HDR Pics to play with: The Marble Hall

By farbspiel On 24. January 2013 · 20 Comments

The Marble Hall - Pics to play with - Download the source files of this HDR image and test your post-processing skills

The Marble Hall – Pics to play with – Download the source files of this HDR image, test your post-processing skills and share your results in the comments below.

This HDR Pics to play with archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image ‘The Marble Hall (HDR)‘. The ZIP archive for this ppw feature is 347 MB large. Make sure you read the information in Read This First.txt (included in the archive).

Download the complete archive:

If you’re having trouble (instable connection, slow or aborted downloads) you can download each of the source photos individually below.

(md5 checksum: 7c7b4e3a17b103ad139d5aacb9636004)

Image Information

Taken handheld
Three original exposures (0, -2, +2 EV) autobracketed
Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm F3,5 EX DC HSM
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO 800

Below, you find the details for the photos in the archive. Each photo is provided as a 16-bit TIFF file. If you’re having trouble downloading the complete archive (see above), try downloading the files individually using the links in the last column.

Image file	Exposure value	Shutter speed	Type	Download
The Marble Hall - ppw – 01.tif	-4 EV	1/2500s	artificial (created form -2 EV exposure)
The Marble Hall - ppw – 02.tif	-2 EV	1/640s	original
The Marble Hall - ppw – 03.tif	0 EV	1/160s	original
The Marble Hall - ppw – 04.tif	+2 EV	1/40s	original
The Marble Hall - ppw – 05.tif	+4 EV	1/10s	artificial (created form +2 EV exposure)

Processing Information

The images have been pre-processed in the following way:

The original three RAW files where converted to TIFFs in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) with the default settings.
The CA (Chromatic Aberration) was removed in ACR (see details).
Noise Reduction and Sharpening were turned off in ACR. Thus, the noise in the images is quite high but comes straight from the camera. This means that dedicated noise reduction software will be most effective in removing the noise. (see details)
Two additional exposures with -4EV and +4EV were created in Abode Camera RAW to cover the widest possible dynamic range (see details).
The images where saved from ACR as TIFFs, and they were aligned and watermarked in Photoshop.
No additional processing was applied.

Processing Tips

Use the source images as you feel appropriate. It is not strictly necessary to use all of them. Visit the photo page at to get information on my personal workflow for this image. It may serve as a starting point. Here are some tips:

These images were taken handheld with ISO800 and there was no noise reduction whatsoever applied. This means that they are quite noisy. Try different ways of reducing the noise. You may want to do NR before you feed the photos into your HDR software (check out these tips). You may also let your HDR software do the noise reduction for you. Finally, you could do the noise reduction after the tonemapping in your image editing software. Check the results to see which works best.
I have used the original exposures only for this image. Try adding the artificial exposures to see the effects.
You may find that there is a yellowish color cast in the images. To get a nice contrast between the marble on the walls and the floor, for example, try some selective editing.
You don’t need to align the images in your HDR software. They are already aligned.
Also tell your HDR software not to reduce the chromatic aberration.
Don’t forget to apply some perspective corrections. The images are not perfectly straight.

Additional Resources

A before-and-after comparison that includes the intermediate tone-mapped image is available for this HDR image. Also check out the Dynamic Before-and-After.

Sharing Your Results

Share the result of you post-processing work (your final image) online wherever you like. Make it publicly accessible. No login or membership of any sort should be required to view it. Then, post a comment below and include a link to your version. Feel free to explain what you did to the image.

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20 Responses to HDR Pics to play with: The Marble Hall

farbspiel says:

24. January 2013 at 15:10

Share the image you created from the source photos below:

1. Simply share the image in a publicly accessible place on the Internet.

2. Write a comment here and link to the image.

Reply
kirk says:

24. January 2013 at 18:21

Here’s my go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arphot/8412122062/

I used Photomatix for the tonemapping and PS CS6 for the touch up including using the Topaz Adjust 5 plugin; an invaluable addition to any HDR pp. Thanks to Klaus for providing the exposures and allowing us to improve our skills.

Reply
naim says:

24. January 2013 at 19:23

here my result http://naimfadil.tumblr.com/post/41374909055/source-images-copyright-by-klaus-herrmann

i used photomatix for the tonemapping and PS CS3 and this is my first time i used Topaz Adjust 5 plugin..thanx Klaus for provide the exposures and allow us to improve our knowledge and skill.

Reply
Mustang Joe says:

25. January 2013 at 00:51

Thanks Klaus. I really enjoy playing with these pics. Here’s my attempt: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mustangjoe/8412988916/

I processed the image using SNS HDR then finished it off in Photoshop CS6.

Reply
Richard Siggins says:

26. January 2013 at 20:20

This is a great way to learn and improve. Thanks!
Here’s my version https://plus.google.com/photos/107126296886925151988/albums/5837852899911913601

I used Nik HDR Efex Pro and Lightroom 4. Had some challenges with the color on the left being different from the color on the right.

It’s a very cool image.

Reply
Paul Mack says:

26. January 2013 at 21:22

Thank you once again Klaus

Reply
Paul Mack says:

27. January 2013 at 16:03

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54086038@N04/8418226746/

Reply
Pat Kavanagh says:

27. January 2013 at 22:22

Hi Klaus,

Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_kav/8419456116/in/photostream

Pat.

Reply
Andrew says:

28. January 2013 at 18:40

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34027813@N06/8421574579/

Klaus, I would like you to take a look at my final version. I’m new in this kind of stuff and I’m not even a photographer. Just like to play with photoshop. Thanks for sharing some photos, so we can train our skills!

Reply
Sylvain says:

30. January 2013 at 08:35

Here’s my version. Thanks for this idea, it was a pleasure to work with your images. I stil have to work !

http://sylvain.darqroom.com/photo/hdr-465/the-marble-hall-4064371

Reply
Oliver says:

3. February 2013 at 16:19

here’s mine…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldtop57/8440642921/

thx for the files!

Reply
Oliver says:

3. February 2013 at 17:44

another better version….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldtop57/8442076624/

Reply
Larry Lato says:

5. February 2013 at 04:29

Thanks to Klaus Herrmann, Farbspiel Photography, for sharing his archive of “The Marble Hall”, a 5 photo bracketed series (Pics-to-Play-with) feature. He invited suscribers to his newsletter to try their HDR technique on his shot and here is my take. I used Nik Software HDR Efex Pro 2 for tonemapping, adjustment layers in CS6, and finished with Nik Software Color Efex 4 – Tonal Contrast. Klaus is an HDR Evangelist and I appreciate very much his sharing of talent and skill.

Reply
- farbspiel says:
  
  5. February 2013 at 07:11
  
  Hi Larry,
  
  thanks for having a go and for sharing your result. Unfortunately, your post is not public. Thus, the link your added did not work. I had to remove it. Feel free to repost it publicly and share the new post here.
  
  Cheers
  Klaus
  
  Reply
  - Larry Lato says:
    
    5. February 2013 at 11:26
    
    Sorry Klaus, I couldn’t figure out how to create a link to the specific photo on my Google + page and totally overlooked that.
    
    Reply
- Larry Lato says:
  
  5. February 2013 at 11:55
  
  I apologize for the earlier error on the link. Here’s my post on Google +.
  
  https://plus.google.com/?utm_source=bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_campaign=plusgeneralb2c&gpsrc=ussebr&utm_term=%2Bgoogle%2B&gclid=CKb90MvYm7ECFQK5KgodZAQYkg#102217256847323627572/posts
  
  Reply
Michael says:

10. February 2013 at 19:19

My version ..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navarromichael/8459977840/in/photostream

Reply
Eric B. Walker says:

15. February 2013 at 20:50

http://www.flickr.com/photos/premierehdr/8477239744/

This was fun.

Reply
Jack Torcello says:

16. February 2013 at 11:22

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonechat/8477675127/

I enjoy your occasional HDR challenges – here is my version of the Marble Hall PPW – and details of the workflow…

HDRfxPro2 Dark Preset, and then followed up the same 5 raws using the Bright preset. I then used CS6 and painted in the windows from the Dark raws, and toned-down some of the walls and highlights on the floor. Next up, 45% structure from Viveza2, followed by Tonal Contrast and Glamor Glow from Color Efex Pro4. A small amont of Pro Contrast from CEP4 then about 40% Detail Extractor, and the TIFF file was sharpened using a 9 pixel soft-light high-pass, before conversion to Jpeg.

Reply
Miguel Almeida says:

28. March 2013 at 20:13

Here’s my take on the scene:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/116696632093381591037/posts/FFuJ6N9qTza

Thanks to Klaus for the source files and the opportunity to play with them.

Reply