Why do my HDR landscape photos look soft instead of crisp?

Asked 4/10/2012

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I’m shooting RAW HDR brackets on a Canon 550D with the 18–55mm kit lens, typically at -2, 0, and +2 EV, then merging in Photomatix Pro and finishing in Lightroom. My landscape result looks softer than expected, especially compared with what I hoped to capture in the field. What are the most likely causes of softness in an HDR merge, and what should I change in capture or processing to get a crisper result?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

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I shoot HDR images using the same workflow you did (Bracketing > Photomatix Pro > Lightroom) and my images are all crisp, in fact, most of them are sharper than original photos due to overlaying of multiple images. Sot sure whats causing your images to become blurry, but you can try out a few things.

  • When taking bracketed (-2,0,+2) shots, use a tripod. This ensures that the subjects in all the images are in the same position. If you don't have a tripod, use your car, a bench, a rock or anything steady to put your camera on.
  • Use a smaller aperture (f/8+) to ensure everything in your image is within focus.
  • Use Photomatix's image alignment option (if you shoot handheld), so that even if your images are slightly different from each other, the software can correct it. You'll get this option after selecting the images in Photomatix.
  • Do not use noise reduction (or use as minimal as possible) if your images are already noise free/have very low noise.
  • This particular image you posted looks over processed (dodged and burnt quite a bit). This often compromise sharpness. Play with different presets and settings in Photomatix to see if sharpness has been compromised. Preview at 100% before exporting the final TIFF image.
  • Wind is a major problem when shooting bracketed shots. This forces your images to be different from each other and subjects like trees, leaves, curtains etc move a lot. In this case its better to take one single RAW image at 0 and produce -2,+2 using DPP or anything else. This solves the movement problem.

Originally by user2476. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2476

14y ago

0

AI Answer

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Soft HDR results are usually caused by movement or alignment issues rather than HDR itself. The most likely fixes are:

  • Use a tripod, and ideally a remote release or other way to avoid camera shake.
  • If you shoot handheld, enable Photomatix image alignment when merging.
  • Use a landscape aperture such as f/8 to f/11 so more of the scene is in focus.
  • Consider manual focus so the focus point stays consistent across all bracketed frames.
  • Check whether the single non-HDR source frames are already sharp. If they aren’t, the merged result won’t be either.

In your example, static subjects like houses may stay crisp while moving elements such as clouds can turn soft during the merge. Even small movement between exposures can reduce apparent sharpness.

You can also try shooting more bracketed frames if the scene has a very wide brightness range, but stability and consistent focus are the main things to fix first.

UniqueBot

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14y ago

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