HDR on film

[PapaLazarou]

Hi folks, apologies if this has been broached before...

I've attempted the HDR technque on film (using Fuji Superia 200 for its wide latitude) and have been fairly happy with the results (using photomatix rather in a subtle fashion) so my questions are:

Has anybody used film and the HDR technique?

I bracketed my scans rather than the exposures, have you tried it with bracketed film exposures?

Have you tried it with slide film? (I suspect that as the aperture has to remain fixed for HDR that slide film may be intolerant of the wide exposure brackets, however I welcome accounts of first hand experience)

What films worked best for you?

Has anyone tried HDR on Velvia?

Many thanks for any all responses.

[beejaybee]

I bracketed my scans rather than the exposures, have you tried it with bracketed film exposures?

Bracketing the exposure during scanning seems pointless, you can't dig out information that isn't there, and increasing exposure in the scan just generates noise.

Have you tried it with slide film? (I suspect that as the aperture has to remain fixed for HDR that slide film may be intolerant of the wide exposure brackets, however I welcome accounts of first hand experience)

You can vary the shutter speed to vary exposure without changing the aperture - use manual or aperture priority metering.

But I really can't see the point. If you want wide latitude on film, use a negative type. You should get so much latitude that HDR techniques are not really relevant. Scan normally then adjust the response curve(s) to give the "HDR effect" (compressed dynamic range) if that's what you really want.

[PapaLazarou]

You can vary the shutter speed to vary exposure without changing the aperture - use manual or aperture priority metering.

Thanks, I wasn't really asking how to work my camera or how to bracket exposures, more if under & overxposing a slide film by 2 stops was a pointless endevour.

HDR should in theory be useful to film photographers as well, particularly in high contrast situations.

I hadn't tried it to any great extent, so this was really the point of my question. Was your answer hypothetical or based on practical experience?

Many thanks

[beejaybee]

more if under & overxposing a slide film by 2 stops was a pointless endevour.

IMO definitely. For a start the colours will shift depending on the exposure in a way which doesn't apply to digital. Secondly I don't think a 2 stops underexposed trannie would scan.

Was your answer hypothetical or based on practical experience?

Nope, I haven't tried as I'm not much of an advocate of HDR.

However I'll stick to my assertion that if you take a "good" exposure with a wide latitude colour negative film, scan it properly then adjust the levels (R G & B tied together) so that the curve is initially very steep, then flattish in the middle, then steep again at the top end, you will get an image from a single exposure in the camera, scanned only once, which looks as though it has been produced by HDR techniques - done nicely, not in the horrible overblown way you sometimes see.

[PapaLazarou]

For some of the shots I'll be doing, particularly landscapes, but also architecture against an overcast sky, the contrast latitude of film simply isn't enough, even with grads etc. Diital even less so, so this is king of where I'm coming from, more understated than most HDRs you see, just enough to resolve detail across the frame. But it got me thinking...

[Rhys_Hardwick]

Sorry if this seems a simple answer, I haven't tried it. Surely you could just bracket your exposures, scan them in, and apply the normal HDR techniques as you would with digitally captured photos.

Still, I agree with beejaybee, colour negative film generally has a very wide exposure latitude, much wider than digital. In digital, HDR is a useful tool for getting that wider exposure latitude onto the print. If you are just looking for the HDR look, where all the contrast is in the lowlights and highlights, you don't need to bracket, just alter the curves to suit.

[Per]

Beejaybee is absolutely right about the wide latitude of colour neg. I have found that there is always detail in the shadows of a properly exposed frame if you need it, so I just don't worry about it any more!

Here's one from a couple of weeks ago, shot directly into the sun on a very clear day and scanned (Reala):

[PapaLazarou]

Many thanks Per, nice shot. I burned off some sensia over the weekend so I'll percivere. Vue scan software has the option of saving a film scan as a RAW file so I might go down this route. Thanks again everyone for the time taken to reply.

[benji]

I bracketed my scans rather than the exposures

You are either missing something, or I am!

That would just equate to a selective "digital dodging and burning" operation -more or less, only via a long and winding road- not HDR.

The principle of HDR is totally different (even though it entails a blending of several exposures, but that's where the similarity begins and where it ends too).

Benji