Bracketing for HDR etc

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks! I also read that there is a spot meter option which does the same thing, but I think it was stated that the finger touch works for EV only in that mode -not focus. Does Auto mode set focus AND exposure wth finger touch?

You choose which option touch activates in the upper right. You can quickly switch between them as necessary.

 

[NJT]

I do quite a lot of HDR photography and tend not to use exposure bracketing at all. A much quicker and simpler way is to set the focus function to exposure (it goes yellow instead of green) then literally touch the screen shoot, touch the screen, shoot etc for each of the brightest or darkest areas. You can shoot 5 or so pictures quite quickly and they tend to be the ones with the biggest exposure difference eg sky to mountain to foreground. I then use lightroom to create the HDR automatically and it works well.

Good idea!

 

[gnirtS]

A big flaw in the DJI AEB (and has been for years) is you cant change the range to anything other than the default, fairly useless 2/3 of a stop.
This means AEB works for some scenes but simply isnt enough for seems with true high dynamic range.
Quite often you're better off taking a manual series of brackets which does take longer but will produce a far better final result than the inbuilt AEB.

 

[TaylorsGuard]

Yes, I typically use this. Even with a tripod, there are always alignment issues with lens distortion etc.

There is a lua script to install for darktable that will auto align HDR merges. Google it, install it, give it a try. I started out in darktable. I tried to switch to Lightroom to see what all the hype was about. Granted I only have LR a week.... But to me Darktable seems more powerful, plus it's free.
I wouldn't let the $12 or whatever monthly charge hold me back, but DT is just better imo. And I don't like the idea of a monthly charge that holds all my work hostage in the event I want to switch software. Not with the low cost of external storage these days.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

And I don't like the idea of a monthly charge that holds all my work hostage in the event I want to switch software. Not with the low cost of external storage these days.

Many/most of us using Lightroom use LR Classic, which is local storage (no cloud).

The cloud version of LR also allows you to store local. If you know decided you're going to cancel your subscription, just download all of your content from the cloud first (and they give you a generous grace-period to do so).

Nobody is holding your content hostage.

Darktable is designed for astrophotography. It might work for you in this specific use case, and if you're not an actual photographer (who would use Photoshop / Lightroom for many things other than image stacking and alignment), then that's probably a good low cost solution for you. But don't blame Adobe's business model for your desire to go on the cheap—just say that you don't need all of the other things in LR and so the subscription is not cost effective for you.

Chris

 

[TaylorsGuard]

Many/most of us using Lightroom use LR Classic, which is local storage (no cloud).

The cloud version of LR also allows you to store local. If you know decided you're going to cancel your subscription, just download all of your content from the cloud first (and they give you a generous grace-period to do so).

Nobody is holding your content hostage.

Darktable is designed for astrophotography. It might work for you in this specific use case, and if you're not an actual photographer (who would use Photoshop / Lightroom for many things other than image stacking and alignment), then that's probably a good low cost solution for you. But don't blame Adobe's business model for your desire to go on the cheap—just say that you don't need all of the other things in LR and so the subscription is not cost effective for you.

Chris

No actually I'm saying the opposite. Darktable has a steeper learning curve, but I think is a much more capable and powerful tool for photo editing. I tried LRC, it just didn't hold hold up to darktable capabilities. You seem to have taken that s personally lol. I was just giving my opinion.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

No actually I'm saying the opposite. Darktable has a steeper learning curve, but I think is a much more capable and powerful tool for photo editing. I tried LRC, it just didn't hold hold up to darktable capabilities. You seem to have taken that s personally lol. I was just giving my opinion.

I didn't take it personally and I know you're just stating opinions. My only reason for replying was your weird assertion that Lightroom will hold your images hostage if you decide not to use it. No reason to add such nonsense to your comparisons.

As for your assertion that Darktable is more capable than Lightroom, you're really comparing apples to oranges. I agree that it's a steeper learning curve though, because like many free apps, not a lot of thought went into usability and design.

Chris

 

[TaylorsGuard]

I didn't take it personally and I know you're just stating opinions. My only reason for replying was your weird assertion that Lightroom will hold your images hostage if you decide not to use it. No reason to add such nonsense to your comparisons.

As for your assertion that Darktable is more capable than Lightroom, you're really comparing apples to oranges. I agree that it's a steeper learning curve though, because like many free apps, not a lot of thought went into usability and design.

Chris

Yeah, I didn't really mean the hostage thing the way it came out. I type, not much thought, post, never read over it. I just like DT. Have a good day

 

[Felix le Chat]

I didn't take it personally and I know you're just stating opinions. My only reason for replying was your weird assertion that Lightroom will hold your images hostage if you decide not to use it. No reason to add such nonsense to your comparisons.

As for your assertion that Darktable is more capable than Lightroom, you're really comparing apples to oranges. I agree that it's a steeper learning curve though, because like many free apps, not a lot of thought went into usability and design.

Chris

Having tried and used (in date order from the 1990's) JASC Photopro, Photoshop, COREL Photopro (after they bought out JASC), Lightroom and finally Darktable: I agree that Darktable is the best editing/correction option.

It was designed by serious photographers for serious photographers. Yes, it is difficult for Adobe addicts to transition to. The bloke I sometimes head out on photoshoots with uses Lightroom/Photoshop and gave up on trying Darktable because it frustrated him. Lightroom frustrates me.

Being forced to subscribe to software on a monthly basis frustrates me even further... stop paying the subscription: and you can't use the software... if you're a professional photographer, that smacks of being held to ransom but Adobe removed the option to buy a fully featured version of their software a long time ago (not long before I finally dumped PS/LR for good)

Yes - Darktable is freeware... but 'free' doesn't mean 'amateur'... far from it.

 

[TaylorsGuard]

Having tried and used (in date order from the 1990's) JASC Photopro, Photoshop, COREL Photopro (after they bought out JASC), Lightroom and finally Darktable: I agree that Darktable is the best editing/correction option.

It was designed by serious photographers for serious photographers. Yes, it is difficult for Adobe addicts to transition to. The bloke I sometimes head out on photoshoots with uses Lightroom/Photoshop and gave up on trying Darktable because it frustrated him. Lightroom frustrates me.

Being forced to subscribe to software on a monthly basis frustrates me even further... stop paying the subscription: and you can't use the software... if you're a professional photographer, that smacks of being held to ransom but Adobe removed the option to buy a fully featured version of their software a long time ago (not long before I finally dumped PS/LR for good)

Yes - Darktable is freeware... but 'free' doesn't mean 'amateur'... far from it.

I can say from reading your reply that I am much lower down the line in understanding photography, but starting out on darktable and transitioning to light room I just felt so restricted. I'm still learning everyday on darktable but know just enough to form the opinion that it is on another level.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I can say from reading your reply that I am much lower down the line in understanding photography, but starting out on darktable and transitioning to light room I just felt so restricted. I'm still learning everyday on darktable but know just enough to form the opinion that it is on another level.

We're all on the same continuous learning curve, I've just tried a few more editing suites over a longer period of time. That's probably how I managed to shift from Ps/Lr so easily.

Yes, a different workflow, but I hadn't had the consistent length of use time for Lightroom to become ingrained and habitual. Darktable is definitely not (as suggested) badly designed, I find it a lot more intuitive to use and the biggest benefit of all? it still avoids all that 'A I' crap that ruins technical photography.

 

[TaylorsGuard]

We're all on the same continuous learning curve, I've just tried a few more editing suites over a longer period of time. That's probably how I managed to shift from Ps/Lr so easily.

Yes, a different workflow, but I hadn't had the consistent length of use time for Lightroom to become ingrained and habitual. Darktable is definitely not (as suggested) badly designed, I find it a lot more intuitive to use and the biggest benefit of all? it still avoids all that 'A I' crap that ruins technical photography.

I would like to ask you about the HDr merges lua script on DT. I installed the script a couple of weeks ago and have used my DJI Air 3 to do AEB with 5 photos multiple times. The results have been lackluster and dark.

Granted these shots were sunsets, but my EV was at 0. I've read about taking the darkest one, maybe two images out of the mix. But do you have any suggestions, other than getting a mavic lol. The mavic 4 will likely be my next drone but I'm not there yet.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I would like to ask you about the HDr merges lua script on DT. I installed the script a couple of weeks ago and have used my DJI Air 3 to do AEB with 5 photos multiple times. The results have been lackluster and dark.

Granted these shots were sunsets, but my EV was at 0. I've read about taking the darkest one, maybe two images out of the mix. But do you have any suggestions, other than getting a mavic lol. The mavic 4 will likely be my next drone but I'm not there yet.

You're not the only one to mention that the 'HDR merge' option in Darkroom is one of the few real weak points. I still use Mavic 2's and the 5D button on the remote alters the EV when it is flicked left or right, meaning that you can quickly increase the exposure value manually between each image by 1+ stop, super useful for HDR stacking.

Addendum
Another helpful hint - if you set the screen tap from autofocus to metering, tap the sky for shot #1, the horizon area for mid-ground shot #2 then tap the foreground landscape for shot #3 you'll get 3 exposures perfectly metered for each layer. Now try stacking them. Use the on-screen shutter button, not the one on the controller shoulder.

I tend to use different softwares for different solutions. With any form of stacking (exposure bracketing/focus stacking/averaging/super-resolution etc.) I'll import the images to CHASYS DRAW and run them through it's dedicated stacking module, let it do its stuff and then output to high bit TIF, which responds to editing and enhancement (Photoninja/Darktable) almost as well as a RAW does.

 

[TaylorsGuard]

You're not the only one to mention that the 'HDR merge' option in Darkroom is one of the few real weak points. I still use Mavic 2's and the 5D button on the remote alters the EV when it is flicked left or right, meaning that you can quickly increase the exposure value manually between each image by 1+ stop, super useful for HDR stacking.

Addendum
Another helpful hint - if you set the screen tap from autofocus to metering, tap the sky for shot #1, the horizon area for mid-ground shot #2 then tap the foreground landscape for shot #3 you'll get 3 exposures perfectly metered for each layer. Now try stacking them. Use the on-screen shutter button, not the one on the controller shoulder.

I tend to use different softwares for different solutions. With any form of stacking (exposure bracketing/focus stacking/averaging/super-resolution etc.) I'll import the images to CHASYS DRAW and run them through it's dedicated stacking module, let it do its stuff and then output to high bit TIF, which responds to editing and enhancement (Photoninja/Darktable) almost as well as a RAW does.

Thank you so much

 

[Felix le Chat]

Thank you so much

You're welcome.