I want to make HDR images from some shots I did outdoors in extreme contrast (these won't be for microstock).  Not having done this before, I tried the PhotoMerge/Exposure tool in Elements.  The results were terrible - like PhotoMerge/Panorama, this 'feature' turns out to be little more than a toy.  I'm sure there is far better software out there - but I'm looking for something free, since I won't be doing this often.  Suggestions?

Eh not much in terms of free, everyone is going to suggest Photomatix that's pretty much the standard and your best bet.

Yes, I don't know of anything that is free, but I am sold on Nik HDR Efex Pro. I have Photomatix as well, but I find the Nik software to be much more intuitive and it has a lot of profiles that are pre-built to make it easy to get the look you are seeking without too much effort. Some of my HDR efforts are accepted on the various stock sites (although iStock isn't too keen!).

I also bought the Promote Remote control for my Canon as the exposure bracketing isn't great on Canon's. I usually take 5 shots at 1 stop intervals to blend together.

Steve

I use Dynamic Photo HDR and I find it very easy and with a lot of creative options, should you want something more artistic. It can also do tone mapping from a single image.

Here's your free opensource HDR solution:

Luminance HDR. Been over 2 years since I last used it, but it has changed a ton since then. I created this shot using it:

http://www.123rf.com/photo_6249165_wide-angle-view-of-a-traditional-home-and-large-yard-with-blue-sky-and-cirrus-clouds-horizontal-form.html

Program here:

http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/

Thanks all.  A couple of good suggestions on which I will follow up.

I was up on Haleakala on Maui last week and took a series of shots of the rim, which I'd like to try combining into an HDR panorama. The light is pretty extreme up there and there is a huge range between white clouds and black shadows.

Quote from: stockastic on February 12, 2012, 04:39
Thanks all.  A couple of good suggestions on which I will follow up.

I was up on Haleakala on Maui last week and took a series of shots of the rim, which I'd like to try combining into an HDR panorama. The light is pretty extreme up there and there is a huge range between white clouds and black shadows.

Check out Hugin for creating panoramas, very advanced open source software:

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

You'll be very interested in this:

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/tutorials/enfuse-360/en.shtml

Looks like Hugin will do HDR as well as stitching.

I use photomatix.
It can temper them mild or artistic, and even natural.
Generally they get accepted, its about avoiding artifacts and noise, and that has to do with the amount of tweaking and the number of exposures.

http://www.fotostart.dk/usergallery//fullsize/7901-20111113182655.jpg

I downloaded Luminance and started fiddling with it; I may have used Hugin in the distant past; I'm sure one of these will do the job.  If I get an interesting result I may post it here.   So far, the problematic area seems to be the tendency of all these tools to introduce banding in the sky and clouds. 

Quote from: stockastic on February 12, 2012, 14:27
I downloaded Luminance and started fiddling with it; I may have used Hugin in the distant past; I'm sure one of these will do the job.  If I get an interesting result I may post it here.   So far, the problematic area seems to be the tendency of all these tools to introduce banding in the sky and clouds. 

What are you using for your input files?

Quote from: cardmaverick on February 12, 2012, 22:10

Quote from: stockastic on February 12, 2012, 14:27
I downloaded Luminance and started fiddling with it; I may have used Hugin in the distant past; I'm sure one of these will do the job.  If I get an interesting result I may post it here.   So far, the problematic area seems to be the tendency of all these tools to introduce banding in the sky and clouds. 

What are you using for your input files?

Luminance will open the raw files (Nikon .NEF) directly and use the entire dynamic range in those files to produce an HDR jpg or tiff.  Pretty neat.

Well so far...  I experimented with Luminance for a while, eventually started to get a result I liked... tried to save the output file, and it crashed and it all went poof.   Sigh.  

[Later]
I eventually did get it to work and got a quite nice result on a set of NEFs.  Then I used Photosynth to create a panorama.  Looks great!  Thinking about getting it printed for the wall.

Does anyone here have experience using Luminance HDR on Nikon .NEF files?

I get some good results, sometimes; but usually, it does a good job of pulling in the lower part of the histogram, but does nothing with the highlights - like bright cloulds.  If I use Nikon's raw processor (Capture NX) and set exposure compensation of -1 or -2,  the cloud detail is all there, so it could in principal be pulled in to the HDR image.  But Luminance leaves the clouds blown out, and I've tried all the options and sliders I can find :-).   It just doesn't seem to really work with the raw files.

Quote from: stockastic on February 14, 2012, 20:54
Does anyone here have experience using Luminance HDR on Nikon .NEF files?

I get some good results, sometimes; but usually, it does a good job of pulling in the lower part of the histogram, but does nothing with the highlights - like bright cloulds.  If I use Nikon's raw processor (Capture NX) and set exposure compensation of -1 or -2,  the cloud detail is all there, so it could in principal be pulled in to the HDR image.  But Luminance leaves the clouds blown out, and I've tried all the options and sliders I can find :-).   It just doesn't seem to really work with the raw files.

I'll have to give this a go tonight. Last time I used the program, it did not support RAW files, so it might still be a buggy new feature.

Have you tried using 16 bit tiffs? I know Hugin won't accept raw yet, but if I'm not mistaken, they both use enfuse for HDR merging and tone remapping.

I've now tried several programs, mostly with 'bracketed' 16 bit TIFFs I generated from the RAW file with different exposure settings.   They all mess up the sky and clouds no matter what settings or options I use.  The best one by far is PhotoMatix which, naturally, is the one that costs money.

I wasn't really impressed by any of them, for the images I was trying to work with.  I couldn't get a smooth looking result that didn't look totally fake.  And I couldn't overcome the banding in the sky and clouds.

If I try this again I'll get an actual set of bracketed exposures since generating them from the RAW gave unimpressive results.

Quote from: stockastic on February 16, 2012, 04:09
I've now tried several programs, mostly with 'bracketed' 16 bit TIFFs I generated from the RAW file with different exposure settings.   They all mess up the sky and clouds no matter what settings or options I use; in the end, I could do a better job merging images manually in Elements.  The best one by far is PhotoMatix which, naturally, is the one that costs money.

I wasn't really impressed by any of them, for the images I was trying to work with.  I couldn't get a smooth looking result that didn't look totally fake.  And I couldn't overcome the banding in the sky and clouds.

If I try this again I'll get an actual set of bracketed exposures since generating them from the RAW gave unimpressive results.