HDR Pics to Play With

In this section, I provide source images for you to play with. What does that mean? You can download archives with the source images (straight out of the camera) that I used to create the final HDR image, unpack them and immediately start merging, tone-mapping and post-processing them.

Why would you do this? Because it’s fun! It can be very tough for a beginner to get everything together in order to produce an appealing HDR image. Taking the source exposures is a challenge on its own, and if you mess that up, the post-processing will not be rewarding either. If you download and use my images, you can concentrate on your post-processing skills, and you know what is possible with those exposures from looking at the results of many other people. This is a much more objective way of learning and verifying your progress.

Even if you are already an advances HDR user, it is still fun to compare with others and see how different peoples’ styles are. For each image, I am starting a thread in the flickr HDR group. If you like, post you results there and see how the others did.

Here’s the deal

You will notice that I do not provide the original RAW files. I don’t do this to maintain my rights. Instead, I am preparing the files in the following way: I develop all the source files into TIFFs in ACR. After that, I align and crop the images if necessary, and I apply a “Pics to play with” watermark (all in Photoshop). Thus, you can directly feed the images into Photomatix (or whichever HDR software you are using). You should turn off image alignment in you HDR software.

What you are allowed to do

You may download, unpack and process these images in whichever way you wish. You may publish the results online wherever you like (see individual photos pages for details) as long as you give credit to me for the source images in the following way:

‘Source images copyright by Klaus Herrmann – farbspiel-photo.com – all rights reserved. Go to farbspiel-photo.com/ppw for details.’

Please include this line in any publication of a image that results from one of my Pics to play with archives. This is the only thing I ask in return for providing these images. I hope, I am not asking too much.

What you are not allowed to do

Commercial use of any type is prohibited. If you wish to use the photos commercially, please contact me directly. You are not allowed to remove the watermark in any way. Any images that you produce and publish from the contained source photos have to contain the entire watermark. Cropping or cloning out the watermark is not allowed.

Enough of this formal stuff! Have fun!

The Pics

Title: The Parliament (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: Big City Lights (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: High Five (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: Izmir Harbor (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: Santorini Cathedral (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: The Alley (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: Mountain Shed (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: Chain Bridge - Budapest, Hungary (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page

Title: The Marble Hall - Ludwigsburg, Germany (HDR)
Pics-to-play-with page
Photo page