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HDR Tutorial

This document is a step-by-step tutorial on processing HDR images, emphasizing the importance of shooting multiple exposures to reduce noise and improve image quality. It covers the use of software like Lightroom and Photomatix for editing and merging images, as well as techniques for adjusting settings in Photoshop. The tutorial also addresses common questions and best practices for achieving optimal results in HDR photography.

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16 views11 pages

HDR Tutorial

This document is a step-by-step tutorial on processing HDR images, emphasizing the importance of shooting multiple exposures to reduce noise and improve image quality. It covers the use of software like Lightroom and Photomatix for editing and merging images, as well as techniques for adjusting settings in Photoshop. The tutorial also addresses common questions and best practices for achieving optimal results in HDR photography.

Uploaded by

focalpointimageretouching
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
rari HDR f Welcome to my step by step walkthrough! My goal HDR Tutorial beginning to end as well as maybe even show you something new to incorporate into your digital to show you exactly how I process my images from, workflow. Tilstartit off with an FAQ of things that happen before & during the HOR process. «| Why shoot 10 exposures? [always shoot 10 exposures due tothe fact thatn doing so tre duces the amount of noise that shows up inthe final product. The more you have the less noise you have as well asit brings in more etal than 3 exp would have. How do you shoot 10 exposures? [My Sony A700 allows me to bracket 5 exposures at7 intervals, so Start my midat-1.5 then shoot S exposures with 2negative and 2 positive then start another 5 with a mid of +1.5 o that cover 10 exposures throughout the range, Do you need a tripod? No, you don't need a tripod but definitely recommend. especially if your shooting more then 3 exposures. Even in direc sunight always use my tripod so as to eliminate camera shake in between exposures. During night exposures would say its an absolute necessity to bringit with you and ifyou have one already than bring your remote shutter release so you wor't have to touch the camera. Theara lot about masking but sit really necessary? To be honest in some cases is not necessary to have to mask any thing at al In this tutorial wl show you one of the reasons why you ‘may ton your HORimages. What happens with HDR images in photo mati sa thing called ghosting which leads to artifacts in your image. CGhosting occurs when you have moving objects suchas crs, leaves blowing in the wind and moving people. Photomatix cat yet handle that when merging several exposures together oto correct the prob- lem you have tothe live withthe ghosting or mask nthe problem Should use Manual, Aperture or Shutter priority? It’s been sad that you must always use Aperture priority so you don change your DOF mid exposure. Ifyou change itto Manval mode keep your aperture the sameas the rest of your bracket and only change your shutter speed. Same goes with you other settings. ISO ‘and WB all need tobe the same trough each exposure it's not then itil either render a useless HOR in Photomat oF give you major problems down the road, "Remember that HORs technique tebe applied to your photography and you dont have a good subject and composition begin with then HDR isnt going taf that for you Photography st HOR 2nd Definitive HDR ft 1.) Coming back from shooting I've already brought over my RAW files from the memory card to my desktop. 1 use Lightroom as a preference due tothe fact that it allows me to sort, tweak, export to Photomatix as well as edit in Photoshop and save any changes back into Lightroom. Not only doe’ it save time but it also saves me from having to look all over my cluttered computer to find the images that| want. 2} Os ghost oor yagi the og ply have mow ry aes ino anew fle ey al fev Fn yg it sr ig impr canbe ony way sxoring ny backted expenrero Patonaic inhewidon Yuan yr | ej anda tone vet flank Definitive HDR ft 3.) With Lightroom 2.0 you'e able to export your bracketed exposures straight to Photomatix by selecting your exposures then going to File > Plug-in Extras > Export to Photomatix Pro. Ifyou dor't have Lightroom 2.0 or Lightroom at all you can stil drag and drop your exposures from your desktop or folder into Photomatix. Di Automatically reimportito vty choose Sit over 162 Saves space on my harddrive adn the en ehateamtbea losing data when convert to Jpeg 501 might as well eepthe le sielow. Calan res Giri bit wny reduce CAnow? prefer to doit in Photomatix then reduce whatever is ros Tein Lightroom. takes alte it moretime bu ike my resuks) Pied Dyer atNZom a Da 5,)Then we wait while our computers produce our HDR images after several long minutes, ‘Sometimes while | wait ook at [Link] and dream about a PC that can churn out an HDR. in under two minutes:) 6) Now we're done. Doesn't take that long to produce HOR's at all now does it? Iitwere only that nice but we still have quite a ways to go... HitTone Mapping on the left. Definitive HDR ft 7) Once your panels upon the eft frget abou the other sliders and only move he strength ad Light Smoothing sliders Why? Because al the other Slides that‘cahance"yout HO in photomata youcan do n Photoshop with better ests “Typically leave both on 100% and Max respectively because ike having a eltic mage compared to what other sders give you but that doesnt work cutthen | won't gopast 70% an my strength or Mid in my sothing, Once you ae rished moving yur siders hit Save and Re-import which wl take Your now tonemapped imagebackinte Lghteom, '8) With your tonemapped image now imported into LR you can right- Edltin Adobe Photoshop C54. Now this's where the fun begins with making ouradjustments and tweaks with various filters within Photoshop. rior rari HDR f 9) First thing fists to correct our White Balance by using a trick | learned from Scott Kelby. Create a new layer above your HOR and fillit with 50% grey. Change that layer to difference and let's move on to the next step. 10) With hesame ayer we ust created make a Threshold adjustment which can either be found a your Adjustments panel on hevight rin image> Ade | justment> Threshols Not thing you want odo once the hitogram popup ismaove the er ight underneath the hitogram to the fret and lowly move back othe right {ntl youhave small amounts efbsck showing un your image. rari HDR f 11) Next we cee cave adamant frou HR image Anahe bo lp up ad we make or adjustment wih he ry eeoppeon the eff the ba Wi the ey cjeropperin handle ack pie injou mage hater the Trea! ehsment Touma rma tse ane depen non ou et Delete beth your SON rey Tes ayerto see anything as changedthen elec yur Cres ler a wells your HOR ayer anit CE tomerge beth ape topethe 12) [ts time tring ourimage aut of the dl ook and add some contrast and saturation to to eally stat sesing some changes Create levels adjustment which canbe found the same area 2 the Threshold a) and bing the lft arow to wher It tarts touching thet ofthe Instogram ad the right trom to where touches height of thehistogram: fits lead oni then go ahead andleavelt alone Now with the fey mide arrow slowly moweitt theright und you start getting a desired amount of contrast in theimage then Fit k Definitive HDR ft 13) Next thing we need to de is go back nto Lightroom and select ll four exposures and bring them inte Photoshop under on layer What dos select. the exposures than go Photo > Edtln > Open Ar Layers ln Photoshop. Not only does that import the expocurs lta PS but alo pute therm alia one fie s0you wont have to manually do so yours. Now tat we have all exposures ina single fle we nes to drag our HOR ayer directly int our exposure lean sti at the very bottom ofthe stack PRGHRRBRER, 14) Selectll ayers and go to Edt > Auto Align Layers.|alwayskeep itat auto and let it do it’ thing because 'm not aligning a pano or anything ofthe sorts find it unnecessary to fiddle around with the other options. it Ok and watch as the bar goe's across for afew ‘minutes or seconds depending on how mary layers you have, OnE E AE Definitive HDR ft

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