HDRSource.com HDR Images is Now Live!

[jujubee]

I wanted to announce that I recently redesigned my HDRSource.com website and HDR libraries from the ground up. I wanted to make the announcement here first since the Vray Forum/Chaosgroup has been very supportive over the years.

The HDRSource website is located at:
www.hdrsource.com

HDRSource was previously one of the oldest High Dynamic Range image stores on the Internet. Recently, I purchased new camera equipment and software, and got back into producing HDRs again - this time with truly "proper" gear. I'm mostly looking to just recoup my initial expenses for the hosting and equipment. Hopefully, additional sales will allow me to go out and continue producing even better HDRs over time.

With the new website, all HDRs are provided in a downloadable format. Most of the HDRs are 8,000x4,000 pixels in dimensions and are about 50 megs minimum rared. They are all 9 brackets each. I've also included the tonemapped files.

So I would appreciate it if you'd give it a look. Any additional links you want to toss that way would also be highly welcomed and spectacular.


Thanks,

Charles

[jujubee]

I should also mention that I also have roughly 30 more HDRs which I am working on posting soon if "real" work doesn't side-line me. And with a new camera purchased earlier this week, I am really looking forward to going out and capturing some Autumn scenes and foliage. During the colder months of winter, I'll try to go out and capture interiors.

So please stay tuned.

[pskdude]

hdr

THey look real nice. Cant wait to see the new ones!

[glorybound]

Hdri's

They look great and are priced nicely. I just purchased one and I'll report back.

[jujubee]

Thanks Bobby, I really appreciate it. It was a lot of work. Let me know how that goes. The focus for this series was to actually capture some broad daylight HDRs. I just don't see enough of them out there - mostly just sunrises, sunsets, and cloudy days.

If I can get enough sales to cover the bandwidth, then I'll probably release some free ones. I really want to get the other HDRs up there but I have too many little projects I need to get out the door presently.

The other thing I want to do is get some inner-city shots - both day and night. I think having buildings of a downtown scene in the background should be helpful for backdrops. But there's not enough time in any given day lately...

[glorybound]

Hdri

Yes. Daylight shots are nice. I too only see dawn and dusk HDRI's so it was nice to see yours.

[glorybound]

Hdri

OK... I was able to successfully use the HDRI I purchased from www.hdrsource.com

I say successfully because I have paid a lot more for HDRI's I was never able to use. It was nice to get daylight HDRI's, which is what clients seem to like. I like dawn and dusk, but the orange and yellows effect the scene dramatically, which is the point, but it seems to confuse clients. These HDRI's are great for architectural visualization.

I personally would charge a lot more so get them while they last

[jujubee]

Thanks again man. Much appreciated.

To be honest, I went between prices on these trying to figure out a reasonable/affordable rate. I thought the quality was up there with Dosch and Sachform - even beating them to a degree - but not quite Suurland's level. Suurland has some killer stuff as well as some spectacular backplates. His examples are amazing - but are well out of my personal price range.

One technique is to use the HDR to light the scene, then use the tonemapped file (which I provided) to actually be the visible background/backplate. That way you get a much better-looking background in general while still receiving the benefits of the lighting solution.

You can of course tweak the original HDR file within PS or Picturenaut and get the colors you want on your own (I just provided mine out of courtesy), then save out a 8-bit or 16-bit tonemapped file on your own. It's just a minor adjustment but it can radically change the way the background looks. Whether or not you choose to do so is a matter of personal preference - but the actual HDR exposures are 100% correct.

sIBL works much the same way with its method - even using a more highly optimized solution. I really recommend checking sIBL out - I plan to eventually release some libraries for sIBL. However, the latest version of sIBL hasn't been written for Max/Vray yet so I've got a little bit (and perhaps a lot) of time to do so.

[jujubee]

I just wanted to mention (shameless plug) that I added an additional library today to the HDRSource website.

Here are the new individual HDRs:
http://www.hdrsource.com/store/individual-hdrs-page-2/

And here is the new library:
http://www.hdrsource.com/store/hdr-libraries/

I have additional images waiting to be processed - work permitting. I'll also try to add some samples.