Has anyone here created any Spherical Panoramic HDR images?  If so, how many exposures are you bracketing (7 or 9)? Do you use .6 EV steps or 1EV steps?

I'd like to compare notes. Thanks.

My Setup: NIkon D100, Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye, Gitzo 1325 Tripod, Arca Swiss B-1 Ballhead, Really Right Stuff Panning Clamp and Rails. 

Hi RemKool,

You should have a look at this link.

http://www.hdrsoft.com/resources/dri.html

Also have a look at the "examples" link on this page as well.

I have a D70s + Nikkor 10.5mm set up. I have been shooting 1 stop bracket sets starting at 1/1000 and going down to 1/2. This way I can choose which set either 1 stop or 2 stops I want to process. This is time consuming in shooting and in post processing.

I am  looking at doing 2 stop brackets which results in 5 or 6 images. According to the information at the link above HDR works best with sets at 2 stops apart.

Gen. Lee

Hi Gen. Lee,

Thanks for reply and the link. What is your workflow? Nikon Capture NEF - Save as TIFF - Stitch with Panotools -  Photoshop CS2 Merge HDR?

I shoot "Large" jpg at 3008x2000 in size. I don't have time mess with the raw conversion and the 3008x2000 produces a good enough image for me and my clients.

1 stop bracket for 10 images. But I am now doing 2 stop brackets for 5 or 6 images. The important part is to get the correct exposure for windows and move down from there.

I stitch 3 or 4 panos from the original bracket sets using Panoweaver 4.0. You need saved settings to stitch the underexposed sets. In fact you should use the same settings for all the panos or the HDR will be blurry.

Sometimes I HDR the individual frames then stitch one pano. But the most effecient way is to stitch panos first then do HDR.

Photmatrix : HDR then tone mapping.

Touch up in Photoshop

Import back to Panoweaver for publish

Gen. Lee

Just a note, you need a big fat computer if you are going to stitch first then HDR the resulting images (bigger and fatter than mine anyway!). So I have to combine my individual shots first (Photomatix) then generate the pano with the results.

Glenn

Hi Cuetoyou,

Believe it or not I am doing the above procedure on a Windows 98, Athlon 800mhz, with 768 megs of ram.

It aint the fasted ant on the hill but it gets the job done. The stitched panos are at 17 megs and I can HDR 5 at once in photomatrix. Takes about 2 - 5 minutes depending on the number of panos to HDR. With only 3 it takes less than 2 minutes.

Now, I will admit that I get system lock ups and I can't run Panoweaver, Photoshop and photomatrix all at the same time. I have to use only one program at a time. So I just developed a workflow where I do all the steps with a program then proceed to the next program steps.

I don't know what would happen if I tried to use RAW. I am sure I am pushing the limit on my system as it is. But I have been tweaking this old broad for a long time and so far she has "put out" LOLOL so to speak.

Just landed a huge pano deal so when that gets done I am getting a new system YEEAAAA.

Gen. Lee

I can hear the voice of that Scottish engineer from Start Trek in my head "she cannie tek it no more captain!"