Great tutorial! Thanks!

Mahesh, I'm glad to see someone teaching the correct use of HDR instead of what we normally see, where the resulting image is overdone and looks like something from a sci-fi movie. Thanks for taking time.

Both your tutorials are excellent. Thank you for taking time to produce this for all of us here.

-Phantom Knight

By the way, for those that want more than 3 bracketed shots, simply shoot in manual mode. Keep Aperature where you want and simply change the shutter speed. Watch in the viewfinder and start with it at -3.0 and increase by less than 1.0 for each shot... very easy to do, but make sure you have a good tripod and ballhead and that they are both LOCKED tight before starting this.

Also, for those that want to print this whole thread, there is a "Print Post" button in the top left corner.... click that and see what happens.......

How do you rate the advanatges and disadvantages of making an HDR image compared with bracketing raws and blending them in 16 bit layers?

Hi Mahesh - thanks for this intro to HDR in photoshop - I've always struggled with CS2's HDR in the past and as a result prefered Photomatix, but I've just managed to produce an HDR image in CS2 using your guidance which is at least as good as the Photomatix result. Thanks. Paul.

thapamd wrote:
You have to use unprocessed RAW files to create an HDR image. JPEG is not even an option.

Are you sure the RAW files have to be unprocessed? I started playing around with HDR yet again the other evening, and about the time I was giving up on it (yet again ), it occurred to me it might be worth trying to 'process' each RAW exposure in ACR, *then* start the HDR process.

But I had no clue if it would actually use the 'Image Settings' after processing each RAW, or whether it would ignore those and just use 'Camera Raw Defaults'.(?)

Does that even make sense?

Thank you so much! I hope this gets "stickied" to the top of the forum

I've created a pdf document of the tutorial... if you guys dont mind, i uploaded it to my website, and you can dowload at your will!

Link to HDR Tutorial

___________________
Chris Austin
Wedding and Portrait Photography
http://www.chrisaustinphotography.com

Thank you, so much, for this post and the one below! Absolutely amazing! I have been hoping to try out some HDR photography. Now, I can have a hand to guide me in my 1st trials.

BTW, are you in Seattle? Do you offer work shops?

ucsbgaucho wrote:
I've created a pdf document of the tutorial... if you guys dont mind, i uploaded it to my website, and you can dowload at your will!


Thanks for posting this. It might be nice to include credit and a link to Mahesh's Web site in this PDF (in addition to getting permission).

Long time no see,Doc. Thanks for the tutorial! Keep 'em coming.

Thanks. I have been on the edge of trying HDR. Your tutrorial will be very helpful.

Thanks for this. Excellent and what is sometimes missing in the fourms here. Thanks again.

Another way to save the post is to hit "print post". Then "print" it as an adobe document if you have Adobe and save it.

Fo Tollery wrote:
thapamd wrote:
You have to use unprocessed RAW files to create an HDR image. JPEG is not even an option.

Are you sure the RAW files have to be unprocessed? I started playing around with HDR yet again the other evening, and about the time I was giving up on it (yet again ), it occurred to me it might be worth trying to 'process' each RAW exposure in ACR, *then* start the HDR process.

But I had no clue if it would actually use the 'Image Settings' after processing each RAW, or whether it would ignore those and just use 'Camera Raw Defaults'.(?)

Does that even make sense?


Yes, I think the HDR tool takes the RAW, unprocessed, image and does it's magic, no matter what presettings you may have applied.

ucsbgaucho wrote:
I've created a pdf document of the tutorial... if you guys dont mind, i uploaded it to my website, and you can dowload at your will!

Link to HDR Tutorial

___________________
Chris Austin
Wedding and Portrait Photography
http://www.chrisaustinphotography.com

Thanks, Chris. PM sent. Please read.

ashwinrao1 wrote:
Thank you, so much, for this post and the one below! Absolutely amazing! I have been hoping to try out some HDR photography. Now, I can have a hand to guide me in my 1st trials.

BTW, are you in Seattle? Do you offer work shops?



Thanks, Ashwin! Yes, I do live in Seattle, and no, as of yet, I do not offer workshops. I would happily go shooting with fellow FM'ers at mutually convenient times, however. Send me a PM.

ColinSmith wrote:
How do you rate the advanatges and disadvantages of making an HDR image compared with bracketing raws and blending them in 16 bit layers?

Hi Colin,

I only use HDR if the dynamic range of th scene is "very high." Often times, I can get often "get away" with doing a 3 bracketed exposure shot and manually combining them is PS. I suppose that I've found HDR to be most helpful in scenes such as backlit sunrises or sunsets. Hope that helps!

marschp wrote:
Hi Mahesh - thanks for this intro to HDR in photoshop - I've always struggled with CS2's HDR in the past and as a result prefered Photomatix, but I've just managed to produce an HDR image in CS2 using your guidance which is at least as good as the Photomatix result. Thanks. Paul.

Glad to hear it, Paul! I'm happy the little tutorial helped.

thapamd wrote:

Now here’s the image I decided to create. As you can see, I’ve sacrificed the sky detail for the sake of FG detail. It doesn’t really matter how you convert. I just chose this at random.

Greg Matty wrote:
thapamd wrote:

Now here’s the image I decided to create. As you can see, I’ve sacrificed the sky detail for the sake of FG detail. It doesn’t really matter how you convert. I just chose this at random.

thapamd wrote:


Greg,

When I claimed that the above image was the I wanted to create, I meant that it was the image I created in 32 bit. As you can see from the next sentence, I also claimed that it really doesn't matter what you decided as the created image in 32 bit...I chose the above image at random. When going from the 32 bit to 16 bit is when the detail in the sky will be brought out. I hope I've explained myself.

Thanks. That clears up my confusion.

Greg

Great great great tutorial!!! Cant wait to try this out.

WOW!! Thank you very much. I have been wanting to learn how to do HDR for a long time. Can't wait to try it out.
Thank you so much for you time!

I am getting the "Not enough dynamic range..." message in PS. I am taking 9 RAW images (1 stop apart) using bracketing.

Why would there not be enough range.

I am using the raw files and not converting them.. is this the reason?