Drone aerials single exposure HDR with Aurora 2019, part 1

[CP Anson]

This is an article I wrote for Photofocus.com. I hope this is helpful.


You'll find the full Article here.
Drone aerials single exposure HDR with Aurora 2019, part 1 | Photofocus

 

[rmb]

Very nice tool for an aerial photographer. Here is a question that I would love to ask. As an aerial cinematographer I use Davinci Resolve to grad my Cinema DNG files. It is time consuming, but yields tremendous results. Sometime however as a photoshop pro I get better/quicker results bringing in a sequence of frames in. Grade 1 representative frame and then sync the settings against all frames and then batch export. My question is can I use your software the same way. It seems to me the the farm picture example cam to life pretty quickly and if you could then save that preset to batch process a few hundred frames you would have a very helpful video color grading tool and would convert me into a customer.

If there are other videographers shooting x5s cinema DNG files here, please chime in with your thoughts


Thx, rb

 

[CP Anson]

Very nice tool for an aerial photographer. Here is a question that I would love to ask. As an aerial cinematographer I use Davinci Resolve to grad my Cinema DNG files. It is time consuming, but yields tremendous results. Sometime however as a photoshop pro I get better/quicker results bringing in a sequence of frames in. Grade 1 representative frame and then sync the settings against all frames and then batch export. My question is can I use your software the same way. It seems to me the the farm picture example cam to life pretty quickly and if you could then save that preset to batch process a few hundred frames you would have a very helpful video color grading tool and would convert me into a customer.

If there are other videographers shooting x5s cinema DNG files here, please chime in with your thoughts


Thx, rb

Aurora 2019 does have a batch processing mode that you can explore. First thing to do is create a look you like for a set of frames and then save that look by going to the bottom right of the screen and click Save Filters as Aurora HDR Look...
Then reopen Aurora 2019 and on the opening screen you will find the Batch Process button. Select the files, tell it you are processing single images, then in the next screen, in the Aurora HDR Looks sections, choose User Aurora HDR Looks and select your look from the list. The problem may be in the output format you want. Currently only these are the only options.
Please let me know what you discover. You can grab a 14-day trail here.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

Did Aurora replace the sky automatically like that? Or did you replace it? I can usually achieve similar HDR results in Lightroom, but I have to replace the sky manually in Photoshop.

 

[rmb]

Aurora 2019 does have a batch processing mode that you can explore. First thing to do is create a look you like for a set of frames and then save that look by going to the bottom right of the screen and click Save Filters as Aurora HDR Look...
Then reopen Aurora 2019 and on the opening screen you will find the Batch Process button. Select the files, tell it you are processing single images, then in the next screen, in the Aurora HDR Looks sections, choose User Aurora HDR Looks and select your look from the list. The problem may be in the output format you want. Currently only these are the only options. View attachment 22952
Please let me know what you discover. You can grab a 14-day trail here.

Thank you. I just tried your 14 day trail and the results on a single image are impresive and I would very much like to purchase your product and recomend it to my video colligues, but sadly I can not make the batch process work. Do you provide any level of tech support?

 

[CP Anson]

Thank you. I just tried your 14 day trail and the results on a single image are impresive and I would very much like to purchase your product and recomend it to my video colligues, but sadly I can not make the batch process work. Do you provide any level of tech support?

I don't, but here is a link to their support page.
Contact Us | Skylum (ex-Macphun)

 

[CP Anson]

Did Aurora replace the sky automatically like that? Or did you replace it? I can usually achieve similar HDR results in Lightroom, but I have to replace the sky manually in Photoshop.

This is the original sky. Here is the sky replacement page for Aurora 2019.
Video Galleries | Replacing a Sky | Skylum (ex-Macphun)
It looks like the video is having problems, but they describe how to do it in the text. So yes, you can do sky replacement in Aurora 2019.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

This is the original sky. Here is the sky replacement page for Aurora 2019.
Video Galleries | Replacing a Sky | Skylum (ex-Macphun)
It looks like the video is having problems, but they describe how to do it in the text. So yes, you can do sky replacement in Aurora 2019.

That can't be the original sky, it's totally different. I downloaded your before image and changed levels to bring out the original sky...

If you look at the upper right in the Before image, you can see the difference.

EDIT: After looking more closely I see the final image was rotated and cropped and the sky does have some resemblance, but the puffy clouds are definitely added by Aurora because there's not enough information in original to extract that.

Either way though, it still worked pretty nicely.

 

[rmb]

Buyer beware!
This product is great, and if you want to do one-offs (like most costomers) again great product, but if you want to batch a series of similar photos, the batch process does not yet work.
Here is my email to support and their responce.

Me:
I am interested in using your product to batch DNG files as I am a videographer. I am using your 14-day trial before purchasing. Anyway although it works great on individual files, when I do a batch I wait through the process, I see it converting the individual images and it saves them out, but when I go to the converted JPGs they are there and named properly, but without the look applied.

Responce:
Hi Robert,
Thank you for reaching out to us.
We are aware of the issue with the batch processing and we will do our best to fix it in the upcoming updates.
Hope for your patience.

 

[CP Anson]

That can't be the original sky, it's totally different. I downloaded your before image and changed levels to bring out the original sky...

If you look at the upper right in the Before image, you can see the difference.

EDIT: After looking more closely I see the final image was rotated and cropped and the sky does have some resemblance, but the puffy clouds are definitely added by Aurora because there's not enough information in original to extract that.

Either way though, it still worked pretty nicely.

Here is the original photo with a quick highlight recover in Photoshop.
View attachment Highlight recovery in photoshop -DJI_0040-1.jpg

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

Impressive. I didn't think there was enough information there.

 

[RobH2]

@rmb Your reel is really nice.

 

[rmb]

@rmb Your reel is really nice.

Weel thank you RobH2. It is getting a bit long in the tooth and could really use some updating, but as we all know "the cobblers son always needs shoe"

rb

 

[RobH2]

Weel thank you RobH2. It is getting a bit long in the tooth and could really use some updating, but as we all know "the cobblers son always needs shoe"

rb

Thanks for letting us know that the 'Batch' feature does not work.

Like you, I want to grade video. I've been doing it in After Effects and getting good results with Lumetri but it's teadious. I downloaded the Aurora trial and had a better image than I can get otherwise in way less time. I'm really interested in it already and the Batch functionality will be icing on the cake.

It's also reasonable. I'm glad it's not $350 like everyone likes to charge these days for anything.

 

[rmb]

Thanks for letting us know that the 'Batch' feature does not work.

Like you, I want to grade video. I've been doing it in After Effects and getting good results with Lumetri but it's teadious. I downloaded the Aurora trial and had a better image than I can get otherwise in way less time. I'm really interested in it already and the Batch functionality will be icing on the cake.

It's also reasonable. I'm glad it's not $350 like everyone likes to charge these days for anything.

Could f things.
Even once they get there t working I think that color grading DNG sequences is a 50/50 at best. The reason that you say that is for the same reason using auto exposure doesn’t ever work well. Every time the images brightness % changes the camera adjusts and it can be arresting. With their tool my worry would be ( unless you could go completely manual and save settings) my worry would be that as you pan toward the sun that the HDR would try to compensate dynamically and cause inconsistencies in exposure from frame to frame. That being said, that is just a guess.

Also their is no better grading platform in world than Davinci Reslove. It is the after effects of of the color grading world as AE is to compositing, rotoscoping, etc. and, it’s free! Then if you find that you agree the full studio version is $300.

My 2 cents
~rb

 

[rmb]

Could f things.
Even once they get there t working I think that color grading DNG sequences is a 50/50 at best. The reason that you say that is for the same reason using auto exposure doesn’t ever work well. Every time the images brightness % changes the camera adjusts and it can be arresting. With their tool my worry would be ( unless you could go completely manual and save settings) my worry would be that as you pan toward the sun that the HDR would try to compensate dynamically and cause inconsistencies in exposure from frame to frame. That being said, that is just a guess.

Also their is no better grading platform in world than Davinci Reslove. It is the after effects of of the color grading world as AE is to compositing, rotoscoping, etc. and, it’s free! Then if you find that you agree the full studio version is $300.

My 2 cents
~rb

Sorry I did not mean “could f things” I meant “a couple of things”

 

[RobH2]

Sorry I did not mean “could f things” I meant “a couple of things”

You know, I'd forgotten about Divinci. I downloaded it a few years ago to accomplish one specific task and kind of felt it was superfluous when I already had Photoshop, Afer Effects and Premiere. I didn't realize it was a "grading ninja." I'll check it out again as I continue to evaluate Aurora.

I know what you are saying about the trajectory of the camera changing and all that grading tweaking is now useless. But, for a slow approach on the same heading, I think I should work fine.

If you want to become a gazillionaire, write code that takes "auto exposure" to the next level, the level we need, with some AI included so that it slowly adjusts invisibly like our eyes do and works perfectly. That would be a beautiful thing. The "snapping" exposure changes DJI's Auto exposure does makes it useless for commercial work.

 

[Mixchief]

Aurora is a great program, I use it constantly and since sometimes getting a sharp multiple exposure that can be perfectly aligned from an Inspire, specially in windy conditions a single shot processed as an HDR works pretty well. However the Aurora render has a tendency of looking like a bad multi exposure HDR processed photo, it seems a bit artificial. The original photo processed in photoshop that you posted for example, to me looks much better as a photograph, the Aurora HDR process (with all due respect) made it a bit "watercolorish" for my taste, unless of course that is what you were going for artistically. I "try" to go for more natural looking HDR from bracketed sets, and actually I think Lightroom does a better job, sometimes I blend the Lightroom and Aurora HDR renders, to bring the Aurora HDR into a more natural look. And yes sometimes I push the HDR envelope to get some wacky results which can be very cool too but I end up not loving them.

 

[rmb]

Aurora is a great program, I use it constantly and since sometimes getting a sharp multiple exposure that can be perfectly aligned from an Inspire, specially in windy conditions a single shot processed as an HDR works pretty well. However the Aurora render has a tendency of looking like a bad multi exposure HDR processed photo, it seems a bit artificial. The original photo processed in photoshop that you posted for example, to me looks much better as a photograph, the Aurora HDR process (with all due respect) made it a bit "watercolorish" for my taste, unless of course that is what you were going for artistically. I "try" to go for more natural looking HDR from bracketed sets, and actually I think Lightroom does a better job, sometimes I blend the Lightroom and Aurora HDR renders, to bring the Aurora HDR into a more natural look. And yes sometimes I push the HDR envelope to get some wacky results which can be very cool too but I end up not loving them.

Regarding “still” images and the Aurora product I agree with you about the fakey kinda look. What do is process the photo in the Aurora product and then do it in photoshop (or light room) and the bring them both into a photoshop doc as 2 layers with the Aurora layer on top (or bottom depending on how you like to work) then with either a layer mask or just the erase tool start painting out the areas of the Aurora layer that you think is not as natural to revel the more natural Photoshop layer below. That will really give you the best of both worlds.
Hope all that makes sense?

 

[RobH2]

I'm just beginning to play with the trial of Aurora but can't you just "dial back" the Aurora adjustments with the sliders of the "Look" and make things more subtle? Are you saying no matter how much you adjust Aurora, you just can't quite get a natural looking grade? Having to use two different programs to achieve the grade kind of defeats the purpose of looking for a single program to automate things a little bit. Might as well just grade it in Photoshop with the "Camera Raw Filter."