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TiKy2010 — How To Use Luminance HDR
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Published: 2011-05-18 17:27:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 14198; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 191
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Description
This is my first tutorial! So I need some feedback and I appreciate every mention
Many people ask me how I create my HDR photos and what software I use. Often they told me, that Luminance HDR is not easy to handle and that's the reason why I wrote this tutorial.
I hope my english is understandable and if you have any questions, just ask me
Download Luminance HDR here: qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net
Edit: 16.10.2012
Useful tip by ~newmikey
Afterthought: also note that wonderful results can be had by generating one image with the Mantiuk06 operator and one with Fattal and then combining the layers in GIMP.
For those who use Fattal: please make sure you use version 2.3 and up of LuminanceHDR. The Fattal operator was updated for this release and is no longer size dependant as well as a lot faster.
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Comments: 36
I know this is a older post, but I'm having the same problem as the user before me. When I try to save the image it saves with a resolution of 400px across, even though I have selected the highest resolution as "Result Size". Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?
I'm using version 2.3.0
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Hey Aliuh,
well this kind of error never appeared to me.
I use the latest version 2.4.0 and this works fine. is there a reason why you use the older version?
Try the latest version: qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/
Hope this might help you
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After some reading, it seems to be an unfixable glitch for some people.
Unfortunately I have a very limited internet package, so I can't download anything. 
Thank you.
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Hey! great tutorial! I have kind of a stupid question though that you might be able to help me out with. Everytime I use luminance and then save, it saves it as a very small file so the picture is extremely small and low-res. How do I do it so it doesnt save it that way or is it something IM doing?
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Hey, sorry for my late reply - I just had no time for dA during the last months.
Hmm, you create a tonemapped image and want to save it?
Next to the "Create" button is a drop-down menue where you can check for the resolution. As default there is a really low resolution... do not know why... but there you have to change it and generate the image again.
This should be the solution. Otherwise feel free to ask me again
Have a nice day!
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Well I tried fiddling around - and I found that if I changed the Result Size to 'custom' that worked and the output then was whatever I set it to - and having done that, the choices in the Result Size drop down began to work as they should and the LDR image was produced as selected.
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However - the Soft Proofing and Gamut Check buttons are still not active - I did select a profile for my printer (just guessed) in case not making that selection would disable these buttons --
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I have the same problem! also I note that after I click 'Tonemap' the Soft Proofing and Gamut Check buttons are NOT active - am I missing something? Anyone?
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Thanks for this tutorial! I'm just wondering why does Luminance crash when I try to do a Tonemap of the images at the original resolution (5184x3456)?
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I figured it out. It was because I set the setup to align my images (wasn't taken on a tripod) and if I picked the full resolution it would crash because the aligned image isn't as big as 5184x3456. So I just picked the next biggest one and it worked!
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Sure, no problem at all
That's a good question. I use images with the same resolution and it works.
The latest version of Luminance HDR is able to use 64bit. Maybe you got the 32bit version and this one is not able to use more than ~3gb memory.
If you want to create a tonemap of such a huge image you neet to install the 64bit version.
Otherwise... if you already use the 64bit version I do not know why it crashes.
I hope this may help you.
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Afterthought: also note that wonderful results can be had by generating one image with the Mantiuk06 operator and one with Fattal and then combining the layers in GIMP.
For those who use Fattal: please make sure you use version 2.3 and up of LuminanceHDR. The Fattal operator was updated for this release and is no longer size dependant as well as a lot faster.
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Combining fattal and mantiuk... that's something I never tried! Thanks for your tip, I'll test it as soon as possible
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Good tutorial but you leave off too soon. I think it makes a lot of sense to mention that the images created with LuminanceHDR can really become eye-catchers after a bit of touch-up with levels & curves as well as sharpening in GIMP. Other than that: very nice job!
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Hi, thanks a lot for your comment!!
You're right, a post process is very often necessary.
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Thank you very much for the tutorial! It is very clear and Mantiuk settings are useful
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Hey, thanks for your comment
I do change the default settings for fattal. I use the noise reduction 0.1 and color saturation by 0.5
The rest... depends how the image should look like
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Thank you very much! I will try that
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Happy I found this. I just got a new digital SLR and want to give HDR images a try. I like the way most of them look and want to try it for myself.
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Hey there, sorry for my late answer.
How is your HDR-shooting doing?
I'm glad that this tutorial is a little help.
Cheers!
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Its going well. I've got several up in my gallery already. I need to figure out how to set up my camera to take more than three shots so I can start doing 6, 8, and 9 shot HDRs, but the three shot HDRs are turning out pretty good.
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Yo, that sounds great! My can take only 3 pictures in a exposure row. just like -2,0,+2 EV. The better (and way more expensive) cams can take more that 3 shots.
But, as you said, 3 shots are good enough for our purpose
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Read thru the tutorial. It seems clear. Definitely gonna download Luminance and give it a try.
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all right!
tell me if you need some more tips/help
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I don't use Luminance, I use Photomatix Pro and Photoshop. So why I'm I faving this? The short answer is that I love to see people sharing good practice and helping their fellow deviants to progress. So well done you and keep it up
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Thanks a lot for your kind words!
I've seen a lot HDR tutorials on dA but no one for Luminance... Photoshop or Photomatrix is the most uses software but they're not freeware.
My next HTU will be a little bit shorter but useful too.
It's about the EXIF data and how to copy it to other photos and it's freeware software again
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Sounds good, I shall be tuning into your next HTU tutorial because like many I use Photoshop to combine my images before using Photomatix to do the HDR tone mapping. Photoshop is so much better at aligning images but one side effect is that you lose the Exif data along the way.
Keep up the good work
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Loosing the EXIF data is more than annoying! I think if somebody submits photos on dA, the EXIF data should be included because it may help others to better their photography skills.
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Absolutely, I used to get really annoyed when it was missing from a shot that I was hoping to learn something about how it had been achieved but now that I have found that data is missing from some of my HDR shots I'm a little bit more understanding
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geiles tut Timo! werd ich bestimmt mal benutzen und credit geben wenn mein resultat gut aussieht^^ danke
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Dann bin ich mal gespannt auf deine Ergebnisse
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I like the Fattal one more, but that's probably just because I like the brighter look.
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Thanks for your comment!
This depends on the selected output size and that may change if you calculate this one in high resolution.
Fattal is normally the most colourful operator but due to the fog in the background the colours are missing.
That's why I dislike the Fattal operator in this case. Without this fog it might be much more better.
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thanks, I hope it will help you
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You are welcome , and yeah it will indeed
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