifting the picture to life. Is it worth the time spent editing photos in RAW? Answer, yes - provided you don't get too carried away with colours. HDR is worth while too, but not for every photo. I spend hours with other images of this sunset trying to make it work, only to have the sky continually overexposed when merged. I could do more with the gradient tool in Photoshop for most.