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Photography
Sashikanth
R
Chintla
https://www.facebook.com/sashikanthchintlaphotography
2 1
HDR
Photography
Short
tutorial
on
how
to
create
HDR
images
using
tools
like
Lightroom
and
Photomatix.
1 2
What
is
HDR?
HDR
means
High
Dynamic
Range.
It
is
used
in
modern
day
photography
to
capture
the
dynamic
range
of
the
scene
through
multiple
exposures
and
creating
a
single
image.
Dynamic
Range
refers
to
the
difference
between
the
lightest
and
darkest
areas,
which
cannot
be
captured
perfectly
by
a
single
exposure.
If
you
look
at
the
two
images
to
the
left,
image
on
the
top
is
single
exposure
(f4,
ISO
100,
46mm,
2sec)
you
will
end
up
when
you
take
a
single
well-exposed
shot.
The
image
below
is
a
HDR
version
of
the
same
scene
achieved
through
5
exposures
(F4,
ISO
100,
46mm
{-2
to
+2},
{.5,
1,
2,
4,
8
Sec).
Many
professionals
dont
like
HDR,
its
a
personal
choice.
I
like
it
and
90%
of
my
photographs
are
HDR.
When
you
do
HDR
there
is
a
very
thin
line
between
a
good
HDR
and
a
bad
HDR,
if
the
images
are
not
processed
well
then
the
whole
purpose
of
creating
HDR
is
defeated
and
it
gives
a
un
natural
look.
There
are
many
articles
on
web
explaining
the
HDR
photography
and
how
to
create
one.
Ii
will
not
be
repeating
the
same
here.
I
will
be
explaining
my
Workflow
for
creating
a
HDR
image
and
the
tools
I
use.
Image
Capturing:
A
Little
bit
about
my
gear
I
have
a
Nikon
D700
with
14-24,
24-70,
70-200
F2.8
lenses,
Manfrotto
tripod.
I
always
shoot
my
photographs
using
the
tripod
(day
or
Night)
I
setup
my
camera
on
a
tripod
and
compose
the
scene,
turn
on
Auto
bracketing
for
taking
multiple
exposures,
select
the
lowest
ISO
to
reduce
noise,
Spot
focus
and
use
a
remote
cable
for
taking
the
shots.
I
normally
do
5
bracketed
shots
-2
to
+2
and
when
shooting
a
sunrise
or
a
sunset
I
set
it
up
for
7-bracketed
shots
-3
to
+3.
Few
important
points
to
remember
when
taking
your
bracketed
shots
Aperture
Priority
mode.
Shoot
in
RAW
instead
of
JPEG
if
possible.
Always
use
tripod.
Middle Exposure
HDR Version
Some cameras allow 3 bracketed shots only, to take 5 do a set of 3 shots first then dial the exposure to -1 and then take 3 more shots then dial the exposure to +1 and take 3 more shots. You will end up with couple of duplicate exposures, which can be discarded.
In the develop module i choose the images that will be used to create the HDR image and do some basic touch ups on each image before exporting them to Photomatix. I do these touch- up only on few photographs that might require and not on all the photographs. Some of the sliders I normally play with are shown in the right hand side of the image. I dial down the highlights and Whites to reduce the blown out areas and dial up shadows and Blacks to remove the shadows. Increase the clarity slider to improve the clarity and vibrance for the color. There are other advanced sliders as you go down which can be explored as per your creativity. Once the corrections are made I drag the bracketed shots to Photomatix for creating the HDR image
Light
Room:
Images
are
downloaded
to
my
Lightroom
4.
I
first
do
a
selection
on
photographs
I
would
like
to
process
and
move
them
into
a
processing
folder.
When
you
shoot
the
photographs
in
RAW,
there
is
lot
of
room
to
play
around
in
Lightroom
that
is
not
possible
with
a
JPEG
image.
4
Above is the first screen that pops up when I drag the photographs into Photomatix, simple select the Merge for HDR processing and click OK.
Photomatix
Process
I
use
Photomatix
pro
for
my
HDR
creations
(www.hdrsoft.com).
Above
is
the
set
of
6
Images
I
will
be
working
through
out
this
tutorial.
I
have
shot
7
images
-3
to
+3
as
this
was
a
sunrise
shot,
+3
has
complete
blowout
sky
hence
I
will
use
-3
to
+2.
What
you
are
seeing
above
is
the
0
exposure
with
-1
and
-2
on
left
and
+1
and
+2
to
the
right.
All
right
we
have
selected
our
images
to
process
now
lets
import
them
into
Photomatix.
I use MAC so I simple select the RAW photographs and drag them into Photomatix. You can also import them by opening photomatix and clicking on load-bracketed photos, select the images you want to process from the folder and click ok. There is no need to convert the RAW to JPEG before importing into photomatix.
Next we get the processing options screen, which allows us to make selections as to how we want our image to be processed. The selections vary from set of photographs to other.
Align Source Images: I select this option only when I have shot my photographs hand held, this option gets rid of the misalignment that can happen when you do hand held shots. Remove Ghosts By selecting this option you can get rid of any ghosting that might have due to long exposures. Sometimes ghosting is good to have in your final images. Ghosting can be removed either by selection automatically which will work on entire frame or with selective De ghosting tool to remove a certain areas of the frame Reduce Noise 99% of the time I am on Tripod with low ISO so noise will not be a problem, in cases where there is noise I dont select the option here to reduce the noise. I have separate noise reduction software, which I use on the final image if required. Reduce Chromatic Aberrations I normally dont select this option on any of my photographs, if you feel your photographs have some chromatic aberrations then you can select Raw Conversion Settings I do not select anything here, will leave the default selection and click on preprocess button.
The processing of HDR image: When the image gets loaded into photomatix, sliders used on the last processed photograph will be loaded by default. I click on the default button below to bring the sliders back to default settings. There are lots of sliders to play around and at times it can get confusing too. The best way to check what each slider does is to make wild swings on the slider to right and left and see what effect is happening on the photograph. I will speak about few important sliders I use on 99% of the photographs. I learnt this from the HDR Guru Trey Ratcliff and if you are looking at in-depth course on HDR then I strongly suggest taking his 11+ hours downloadable class (http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-video-tutorial) on HDR Post process technics. The image shown above is with default settings on sliders in Photomatix. Process Tone Mapping Vs. Exposure Fusion, I have used both but my personal preference is towards Tone mapping and the method is Details Enhancer.
Strength:
This
is
the
first
slider
I
u se
and
crank
it
up
all
the
way
to
100%,
at
times
I
will
dial
back
to
90,
85%.
But
by
default
it
will
be
100%
to
start
with.
White
&
B lack
Point
Next
i
play
around
with
the
White
and
black
point,
black
point
is
always
to
the
left,
bump
it
up
a
little
bit
and
adjust
the
whites
to
your
preference
Color
Saturation
After
playing
with
Black
and
white
adjust
the
color
slider.
The
effect
on
the
color
slider
is
different
if
done
after
adjusting
black
and
white
slider.
Increase
this
slider
to
pop
the
colors
but
not
over
saturate.
Always
do
wild
swings
instead
of
small
movements
to
see
the
effect.
Luminosity
I
set
it
up
anywhere
between
0
8
and
sometimes
to
the
max.
There
is
no
pre
set
level
that
can
be
applied
for
each
photograph.
Detail
Contrast
No
pre
set
level
for
this
slider
to
just
play
around
and
see
what
suits
to
your
image
and
select
it.
Lighting
Adjustments
This
slider
changes
the
light
in
the
photograph,
which
gives
a
POP
to
the
image.
Its
an
important
slider
that
can
change
the
final
look
of
the
image.
Lighting
Adjustments
These
are
pretty
much
the
sliders
I
play
around
mainly
and
sometimes
touch
the
temperature
slider
for
warm
or
cool
effect
and
Micro-Smoothing
for
the
HDR
effect.
Rest
of
the
sliders
I
dont
play
much
but
feel
free
to
explore.
Note:
Every
image
needs
the
sliders
to
be
adjusted;
there
is
no
default
setting
that
can
be
applied
on
to
the
images.
The
more
you
process
the
better
you
become
at
creating
the
HDR
images.
Final Image After playing around with the slider above is the final image I was satisfied with and click on process and save the image. For my final image I exported this to Photoshop and corrected some of the blowout yellow and cranked up the reds a little bit. Hope this was informational check out for my daily postings at https://www.facebook.com/sashikanthchintlaphotography and feel free to contact me for any queries or for some more advanced post processing in Photoshop. I am posting some before and after photographs to see what HDR can do.
SINGLE EXPOSURE
HDR VERSION
https://www.facebook.com/sashikanthchintlaphotography http://www.chintlaphotography.com