Compare Sony NEX In-Camera HDR with Processed HDR

Here I am going to lay out a series of images, all shot one right after the other (within a two minute time-frame), to give a comparison between the Sony in-camera HDR and a post-processed version. Here, I was shooting a sunset on a cloudy day down at Lake Charlotte.

When I set my Sony NEX-7 to in-camera HDR processing mode, I get two images: The 'no touch up' JPEG version and the 'three image composite HDR processed version', both of which you see pictured below.

--- In Camera ---

DSC03115
09/30/13
Size: 5.43 MB
Sony NEX-7
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/800 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: 0 step

DSC03116
09/30/13
Size: 5.87 MB
Sony NEX-7
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/800 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: 0 step

The first difference that you might notice between these two images is the file size. No surprise here, the HDR version is slightly bigger. (It is, after all, a composite of three images that have been 'blended' and processed together.)

Second, you should be able to make out some details in the HDR version that are 'darkened out' in the regular JPEG version. (For example, the HDR version makes the details in the line of trees along the lake far more visible than they are in the regular JPEG version.)

--- Post-processed ---

In the five pictures that follow, the first three that you see are the unedited images (shot in RAW; here, converted to JPEG) that I merged together in Photomatix 5. These are the basis of the last two images, the post-processed versions.

In order to shoot these first three images, I set my Sony NEX-7 to 'automatic autobracketing mode'. This setting rapidly captures the images at a preset variation in the exposure bias. (The exposure bias can also be changed manually while you are shooting; however, doing so takes far more time than to simply shoot in automatic autobracketing mode. Time becomes a special consideration when shooting subjects that are likely to move. For processing in Photomatix, it's best that the images 'line up' as closely as possible, otherwise, you experience a phenomenon called 'ghosting' in your post-processing. Less time between pictures equals less time for the subject to move, and a greater likelihood that everything will 'line up'. For landscape pictures such as these, you have to watch out for movement in the clouds, the trees, and the water.)

There are pitfalls to the automatic autobracketing mode. For reasons that are unknown to me, my NEX-7 will sometimes ignore my autobracketing settings. In this setting, it's not uncommon for me to get two images shot at the same exposure bias. (I suspect this may have something to do with the fact that I am shooting in Aperture Priority mode.) For the images that appear below, the exposure biases should have been 0, -3, +3, but for some reason the camera shot them at 0, -2.3, +3.

DSC03117
09/30/13
Size: 23.8 MB
Sony NEX-7
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/800 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: 0 step

DSC03118
09/30/13
Size: 23.6 MB
Sony NEX-7
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/4000 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: -2.3 step

 

DSC03119

09/30/13

Size: 23.8 MB
Sony NEX-7
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/100 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: +3 step

The following two images are the result of merging these images and sending them through post-processing in Photomatix 5. The first picture is a 'fusion' of the preceding three images. 

After processing your files once, Photomatix 5 has an option to send the resulting image back through a second time. Here is a tonemapped version of the preceding image.

In my final images, the visibility of the trees was not as great of a concern for me as was drawing out the colors of the sun and bouncing it off the clouds. Could I have achieved this effect without going to all of the trouble of fusing and tonemapping? Quite possibly. But that's what novices do; they walk ten steps in order to go five.

Thanks for following along with me on my photographic journey!