You can learn how to create HDRIs with a DSLR and a pano head here:
https://blog.polyhaven.com/how-to-create-high-quality-hdri/
The following is a list of technical requirements that must be met for any HDRI to be published on Poly Haven.
- We only publish photo-based HDRIs, no renders of virtual scenes.
- Minimum 16k (horizontal) resolution.
- HDRI must be unclipped.
- Separate macbeth color chart shot with the same exposure bracket as the rest of the pano, and merged to HDR file in the same way. Raw files (plus HDR) required. The chart should be placed face up on the ground or on the pano head, so that it's perpendicular to the ground.
- Made with a fully linear workflow.
- No avoidable or significant lens flares, stitching seams, or motion/depth blur.
- No tonemapping, color/contrast adjustments, sharpening, or tone curve.
- No recognizable people. If you can't mask them out or remove them, their faces need to be obscured.
- Tripod & shadow removed from bottom.
Backplates are separate photos of the environment around the HDRI location taken at approximately the same time as the HDRI (with matching lighting).
The purpose of backplates is to use them as alternative high resolution background images.
Sure you can use the HDRI itself as the background in your render, but with higher focal lengths this can start to get pixelated easily. You may also not like the camera location of the HDRI, so having more options is nice.
Here are some technical requirements for backplates if you choose to include them:
- At least 4000px on the longest side.
- At least 8 unique images that aren't too similar. Multiple focal lengths from multiple points of view.
- Preferably shot towards the place where the HDRI was taken from (so that reflections of a subject placed there will be accurate) though this is not always possible.
- We need three formats/versions for all backplate images:
- Original raw file
- Plain JPG version with minor tweaks (chromatic aberration fixed, noise reduction...) but no beauty enhancements.
- Pretty JPG version - do whatever adjustments you think can make it look good - contrast, color balance, highlight compression, tonemapping anything.
- The file names for each version of the image must be the same, just keep the files in different folders (e.g.
raw/DSC0001.cr2, jpg_plain/DSC0001.jpg...):
- Whitebalance used when developing the raw files must match the HDRI itself.