High Dynamic Range images with Hydra: Got Leopard?
I came across what looks to be a cool image processing application recently called Hydra. The idea is that many cameras are incapable of capturing, in a single shot, the high dynamic range of scenes like a sunset with foreground elements which are dark, or a dim forest with sunstreaks and highlights. Our eyes adjust quickly as we scan a scene in front of us. But a camera must try to capture the sutble dark areas at the same time as not allowing the bright areas to be blown out, which doesn't work out too well in many cases.
Hydra takes the approach of using two pictures of the same scene and merging them together. One picture should use the appropriate settings to capture the highlights (dark areas will be almost black) and the other to capture the lowlights (bright areas will be blown out near white). It then uses some complicated algorithm to merge to two pictures together.
Now, I'd love to give this application a try with my compact digital camera, but, alas, it only runs on Leopard. I wonder if one my photog friends who have access to a Mac running the latest OS to give it a try and let me know how this program works for you.
- Alan's blog
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Hydra
I'm not familiar with Hydra - not a Mac person, sorry - but you might want to give HDR a try with Photomatix (http://www.hdrsoft.com/) which runs on Mac OS X. It's available as a free trial download.
HDR can be really cool when used with some restraint, but lends itself to abuse. Do a search for HDR on Flickr sometime.
I've heard of the technique
I've heard of the technique but not Hydra. I learned about the technique from one of my photog magazines. I saw an AMAZING picture of a flower poking its face up through snow. The flower, the snow, and the grains of sand around the plant were all perfectly exposed and if you've ever tried to take a picture of snow, you know that's not possible. The photographer admitted to merging two pictures with different exposures, one for the flower and the other for the snow, together. If I remember right he said he did it with Adobe photoshop pro. Of course.
Oh my. As far as I'm
Oh my. As far as I'm concerned your entire post was just written in German. You should really check your settings on your computer to be sure it's set to the English language. Sorry I couldn't be more help! :)
HDR
Walt- Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see what Photomatix can do over the weekend, perhaps. I've got a couple pictures I took this week just for this test... before I found out Hydra was Leopard-only. I did check out the HDR Flickr Pool. I'm not sure what makes them all HDR as I probably don't understand everything about what HDR is.
Kathy- Photoshop is always a good stand-by, especially if you have a tripod and can take the picture with the exact same scene. It's Hydra's advanced image matching which can make the process so easy. I'm no PS guru, but I've been known to composite images together from time-to-time.
Abbie- It's actually called 'Geek Speak'. Whenever you see that tag on one of my posts, I suggest you avert your eyes. The results of reading geek speak can be unsettling, for you and for your loved ones.
For help with German, may I suggest this little man? 
There's this other guy who I hear runs Leopard... And also, from what I understand, also has a new camera .... And he's been taking a lot of pictures with it.... Hmmmm.... now where is he?
Ok, ok!
I finally did my job! :)
http://www.greggsgambles.com/2008/02/17/for-alan/
Thanks
I couldn’t really tell much of a difference. This may be more a
function of my lack of skill with Photomatix’s multiple controls but it
also makes a point. If you are not looking for the most complex program
but still want to make nice HDR images, Hydra may be in your sweet spot.