"Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> "Trevor G Quayle" <Tin### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> > -Use HDR shop to make sure the images are aligned perfectly.  Open all of one
> > series, maiximize the windows, then centre all images (5 on the keypad).  You
> > can then flick back and forth between each pic and use the
> > "Image/Transform/Shift w/wrap" function in HDR shop to align each one, using
> > one as a starting reference.  Even one pixel shift can help if necessary.
>
> Do you mean the bracketed series before combination? There's no problem here,
> the HDRs I'm getting are very sharp.
>

Yes, I mean the bracketed shots.  But it sounds like you arent having a problem
here.

> > -Try to match resolutions with your two combined HDRs and the masking image.
> > Scale smoothly.  I always scale up to the largest.
>
> Yup, am doing. I scale down to the smaller one, but it's usually only different
> by a dozen pixels or so. I make the mask by painting on a layer over the
> rotated image to wipe out the unwanted areas, then clearing the lower layer to
> black, merging and blurring.
>
> > - I use the mask provided and scale it accordingly
>
> I never thought of that. However, my shadow can be anywhere, and my tripod head
> gets in the way quite a bit.
>

If you can do it, a custom mask is probably the best as you can tailor it to the
specific areas you want to remove.  However, typically it's the center and back
of the image that always need to be removed.  Unwanted shadows can be an
additional problem though.  I like to use a delay on my CHDK bracketing so I
can get myself and shadow out of the shot as much as possible (hide or move
further back so you are smaller)


> > - After youve successfully created your full HDR probe, it is still in
> > mirrorball, transform to Lat/Long.  I like to keep the height the same as the
> > mirrorball resolutions and the width double that (eg 500x500 mirroball ->
> > 1000x500 Lat/Long)
>
> Hmm, I've been unwrapping to angular and rotating at the same time, as per the
> tutorial. Do you think keeping it in the mirrorball projection would be better
> for matching and blending? Or do you really mean angular ;-) ?
>
> I'm using megapov, so I figured using the angular map would be fine for the time
> being. I'll probably supply both projections when I get a collection going.

No wrapping and rotating at the same time is fine.  I still would always
recommend Lat/Long format over angular.


>
> > Maybe post some details of your difficulties, or if you'd like you can email
> > me directly.
>
> I'll try post an example of the problem later today... it's slight, but enough
> of a mismatch to be annoying. If it's an interior environment, straight lines
> of walls/windows etc end up broken. Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist!
>
> Bill

It will help to see what you see as the issue.
It may be that you are being too much of a perfectionist.  Note that the larger
the ball and the closer the scene or objects in the scene are to the ball, the
greater the parallax errors are going to be (i.e. lines not lining up)  This is
particularly the case in indoor shots, where the whole environment tends to be
closer to the ball.  Make sure your mask has an appropriate blur to help hide
these imperfections.

-tgq

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