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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

DYNAMIC RANGE 22 Stops

Personally I think the tone mapped surreal look he created has a place in certain projects, car commercials immediately come to mind, but 90% of the time I want huge dynamic range with a much more natural look, like the images above.
 
greg filipkowski said:
Only if we had more HDRX controls in RCX it would be heaven.
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I agree it would be nice to have a few more controls... e.g. setting the ISO of the different tracks independently, as that alone would allow for a much better control of the contrast ratio between the two.

Allsbury's examples are, to me, where HDRx shows its worth. It looks lit, even though it wasn't... And that doesn't even look like an overcast day, either.
 
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Andrew Allsbury said:
I have been blown away by the results we get using HDRx. Getting a very natural look is pretty easy with the right grade and settings. Check out these frame grabs from a test we did a while back. These were all shot at +3 and +4 with a very dark interior, a very bright exterior and only ambient light. The main problem has been cleaning up the motion artifacts, but even that goes unnoticed by all but the most trained eyes.



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I have an advice for you . Post the before and after, or you will get responses from people that doesn't understand what you are trying to show.. obviously the guy that posted "It looks like shit" doesn't know that this shot, where you can see clearly the dark interior, and also can see clearly the bright scene outside the window, would be impossible without the use of HDRX and in one only shot.. By the way, it looks fantastic, good job.


EDIT; We are very close to emulate film with this..
 
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Thanks guys, I usually like to show un-processed vs processed on shots like these, but this was just a quick test we shot for internal use. All in all I was very happy with the results considering how inopportune the shooting conditions were, it was very dark inside and very bright and sunny with snow everywhere outside. I still need to find a go to method for reducing/eliminating the artifacts from the motion blur difference. Does anyone have a good suggestion besides the Reel Smart Motion Blur plugin?
 
I wish that RCX had the RAW adjustment sliders that Lightroom 4 has. Seems silly to have to go into Resolve to get basic exposure maximized
 
Josh Beadle said:
I wish that RCX had the RAW adjustment sliders that Lightroom 4 has. Seems silly to have to go into Resolve to get basic exposure maximized
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Do you mean like Fill and Recovery sliders or exposure sliders? I love how the fill/recovery sliders work; it's like they maintain proper contrast/saturation throughout the image even when pushed fairly far.

But yeah, I'd totally like to be able to dial-in the A and X exposures separately. I currently use curves, but the curve gets realllly wonky when I'm trying to get contrast in the otherwise blown portion of the image.
 
Mike P. said:
Do you mean like Fill and Recovery sliders or exposure sliders? I love how the fill/recovery sliders work; it's like they maintain proper contrast/saturation throughout the image even when pushed fairly far.

But yeah, I'd totally like to be able to dial-in the A and X exposures separately. I currently use curves, but the curve gets realllly wonky when I'm trying to get contrast in the otherwise blown portion of the image.
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Yes, you can slam the sliders to the max and the image holds. I have gone back to some of my older PhaseOne files and pulled out shadow detail that I felt was lost. Now I expose for the highlights and trust LR4 to dig out the shadows. Amazing work by Eric Chan and Sir Thomas Knoll of Adobe Camera Raw
 
Mike P. said:
I agree it would be nice to have a few more controls... e.g. setting the ISO of the different tracks independently, as that alone would allow for a much better control of the contrast ratio between the two.

Allsbury's examples are, to me, where HDRx shows its worth. It looks lit, even though it wasn't... And that doesn't even look like an overcast day, either.
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You can do that easily in any software.
 
Robert Ruffo New said:
You can do that easily in any software.
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I meant without a mask or without trying to wrangle the lows/mids/highs separately... Don't get me wrong, I know these things can be done, but I prefer them to be as easy/intuitive as possible. Again, look at the fill/recovery sliders; those functions can be reproduced in RCX/Resolve/etc, but compared to a simple slider (which works insanely effectively) it's a pain in the ass to get 'just right'.

It's not that I want the art taken out of colour grading, it's that I want the colour correcting to be as dead simple as possible. End of the day, you can always use whatever method or software you're comfortable with, but doing a base correction pass out of RCX has some limitations that (I think) could be rectified fairly easily before moving on.
 
Right now I am very interested in tone mapping video. I have a project coming up where it would be ideal. Good thread.
 
PLEASE RED TEAM:

Make a comprehensive tool for HDRx, it has so much potential that has gone unnoticed. Please integrate into Dragon as well!
 
Paramon Ivanovich said:
i might be wrong, but i think it's already done, extended DR and no HDRx mode on the Dragon, could be "just" in camera A/X mixing;
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No, HDRx will be included with Dragon as well.
 
I see HDRx more as compositing layers, RCXP can bake the layers together but to use the two tracks to their full extend you usually need to make a bit more advanced composites. I do actually find the slider in RCXP as a good simple way to see that the layers work, that they do not have to many stops in-between, the motion is not to distorted and so on, the rest is flame work in my mind.


If they keep it in dragon as mentioned here I would be very happy. it's like icing on the cake.
 
The tone mapped look is cool, but...

You don't have any reason to use HDRx in that shot of the car. The whole scene is within the 13 stops of range the Mysterium-X sensor has. There's no reason to incorporate another exposure because there weren't any unavoidable blown out highlights to begin with.
 
Mike P. said:
I meant without a mask or without trying to wrangle the lows/mids/highs separately... Don't get me wrong, I know these things can be done, but I prefer them to be as easy/intuitive as possible. Again, look at the fill/recovery sliders; those functions can be reproduced in RCX/Resolve/etc, but compared to a simple slider (which works insanely effectively) it's a pain in the ass to get 'just right'.

It's not that I want the art taken out of colour grading, it's that I want the colour correcting to be as dead simple as possible. End of the day, you can always use whatever method or software you're comfortable with, but doing a base correction pass out of RCX has some limitations that (I think) could be rectified fairly easily before moving on.
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You have easy, then you have control, you pick one. No software can read your mind, you have to tell it what to do, or it will chose automatically, soccer-mom style, likely in a way you don't like. RCX is not grading software, it is one-light and dailies software. It's great for that. Expecting more is expecting too much.
 
To be honest, I think a lot of these variations of HDRX induced DR should come with an astrick considering the glows around the lows that are formed when you start blending. I mean, sure, technically there's 22 stops of dynamic range here and the image looks beautiful for a stylized / more formalist piece, but this isn't the type of DR I'd want in a narrative piece when trying to imitate the human eye (where I'd guess the human eye would have 15 stops even though some have written as low as 13 or 14).

Nevertheless, amazing work for sure, Greg.
 
My first HDRX test the day I got my camera was my last. I was all excited to film a candle. It failed.
 
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