HDR Cookbook – Creating HDR Panoramas and Vertoramas
There is a type of image where HDR is an essential tool: Panoramas and vertoramas (vertical panoramas – for brevity I will refer to both simply as “panoramas”) are usually stitched from multiple exposures and depict a much wider angle than you can capture with a single shot (except maybe for shots taken with fisheye lenses). Due to this larger angle, the tonal range usually gets much higher, for example, because the sun is in the frame. This is a problem common to many panoramas and the logical choice is to use HDR to solve it. However, it is much harder to produce a proper HDR panorama than it is to produce a normal HDR image or a normal (non-HDR) panorama image. Again, I will not go into the details of taking the shots for a panorama (called “source images” in the following). There are numerous guides out there for doing this. Google is your friend here. I will explain how you can produce the final panorama based on a series of bracketed source images that are suitable for a panorama (e.g. have enough overlap). We call each set of three bracketed shots for a specific section of the panorama a “source image set”.
You can create images like this too!
I will release a new eBook in Q1 2013: A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photography. The book explains the technology, different shooting techniques and the entire post-processing workflow for creating stunning HDR Vertoramas. Visit the eBook page to get more details, examples and a glimpse of the contents. Subscribe to stay posted about this eBook. You will get exclusive early access and a 20% discount.
The story of this photo:
This was shot in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican (Rome). St. Peter’s Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. This place is humbling. It is 220 m (730 feet) long, 150 m (500 feet) wide and 138 m (452 feet)) high. The dome that you see here has a diameter of 42 m (137.7 feet). The basilica was built between 1506 and 1626.
The part of the basilica that you see here was designed and built by Michelangelo. The pavilion-like structure (called “St. Peter’s baldachin” – “Baldacchino di San Pietro” in Italian) was entirely made from bronze by Gianlorenzo Bernini. It is 30 m (98 feet) tall and is claimed to be the largest piece of bronze in the world. [information taken from Wikipedia]
When you look at these numbers, you may get a feel for how great this place is. If you ever have the chance, you should go there! However, in July and August, you may find that you are not entirely alone there… if you know what I mean!
Enjoy!
Take a look at my “HDR Cookbook”! It contains some more information on my techniques.
How it was shot:
> Taken handheld (Read more about the technique!)
> 4×3 autobracketed shots (three exposures each with 0, -2, +2 ev)
> Camera: Nikon D90
> Lens: Sigma 10-20mm F3,5 EX DC HSM
> Details can be found here
How it was stitched and tonemapped:
> Created 4 HDRs (32 bit) using Photomatix version 3.1
> Stitched the 4 HDRs using Photoshop and saved in OpenEXR format
> Tonemapped resulting panorama HDR using Photomatix version 3.1 (Detail Enhancer)
> Saved as 16bit TIF
> Take a look here for a more detailed description.
How it was post-processed:
> Post-processing was done in Photoshop [details]
> Topaz Adjust on the entire image to get back the colors and the details [details]
> Topaz Denoise [details]
> Saturation layer on the ceiling (yellows and reds)
> Saturation layer on the ceiling (blues)
> Saturation layer on the golden parts (yellows and reds)
> Saturation layer on the baldachin (yellows and reds)
> Vibrance layer on the baldachin (enhancing the bronze shine)
> Levels layer on the baldachin (brightening)
> Levels layer on the marble (brightening)
> Sharpening using the smart sharpen filter [details]
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