Hi everyone,

Don’t know why I haven’t tried it before, but as it was such a lovely day today I thought I would see how the spark could manage a HDR (high dynamic range) photo. Turns out it does it pretty well and I’m very pleased with the result.

Nice picture, glad you are pleased with Spark, looking forward more great pictures.

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-10-27 10:04
Hdr night time from AEB

Great exposure, nice editing, thanks for your sharing.

hey, I am involved in the landscape your work showing.
Please share more pics to us and I would like to put it on our forum home page to let more people enjoy that

How do you get an HDR photo from the spark?

Sparky_17 Posted at 2017-10-27 09:02
How do you get an HDR photo from the spark?

I sat the spark hovering for the photo I wanted. Then I took three photos. The first photo where I exposed for the sky, The second photo where I exposed for the sun and the third photo where I exposed for the ground. I then merged all three photos as a HDR image in Lightroom and got what you see.

Or you can use the AEB mode ;-). Great shot by the way.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-27 09:05
I sat the spark hovering for the photo I wanted. Then I took three photos. The first photo where I exposed for the sky, The second photo where I exposed for the sun and the third photo where I exposed for the ground. I then merged all three photos as a HDR image in Lightroom and got what you see.

WOW ... I've never heard of doing that.  I'm not a photographer and not familiar with any of the terms.

Thanks for the information.

jksphoto Posted at 2017-10-27 09:12
Or you can use the AEB mode ;-). Great shot by the way.

Shows my ignorance. I hadn’t even realised it had its own auto bracketing mode. A more efficient way than my diy way. Thanks though.

Cool stuff!  Something to try for sure.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Hdr night time from AEB

Great job.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-27 09:18
Shows my ignorance. I hadn’t even realised it had its own auto bracketing mode. A more efficient way than my diy way. Thanks though.

No worries.

I am looking for an iOS App to merge HDR photos (not taken with the iPhone) to do that "on the go" with no luck. Does anybody knows one?

Adriano Araujo Posted at 2017-10-27 11:19
I am looking for an iOS App to merge HDR photos (not taken with the iPhone) to do that "on the go" with no luck. Does anybody knows one?

i think affinity Phot does that , i use it for stitching the pano pics and am just getting used to the program ..

Adriano Araujo Posted at 2017-10-27 11:19
I am looking for an iOS App to merge HDR photos (not taken with the iPhone) to do that "on the go" with no luck. Does anybody knows one?

Google Photos will automatically recognize bracketed photos and create HDRs from them.

So if you upload the AEB shot photos from your Spark (either via iOS or a computer) to Google Photos then some time later (usually overnight) the Assistant will create HDRs for you. Note that you do not and cannot do anything to manually create HDRs in Google Photos, it either recognizes the AEB shots and creates the HDR for you or you don't get one (my experience is that always creates the HDR).

If you just want to use iOS then download the Google Photos app. You can either just let it backup all of your photos for free or you can just manually upload only certain photos by adding them to an album.

One word of caution with Google Photos on iOS. If you have a large iCloud Photo library and have it set to "optimize" Google Photos will force all of those photos to get downloaded back to your phone while it tries to access them to "backup" to Google Photos.

Anyway, the HDRs that Google Photos creates are ok, usually a bit too saturated and you can edit them yourself afterwards but it doesn't produce the same quality as Lightroom. Still, it may be all you need.

wobbles Posted at 2017-10-27 11:39
i think affinity Phot does that , i use it for stitching the pano pics and am just getting used to the program ..

Thnak you.

TranceMist Posted at 2017-10-27 11:42
Google Photos will automatically recognize bracketed photos and create HDRs from them.

So if you upload the AEB shot photos from your Spark (either via iOS or a computer) to Google Photos then some time later (usually overnight) the Assistant will create HDRs for you. Note that you do not and cannot do anything to manually create HDRs in Google Photos, it either recognizes the AEB shots and creates the HDR for you or you don't get one (my experience is that always creates the HDR).

Nice tip. Will try that =)

Nice HDR photo.  I do real estate photography and use HDR almost everyday.  It's a great way to get the best exposure for the end pic.  

jksphoto Posted at 2017-10-27 09:12
Or you can use the AEB mode ;-). Great shot by the way.

hi, what is AEB mode and how do I do it?

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-27 09:05
I sat the spark hovering for the photo I wanted. Then I took three photos. The first photo where I exposed for the sky, The second photo where I exposed for the sun and the third photo where I exposed for the ground. I then merged all three photos as a HDR image in Lightroom and got what you see.

hi, this is great thanks for the info

Ryan's Sparky Posted at 2017-10-28 03:53
hi, what is AEB mode and how do I do it?

AEB stands for Auto Exposure Bracketing. It will be in the photo settings somewhere on the spark as I hadn’t looked for it as I did it the manual way. In AEB the camera will automatically take 3 photos normally at 3 different exposures that you set for example at minus 1 stop and plus 1 stop over the normal exposure. You then merge the three photos together either in camera or in software editing aftwards and you one photo that has details of everything you have set within that ‘bracket’.

You normally set your normal exposure for the midpoint in the photo using your histogram and then the camera will capture all the underexposed and over exposed parts of the image around that and thus giving you a HDR image.

Ryan's Sparky Posted at 2017-10-28 03:53
hi, what is AEB mode and how do I do it?

AEB stands for Auto Exposure Bracketing. It will be in the photo settings somewhere on the spark as I hadn’t looked for it as I did it the manual way. In AEB the camera will automatically take 3 photos normally at 3 different exposures that you set for example at minus 1 stop and plus 1 stop over the normal exposure. You then merge the three photos together either in camera or in software editing aftwards and you one photo that has details of everything you have set within that ‘bracket’.

You normally set your normal exposure for the midpoint in the photo using your histogram and then the camera will capture all the underexposed and over exposed parts of the image around that and thus giving you a HDR image.

In Photoshop --- File / Automate / Merge to HDR    ...works for me.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-28 04:30
AEB stands for Auto Exposure Bracketing. It will be in the photo settings somewhere on the spark as I hadn’t looked for it as I did it the manual way. In AEB the camera will automatically take 3 photos normally at 3 different exposures that you set for example at minus 1 stop and plus 1 stop over the normal exposure. You then merge the three photos together either in camera or in software editing aftwards and you one photo that has details of everything you have set within that ‘bracket’.

You normally set your normal exposure for the midpoint in the photo using your histogram and then the camera will capture all the underexposed and over exposed parts of the image around that and thus giving you a HDR image.

ok brilliant thank Pez I need to experiment with this

MikB Posted at 2017-10-28 05:27
In Photoshop --- File / Automate / Merge to HDR    ...works for me.

thanks MikB

Ryan's Sparky Posted at 2017-10-28 03:53
hi, what is AEB mode and how do I do it?

Sorry , just seen this, but I think the other explanations have answered your question :-)
If you click the gear icon in the photo menu, it shows the AEB shot. click that and the Spark will take 3 shots, normal, under exposed and over exposed. You then can blend in Lightroom, Photoshop or whatever editing software you use.

jksphoto Posted at 2017-10-28 06:59
Sorry , just seen this, but I think the other explanations have answered your question :-)
If you click the gear icon in the photo menu, it shows the AEB shot. click that and the Spark will take 3 shots, normal, under exposed and over exposed. You then can blend in Lightroom, Photoshop or whatever editing software you use.

thanks jks I will give it a go

Beautiful picture.
Nice the birds did not blur due to the merge.

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-10-27 10:04
Hdr night time from AEB

Great shot!

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-10-28 13:06
Beautiful picture.
Nice the birds did not blur due to the merge.

Thank you.

Yeah I’ve been wondering how it managed that because I took three separate photos all of which were 5-10 seconds apart the birds must have been in only one of my images but the way it’s merged the 3 photos still looks great with the birds.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-29 08:17
Thank you.

Yeah I’ve been wondering how it managed that because I took three separate photos all of which were 5-10 seconds apart the birds must have been in only one of my images but the way it’s merged the 3 photos still looks great with the birds.

Yeah, it sure does!

Photomatrix is also a great program for merging bracketed photos for anyone who doesn't use Photoshop or Lightroom.  I use HDR photography for all interior photography.  Sometimes I merge as many as 9 to 11 shots if I have a lot of light coming through a window.  This is a great feature on the Spark.  It only differs .7EV however.  It would be great if the differential in exposure values could be adjustable.  (1EV, 2EV, etc.)

Very nice picture, great view and good colour treatment, thanks for sharing

great one, will try AEB in next flight