This offer expires December 1st!

Shooting and editing for real estate and architectural interiors is a whole different beast than landscapes and non-commercial work.  The list of gotchas is long, here’s the short one.

You know the culprits… mixed lighting, massive dynamic range scenes most HDR apps choke on, reflections and glare, shooting directly at glass/windows/mirrors where flash is not an option, regaining window frames from massive back lit situations where light wrap causes loss of detail, shooting real estate with live talent in frame (no strobes), and on and on goes the list of fun shooting interiors.

I’ve been getting emails asking if they missed the launch of my HDR Training for Real Estate and Architectural Photography.  You didn’t miss the official announcement… it’s getting closer, but right now only those in the initial beta group are getting the training videos.

Why is it taking so long to get the training finished? Simple,… because I am a working photographer.

Yes, it has been coming along slowly thusfar, but it is about to kick into high gear.  I’ve cleared the decks for December.  I am ONLY creating training during the month of December.  The official launch of the HDR Training and when the site will go live is now targeting January (URL to be provided at time of launch).

The training I’m providing allows you to have access to me to ask questions via email and even via phone if we can match our schedules.  Ditto via skype for out of the country english speaking folks.  Hence why this training is not dirt cheap.

In fact one of the training videos already created and available for download now was created because one of the photographers in the beta group asked me to show how to incorporate live talent with HDR for an architectural interior product shoot.  It is possible that one of your questions might end up turning into a video tutorial as well if I think it will benefit the group.

I’ve gotten emails from a few of you asking if you can join the beta now even though all the videos and training are not fully complete. The answer is yes, BUT only if you understand that there is no concrete date as to when all the videos will be done. The target is by the first week of January.  Currently there are over two hours of training finished and available for download.  They are 1280×720 hi quality H.264 movies for viewing on a computer.

Once all the videos are done it will encompass everything I do from capture to post.  What is complete and available now are a handful of techniques that will be used in the full workflow/pipeline.

What is being shot this week is …. what I take  to a shoot, do at a shoot (and why) and then I show you various workflows to edit in post. For post production, I’m showing various workflows that work on both Mac and PC.  It is important to reiterate that the training I’m offering here is ongoing… as in perpetual. I say perpetual, but a more accurate statement would be that the training will continue until I no longer need to implement a hdri pipeline simply because in 10yrs it will probably all be done in camera and in one shot anyway.

Until then, I can promise you that you’ll always have my best imaging pipeline for High Dynamic Range Imaging.  What I’m teaching will either slightly alter in the coming months or change completely.  That means in the future I’ll need to create new videos to replace the current ones as I improve my workflow or find cool work arounds.  Hence the reason this training is not dirt cheap.

As hot as HDR is currently and is getting, .. it virtually guarantees that new apps will appear or existing apps will get updated.  I test the heck out of them and many of the companies creating them invite me to their betas so I usually have an opinion or a leg up on the apps when they release.  I’ve found little workflow enhancements that you probably have not implemented yourself that will give you better results for editing in a HDRI pipeline. Some of what I’ve shown in the videos have already helped those currently in the beta group despite some of them being very experienced in HDR.

My current preferred pipeline for post production changed dramatically a couple of years ago and new ones have emerged as well.  I have a few post production workflows I’ll be showing.  One of which I use for what I call “quick turns“ where a realtor needs pics turned quickly and I have automation steps in that workflow.  (This is a video that releases in about mid December).

Another workflow is going to show my pipeline for HDR Timelapse sequences shot for architectural interiors.  And another two pipelines showing my highest level of quality for magazine level submissions.  Many of my approaches are specifically geared for dealing with the nightmares of shooting architectural interiors.

“Been there done that“.  I’m not bragging, just saying I’ve suffered more than you!!!

I’ve been shooting real estate using a high dynamic range imaging pipeline exclusively since 2005. I’ve run up against all the problems you likely already have yourself, or haven’t had the displeasure of experiencing yet. You don’t need massively expensive gear, but technique and post production are key.

I’m incredibly anal and I tinker with apps and new approaches all the time.  Always looking for a more efficient pipeline.  A few photographers that thought they had settled in for a workflow they created have either completely changed gears or implemented the tweaks I’ve shown them once I revealed some workflow enhancements.  You’ll see.

I had nobody to learn from when I started with HDR, I just tinkered with every app there was and found ways to get commercially viable images.  I never found anything online about HDR because in 2005 there wasn’t anyone using it exclusively for real estate.  So I never knew some folks had created dos and don’ts and rules about bracketing.  I would just test things out without fretting about what you are or are not supposed to do or how to treat RAWs or files in post.  I would just think about what I needed to do to best exploit the scene and best compress the dynamic range down.

The video training is currently distributed via temporary download links from YouSendIt, etc. You just click the link and download the hi res videos to your computer for viewing.  Eventually all of these will also be online once the website is live. The site isn’t online yet and as such neither is any online payment system.  So if you’d like to join the beta, you can send me a check, pay via paypal, pay me by sending me an Amazon Gift Card, or pay via visa/mastercard through my business merchant account (either with a form I’d email for you to fill in and fax back or I could take your credit card info over the phone).

The emails I use for PayPal and Amazon are not the same as the one you’d email me to join the beta.  So start by sending me an email asking about payment options to digitalcoastimage@gmail.com

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To join the training with the rest of the beta group now, is $499.

The price for the same training when officially launched will be $750 per student (that’s not a typo).

I’ve already found that the amount of time I spend answering emails and phone calls warrants the tuition to be as such. And it is worth repeating again.  The training is ONGOING.

If you shoot timelapse and you are trying to squeeze every ounce out of shadows and pull in as much highlight detail as possible, then pay close attention to this chart.

If you only bracket 3aeb when shooting for HDR, then pay very close attention to this chart.  Your 3aeb is only as good as your sensor can cover (in Dynamic Range).  Lower Dynamic Range sensors result in banding and heavy noise issues when shooting high dynamic range scenes and only bracketing 3aeb.

Results will vary widely if you shoot 3aeb with a dynamic range monster like the Nikon D7000 versus the other (3aeb max) DSLRs at the bottom of the chart below.

<<< The good news is if you bracket tighter and wider than 3aeb, you can capture virtually any scene with ANY of the lowest ranked sensors below and still capture the entire dynamic range of the scene.  BUT!!! … only if you are willing to bracket 8-12 frames spaced 2/3rds to 1EV apart (scene dependent) >>>

*** I underlined the cameras released in the last few months

The training is specific to implementing HDR techniques.  It is in no way, shape or form about how to frame your shots or anything along the lines of the business of architectural photography.

I’ve posted a full 24 minute review of one HDR application that I use mostly for HDR Timelapse. The video is not as structured as my training course, but it at least lets you hear my voice and get a feel for a new application in the process.

I’ve been putting together video tutorials for the last two months behind the scenes and I’m creating more in the next few weeks as well.  All revolving around various workflows and strategies for capturing and editing high dynamic range scenes typical with shooting architectural photography (especially interiors).

Many of my clients are rental companies that rent condos and homes along the florida beaches where I live.  Some of my rental company clients encourage me to over crank their shots to brighten the rooms up as well as over saturate the scenes slightly to create an emotive feel (their terminology, not mine).  Hence why you’ll see some very heavily processed shots in this 120 image sample gallery of employing HDRI for Architectural Photography.

Even though the various workflows I’ll cover will focus on architectural interiors, the techniques are applicable to virtually any high dynamic range scene.  I’ll also be covering landscapes and shooting / editing HDR Timelapse.  This is an example of some HDR Timelapse I shot over the last year.

If you are interested in receiving notification about the training when available, email me using the email at the bottom of this page (from my main site) and title the email HDR Training or something similar.

I’ll be covering various workflows using various applications so it would be helpful if you tell me what operating system you primarily work on (Mac / PC and what version of operating system like 10.6 for OSX or say Windows XP Pro for PC).  Also include what apps you currently use for typical raw processing workflow and what version of photoshop you are using as well as any 3rd party HDR plugins or applications you use.

There are many flaws in the architectural segments because the video software guessed at pixel movement between each frame shot and you’ll see wavy lines appear briefly a few times.  Also, because I panned the camera by such a large amount between each still frame shot, the software had trouble creating all the in between frames (which also contributes to the large stair step feeling in the pans).  I was tempted to not include these shots because they are flawed, but figured I might as well to at least showcase the fact that each still is a tonemapped image from a 9 shot bracket taken with a Nikon D3 (each merged to HDR, then tonemapped of course).

Again, each frame is actually a bracket of images that were merged to HDR and then tonemapped.  Many sequences were shot with a Nikon D3 set to auto bracket 9 shots from under exposed to over exposed with 1EV jumps between each of those 9 frames.  I also shot a few segments with a Canon T2i set to 3aeb.

(MORE DETAILS OF THE SHOOT BELOW THE VIDEO LINKS)

Vimeo 720p DIRECT LINK HERE (crisper than YouTube version) (embedded below)

HDR Timelapse and HDR Video from Michael James on Vimeo.

YouTube 1080p DIRECT LINK HERE (embedded below)

The D3 segments were shot via HDR Timelapse using the D3′s built in intervalometer.  The intervalometer on the D3 allows for shooting brackets in addition to standard single frame timelapse.  You just set the camera up initially as if you are going to shoot an automatic exposure bracket like you would any other AEB burst, but then go into the intervalometer setting afterwards and set it up for timelapse mode… presto… HDR Timelapse capture at your fingertips.  (The D3 can fire 3, 5, 7 or 9 frames from under exposed to over exposed in AEB mode)

With the Canon T2i I had to “trick” the camera per se by using in camera AEB plus connecting a Promote Control via USB to it to fire it off.  However, this was prior to the Promote Control having the new firmware which adds HDR Timelapse functionality.  When I shot the sequences with the T2i it was when the Promote Control would only do standard timelapse or HDR bracketing, but not both.

So what I did was set the Canon T2i to 3aeb on the camera itself and then I set the Promote Control to standard timelapse with it shooting one frame off in 5 second intervals.  So the T2i was firing off the full 3aeb sequence over 10 seconds per bracket because of the timelapse delay. Basically, the promote control was assuming it was just firing off a timelapse sequence with shots fired every 5 seconds.  But the T2i I set in AEB mode instead of manual mode so that the shots fired off each 5 seconds were in fact the AEB sequence the T2i was set for.

Shot 1 would go off (normal exposure), then 5 seconds later shot 2 would go off (the under exposed frame), then 5 seconds later the shot 3 would go off (over exposed frame).  Another 5 seconds would pass and start over on the normal exposure, and on and on.

Because of the 5 second delay between each AEB shot, there was time for trees/sky to move slightly, but the sequences I used the T2i on were not hurt badly because of the delay.  The T2i HDR Timelapse sequences were: the bedroom shot, the shot from the top of a home showing trees/beach/water in distance and the Vegas Skyline sunset shot through a VERY DIRTY hotel window (no balcony to shoot from).  So the delay between frames was not as apparent as it would be shooting other subject matter.

I used this same technique with the Promote Control to do other HDR Timelapse sequences too, but just have not gotten around to processing yet.  I even shortened it up to firing off every 3 seconds in some cases, but it eats through memory cards too fast and doesn’t encompass as many changes in lighting / clouds, etc.  Now that the Promote Control’s firmware is updated to support HDR Timelapse, I won’t have to use that work around in the future.

Finally, a lightly tonemapped image of the D3 in progress of shooting the HDR Timelapse sunset sequence. (Shot with a Sigma SD14)

CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGE VERSION

HDR Video – Eden Gardens 2008 from Michael James on Vimeo.

I shot it with a Nikon D3 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens.  It sat on top of a fluid head tripod I use for video work. I also had a shutter release cable attached to the D3. I set the camera to automatic bracketing and once I determined the mid point I switched from aperture priority to full manual so that each of the AEB sequences I was about to fire would be EXACTLY the same.  I determined I would not need to go a full 9aeb and set the D3 to fire off 7 shots with 1EV steps between.  I lowered the settings of the camera to shoot JPEG in a size that is larger than HD.

Also of critical importance is locking down white balance.  I chose Daylight here (an obvious choice), but will often dial in an exact Kelvin setting for other lighting situations (although Kelvin WB selection is generally not available in lower end DSLRs).

If I wanted to shoot RAW I would not have been able to have captured the entire tilt move in just over 60 seconds due to the buffer issues, but the lower JPEG setting meant I would never tap out the buffer and could shoot burst after burst easily.  Also, because the steps were only 1EV jumps between each of the 7aeb captures, I was comfortable only shooting JPEG.  I would NOT attempt shooting JPEG for anything larger than 1EV jumps between each shot for this type of approach.  Time was critical here to capture the entire tilt move in a short period of time.  (I shoot RAW for all my other typical HDR workflows, including HDR Timelapse)

The shutter release of the camera was set to continuous so that I could hold down the shutter release cable button with one hand to fire off a full 7 shots at 9fps while keeping my other hand on the tripod handle to make small incremental movements to tilt up after each 7aeb capture.  I do it this way to be quick enough to capture the entire tilt move seen in the video in a little over 60 seconds.

To repeat myself slightly now…, I have the camera ready to capture the brackets in continuous shutter release mode and then prepared for the first AEB capture by aiming the camera slightly below the horizon into the deep shadows.  I then fired off a burst by holding down the shutter release cable button and quickly moved the tripod a very small (unmeasured and done by eye) amount; slightly tilted up for the next capture.  Then again held the shutter release cable button to fire off another 7aeb and repeated this process until the tilt to the sky was complete.  This took all of about one minute to capture.

Back home I dump the images to a folder on the computer and then I launched photoshop to begin the merge to HDR process.  You don’t have to use photoshop as the program to merge to HDR, but back in 2008 when I put this together that was the process I used.  I had a few scripts that I had created that had photoshop merge to HDR and then use custom settings to tonemap out to 16 bit TIFFs.

I employ two alternative workflows these days.  One of which is where I merge to HDR in applications that batch merge and have them save .EXR files for each merge.  Those .EXR files are then imported into either Adobe After Effects or Eyeon Fusion and then I use open source plugins to do the tonemapping in those compositing programs as well as the ensuing optical flow.

But in 2008 those plugins did not exist yet and this process I’m still describing was the workflow I used for the Eden Gardens sequence.

What you see below in the screen shot (click to enlarge or right click and open in a new window) is one of those 7aeb sequences in the merge to HDR dialogue. I’m just showing you that to show you that the dynamic range of the scene was pretty large for an outdoor shot and the sky was blown out when you could see the leaves straight ahead and the leaves were pitch black when the sky was properly exposed.

Like I said, there are several programs out there that can automate the process of merging and tonemapping your brackets and I plan to cover how to use them in this capacity in some future posts and training, but the process I employed here was a home grown merge to HDR and tonemapping recipe I used for Photoshop CS3.  In the end I had 30+ Tiffs from that automated process to then use as the skeleton for an image sequence.  I then take those Tiffs to the next step for optical flow treatment.

Before I move to that next step, here is a larger view (click for larger image) of a single tonemapped frame, along with the 7 shots above the top of it showing you the dynamic range covered for that one image.

The next step I did then was to take the TIFFs into Apple Shake which treats the group of single images like a sequence.  I then used custom settings (see image below; click to enlarge) to expand the number of frames to be created BETWEEN each of the frames I was importing into it.  In other words, Apple Shake was now going to create the frames and guess at the pixel movement between the frames I shot in the garden.  There are other programs such as After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Fusion, etc that can accomplish the same thing with optical flow, but I used Shake in this instance.

I also recropped the image in Shake to match the ratio of HD footage and had it export the sequence as 1080p ProRes footage which I planned to send to Final Cut Pro to add audio and titles (see image below; click to enlarge).

Then I imported the 1080p footage into Final Cut Pro (see image below; click to enlarge) and added sound and some titles to export to various formats (including a web version which exists on Vimeo).

Today I had a real estate shoot cancel, so I got a bunch of past real estate shots edited and then took some time to piece together the Las Vegas Sunset HDR Timelapse.  Because I chose to merge to hdr and tonemap that one single image over the weekend (above) using Photomatix Pro, I thought I’d use Photomatix Pro again for the entire sequence.  What the hell.  Its not for a client so a little over saturation won’t matter here.  I made a few mental mistakes in the pipeline because I generally use other apps, but the results are O.K. for government work  :)

This was the capture/post flow:

Nikon D3  + Nikon 85mm f/1.4D shot through my hotel window on a tripod utilizing the in camera HDR Timelapse (You can combine a timelapse with bracketing in the D3).  I chose to go with a 7AEB with 1EV steps and the camera was firing off that bracket every 15 seconds.  Of the 7AEB I killed off the final over exposed image of each bracket.  I felt adding that latitude would brighten the image too much.  So each merge to HDR was 6 shots spaced 1EV apart.  The total number of tonemapped shots was 90.  Basically covering a span of  22 mins 30 seconds worth of time during the sunset. Both the Merge to HDR and Tonemapping was done in the batch feature of Photomatix Pro.  I then took the tonemapped images into Final Cut Pro for time and color treatment before exporting for YouTube & Vimeo.

Because I shot this sequence in portrait mode, I opted to make slight color correction differences to two versions and post one video with both playing together.  I should have pushed on image a lot harder to show variation.  Now that I’ve watched it online it seems very subtle.

I also simultaneously shot a HDR Timelapse a foot away from the D3 with a Canon T2i in horizontal mode as wide as the kit lens will go (18mm for that EF-S, but on a crop body).  I shot for a full hour with the T2i.  About 15 minutes prior to setting up the D3 and the same after the D3 exhausted the compact flash I had in it.  It will be interesting to see those results versus the D3.

I’m no expert when it comes to compression/encoding.  I can only say that the video looks a hell of a lot better in FCP than online!

Vimeo 720p Version LINKED HERE (opens in a new window)

I got a ton of shots, but didn’t shoot as often as I had thought because of a few time consuming reasons. I had food poisoning one night/day as well as both speaking briefly in the Post Pit at NAB and also spending two days trying to see all there was to see at the NAB Show itself (which is so big, that words fail to describe).

More to come next week, but I have back to back to back shoots lined up with builders this week for properties that have to be shot right away.  Its torture not being able to process the Vegas stuff right away, but all in good time.

Another quick HDR capture I chose to tonemap via Photomatix Pro
(Those two images will likely be the last I run through Photomatix Pro for some time. I’m just not thrilled with the way it handles color and has more than subtle hue shifts that cause saturation/hue issues)
http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/vegas/test-50mm.html

More to come soon…

|||—— UPDATED FOR NEW CAMERAS TESTED BY DXOmark.com —–|||

What is important and relevant to HDRI is the dynamic range of your sensor. It really matters.  Unless you taking large and tight brackets of each scene then it really, really, REALLY matters even moreso than you think.  If you are following a technique taught by someone using say a D3x and they tell you all you need is X shots, but you are using a camera at the bottom of the chart below and taking the same number… there is no way you can match that person’s results. Its mathematically impossible.

I get asked all the time how many shots do I take when I shoot, but nobody asks me with what camera.  Everyone assumes they are all about the same for HDR.  They aren’t.

Gear used for capturing brackets for HDR is even more critical if you are only taking 3 shots.  It will directly impact the quality of your HDR file. IF YOU ARE SHOOTING FOR VFX WORK THIS IS SLIGHTLY LESS CRITICAL THAN IF YOU WILL BE TONEMAPPING FOR REALISM (only slightly less though).

I’ve captured and tonemapped over 13,000 images for architecture, real estate and commercial shoots.  I’ve forfeited all my vacation time the last 4 years just to do intensive testing about what works better.  Gear, post production, you name it.

I’m pretty obsessive compulsive about trying to get a realistic looking image for real estate interiors and I’ve bought and/or rented about 40% of the cameras on this list below. DXOmark.com seems on the mark as far as my personal results are concerned.

Dynamic Range of Camera Sensors (I chose to focus on modern day digital models only)

No test is perfect. DXOmark has attempted to do this objectively, but because ISO/Noise and how cameras can handle scenes, colors and other differing factors, this should not be the only way to base your purchasing decision.  For example…

Someone could use the Canon 1000D (also known as the Canon XS) plus a piece of gear to get pro HDR captures.

If you bought that entry level Canon 1000D/XS for $400+ and a PROMOTE CONTROL for $299, (which will soon be adding HDR Timelapse to its functions in addition to HDR capture and standard Timelapse), then you could take very large and tight brackets with the Promote Control attached to your 1000D/XS that will capture well beyond what the in camera AEB capabilities of every single camera on that chart above.  Yes, including a D3x or 1Ds Mark III.  Sometimes the piece of “kit” you add to the mix can make a lower end device perform very well (dynamic range speaking here).  Of course the pixel quality of a D3x/1DsMarkIII is easily better than a Canon XS, but at the cost of $8000 it should be.

Promote Control

I covered the Promote Control in detail the summer of 2009 ( BLOG POST HERE ) and even created some getting started videos which are embedded in that blog post.  A link to their website is also listed on that blog post if you want to view which cameras are supported.

The Promote Control allows extended HDR capture with cameras that both don’t have a HDR mode or a limited HDR mode (such as 3AEB).  The Promote Control also has a separate Timelapse feature as well, but you couldn’t use both HDR Mode and Timelapse Mode at the same time.  Soon you will be able to do just that.  The Promote Control is being worked on (the firmware specifically) to allow HDR Timelapse.

Because the Promote Control connects via USB, this means cameras that only cost hundreds will be able to do what pro bodies that cost thousands can do.  Automated HDR TImelapse capture. The developer has indicated it is now at the top of the cue for the next firmware update!!!