Monday, July 1, 2013

Chromatic Aberration along the Bear Tooth Highway




I photographed this scene along the Bear Tooth Highway.  I used a Canon 5D Mark III camera and a Canon 16-35mm lens set at 16mm.  The lens was set to f16.  I used 3 exposures -  -2,  0,  and +2.

I compared HDR results using Photoshop CS6, Photomatix Pro and Nik HDR Effx Pro 2.   The result above is with Nik HDR Effx Pro 2.  I liked it best because it looked sharper than the Photomatix result and more natural than the Photoshop result.  All three programs have numerous adjustments that I could have used to improve the results, so don't accept this opinion as my final answer.

The image looks fine in the normal size range.  It has chromatic aberration that is disturbing when enlarged beyond 100%.  I tested the adjustments available in Photomatix Pro and Nik HDR Effx Pro2 and produced the following results:


The top row shows Photomatix with CA correction turned on and then off.  The bottom row shows Nik HDR Effx Pro 2 with Red/ Cyan set to -40.