Exploring HDR Photoshop, Photomatix, & Topaz Adjust By: Blake Rudis
Copyright 2012 Blake Rudis All Rights Reserved Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Adobe Photoshop CS 6 is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe Camera Raw 7 is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Photomatix Pro 4.2 is a registered trademark of HDRSoft. HDR Efex Pro 2 is a registered trademark of Nik Software Inc. Topaz Adjust 5 is a registered trademark of Topaz Labs, LLC. Macintosh and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Olympus is a registered trademark of Olympus America Inc. Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Inc. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated. Photomatix screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from HDRsoft. Topaz Adjust 5 screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Topaz Labs, LLC. Exploring HDR is a product of Blake Rudis Photography LLC.
Disclaimer This book is designed to provide information for photographers about High Dynamic Range Photography. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible at the time it was written. This publication is not sponsored or endorsed by any of the above listed companies. The views and opinions mentioned are that of the author and are in no way affiliated with the companies mentioned herein.
Dedicated to: My beautiful, loving, & supportive wife, Sarah, who continually inspires me to pursue my passion!
Table of Contents Contents Exploring HDR Photoshop, Photomatix, & Topaz Adjust Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 Introduction to High Dynamic Range and the Theory Behind Exploiting It Chapter 2 The Importance of the RAW File Chapter 3 Method 1: Tone Mapping Multiple Exposures from the Camera Chapter 4 Method 2: HDR Extraction from a Single RAW File Chapter 5 Method 3: Multiple Exposures Extracted From a Single File Chapter 6 Method 4: 32 bit HDR Tone Mapping Using Photoshop and Camera Raw Chapter 7 Method 5: Multiple Exposure Merging Chapter 8 Method 6: After Market Plug-Ins: Topaz Adjust 5 Chapter 9 Nine Post Processing Tips for HDR Images 1 Removing Chromatic Aberrations 2 Noise Reduction 3 Extreme Noise Reduction 4Straightening the Horizon Line
5 Bringing Back the Shadows 6 Three More Ways to Add Depth 7 Dodging and Burning 8 Fixing Electric Colors 9 Sharpening Closing Thoughts Bonus Chapter! Post Processing a Tone Mapped File in Adobe Camera Raw About Blake Rudis
Preface About Exploring HDR Once I experienced HDR photography, I could not stop thinking about it. I would lose countless hours of sleep recalling all the places I had previously shot normally and how amazing they would look in HDR. It is for that reason that I had to spill my knowledge of HDR on paper and allow others the ability to see their ordinary everyday scenes in HDR brilliance! Through the use of Adobe Photoshop CS 6, Photomatix Pro 4.2, and Topaz Adjust 5, Exploring HDR will not only give you the knowledge you need to understand and create HDR photographs, it will also show you the significance of efficient post processing with your HDR images. As you read through Exploring HDR you will see a lot of diagrams and pictures. I have spent several hundred hours hand selecting pictures and creating diagrams to help you through your HDR journey. For this reason, I strongly advise you to view this book on a color display. I hope you not only enjoy Exploring HDR but that you learn something along the way! Along the way you may see some things duplicated from tutorial to tutorial. The tutorials have been written so you can go to the chapter you would like to read without missing anything in the previous chapters.
Be sure to check out all of the Bonus Content throughout each chapter! I have added links to video tutorials that will guide you through the methods discussed in each chapter. Several chapters will also have downloadable images so you can follow along with the steps. I strongly recommend that you follow along with these images if you are not proficient with the process being discussed.
Chapter 1 Introduction to High Dynamic Range and the Theory Behind Exploiting It We cannot quite dive into High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography without talking about Dynamic Range first. The ability to control and exploit Dynamic Range are the elements of photography that separate mice from men (or women). So what exactly is dynamic range? Simply stated, dynamic range is the ratio between the values of light and dark in a given scene. That sounds simple enough right? However, it is difficult to truly wrap your head around it without understanding its effect on your photographs. Have you ever taken a picture of an awesome-earth shattering sunset? If so, did you storm home as fast as you could safely travel to upload your images? When they pulled up on the screen did you have a washed out-over exposed sky that lacked the awe-inspiring effect of the scene you just witnessed? If you answered yes to one or all of those questions, then this book is perfect for you!
I can remember photographing a sunset like that. It was epic and spanned across the entire West Coast. I was tripod ready, shutter released, and hopeful. However, I ended up answering yes to all of those questions despite my expectations. It was due to several similar experiences that I almost dropped photography altogether because I could not accurately portray what I had seen exactly as I had seen it. It was frustrating, all of these photographers on the web had such awesome works of art and were obviously capturing what they saw in-camera, or so I thought. I soon learned that it is not the camera and what happens in it that makes the final image epic. Many times it is not even the individual behind it, though it helps to have a good eye for composition. It all comes down to the post processing of the photo, the what happens after the shot, and more importantly what format you captured that photo in that is going to make it brilliant. Figure 1 is the perfect example of a flat washed out sunrise, the ones I was used to photographing. Figure 2 on the other hand is the result of some dynamic range exploitation! While it may look surreal, the sky was lit up that morning with the most brilliant colors I had seen in quite some time, but the camera by itself could not capture it in a single exposure.
Figure 1. Single exposure straight from the camera Figure 2. Dynamic range exploited
You now know that dynamic range is the ratio between light and dark in a given scene, but how do you exploit it in a photograph? By exploit I mean, how do you manipulate the photograph to use all of that dynamic range to your utmost benefit? You may have heard of High Dynamic Range photography, or HDR. The HDR process is a very common way to exploit the dynamic range captured in a photograph. The most common HDR process consists of taking multiple exposures of the same scene at varying exposure values to capture a series of images that are over and underexposed and one that is properly exposed. See Figure 3. Figure 3. Example of multiple exposures Once these multiple exposures have been captured, they are brought into something called tone mapping software to extract as much tone and detail as possible from the various exposures. Essentially, what you are doing is adjusting the
contrast ratio between light and dark to heighten the amount of luminance and detail in the final photo pixel by pixel. Since you took multiple exposures with varying light levels you have a lot of dynamic range to exploit. This is my favorite way to exploit dynamic range in a photo and we will discuss it further in Chapter 3. While that may be the most common method of dynamic range exploitation, there are several other ways that do not require tone mapping. A multitude of HDR methods will be discussed in this book that do not require tone mapping since many photographers do not care for the tone mapped look. Essentially any adjustment made to the contrast between light and dark in a photo will adjust the dynamic range in the final image. An s curve in the tones, a very common adjustment, will immediately affect the contrast in the image which will in turn affect the dynamic range of the scene photographed. This curve adjustment will be covered in Chapter 9.
The Theory Behind Exploitation of Dynamic Range There are several thousand ways to make an image look better. Exploiting the dynamic range of a scene in a photo is a great way to set you apart from the extremely saturated digital photography market. If you are not post processing your photos in some kind of digital darkroom you are doing yourself and your photography an injustice. It does not matter if you own the top of the line Nikon, Canon, or Olympus camera. The photographs that come directly out of the camera are not going to set you apart from everyone else without a bit of assistance from post processing. Sure a great composition will take you a long way, but the best of the best out there are post processing their work. I like to call this Dynamic Range Exploitation. It is just like an interrogation, the information is there, you merely have to get it out and how you go about doing that will vary based on the individual person or the individual photograph in our case! The first hurdle you need to get over, if you have not already, is Photo Manipulation is not immoral corruption of a photograph! It is necessary to make your photographs look better and more attractive to your viewers and maybe even your customers if you sell your photographs.
If you currently post process your photographs, then I applaud you for overcoming that initial hurdle. Now try thinking about post processing in terms of dynamic range. In essence any adjustments you make to the Tone Levels, Tone Curve, Saturation, Contrast, Sharpening, Brightness, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Highlights, etc will affect the dynamic range in your photo. You just need to know how to use all of that dynamic range to your advantage and exploit it! Throughout this book I will discuss many ways you can exploit the dynamic range in your photography through the use of several High Dynamic Range methods. While some of these methods require the use of tone mapping software to obtain a HDR image, there are several that use Adobe Camera Raw to heighten the existing dynamic range.
Figure 4. An example of a single exposure from the camera and a tone mapped HDR image from 5 exposures
Chapter 2 The Importance of the RAW File It took me a long time to jump into the wonderful world of RAW photography. I had been a serious, or what I thought was serious, photographer for about 3 years before I switched from JPEG to RAW. It may sound absurd, but my only rational was that my PC could not show me a thumbnail for the RAW file I had just shot. I know, a ridiculous reason for not switching to RAW, but I found that extremely annoying! After being convinced by several of my photo peers, I took the plunge into RAW photography and luckily for me, I was able to find a RAW Codec that allowed me to see my RAW thumbnails. I had been officially converted and have not shot a JPEG since. So what is the big deal with a RAW file anyway? Let s discuss the JPEG first. The JPEG was created to take a large image file and compress it to make it less cumbersome on storage devices. It has become the universal method for transferring and storing many photo files. Its compressed nature makes it great for uploading pictures to the internet and social media sites.
While the JPEG has several advantages, it also has its disadvantages. Many camera models have JPEG filters that process during the recording of an image. These filters consist of, but are not limited to, Color Correction, Noise Reduction, Exposure Correction, Contrast Correction, Sharpening, and Saturation Adjustments. Camera manufactures have these filters applied to the image being captured as the JPEG compresses. They are designed to make the images appear as good as possible straight out of the camera. After all, they want you to feel a nice warm fuzzy from your pictures right away. The problem with these adjustments is that you are very limited to how much more you can get out of the image in post processing. Due to the JPEG s compressed nature, it is very difficult to successfully extract much more information after the compression takes place. A Raw file on the other hand is the complete opposite. It is the Digital Negative as I like to refer to it. It is untouched, un-filtered raw data! The camera does not apply the filters it normally would to the JPEG file. The RAW file is not compressed therefore, in post processing you have the ability to extract a lot of information and make some very bold moves without losing much image quality. There have been times where I have been able to recover 3-4 stops of light from an underexposed RAW file and still
have a great picture! If you tried that with a JPEG you may see areas of color distortion, unattractive highlight blowouts, or shadow clippings. Figure 5 and 6 are great examples of these highlight blowouts and how far you can take a RAW file without losing important photo information. Figure 5. The odd colored areas depict highlight blowouts.
Figure 6. Notice how little the highlights were affected by the exposure recovery There are pros and cons to both sides of the image format coin. I prefer RAW for its seemingly unlimited capabilities, but one thing you must know is that a RAW file requires some type of post processing before you can view it properly. Your camera should have come with software that allows you to manipulate the RAW file or you can use some more powerful software like Adobe Photoshop s Adobe Camera Raw. The best way to think about a RAW file is that it is a digital negative. In years past when shooting with film you would get a negative which could then be used to make multiple positives. Now, we have the RAW file (the negative) which
must be processed and converted into a JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etcetera (the positive). You should consider doing the same things your camera does to a JPEG to your RAW file, however, you get to use your artistic eye to make the appropriate adjustments. For example, Color Correction, Noise Reduction, Sharpening, Exposure Correction, Contrast Correction, and Saturation Adjustments. Call me a control freak, but I would rather be the one to make these decisions than my camera.
The RAW File and HDR The RAW file plays an integral role in dynamic range exploitation. Due to the amount of valuable information it possesses, you have the ability to run it through much more strenuous post processing decisions than a JPEG file. I started my HDR endeavors with JPEGs and would get very frustrated with what little I could do in Photomatix without getting some really nasty results. The amount of noise and quality of highlights and shadows were unbearable. All of that changed when I switched to tone mapping my HDR images with RAW files as my starting point. Raw files held up much nicer to the amount of tone mapping I was doing and the results were much better! Figure 7. Difference between RAW and JPEG after processing. In Figure 7 you will see an example of a set of JPEG exposures that were processed the same way as the RAW
exposures. The RAW product has richer color and less highlight blowouts. You will see just how powerful the RAW file is as you read about the many methods of exploiting dynamic range. From multiple exposures to single image processing, the RAW format will soon prove its worth in your photographic workflow. BONUS CONTENT: For More information on RAW vs. JPEG
Chapter 3 Method 1: Tone Mapping Multiple Exposures from the Camera Uses: This method is perfect for still scenes that do not have much movement making it particularly great for landscapes and still life. I tend to use this method for HDR 9 out of 10 times. What you will need: * A Camera with Auto Exposure Bracketing (also known as AEB or AB) capability. * A Tripod * A cable shutter release or IR remote will help, but is not necessary. * Tone Mapping software, such as Photomatix as I refer to often in this book. BONUS CONTENT: Photomatix Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com! The first and most common method of dynamic range exploitation is the multiple exposures from the camera HDR process. A simple Google search for How to Shoot for HDR will provide a plethora of results on how to shoot multiple exposures. My method of capturing multiple exposures may not be very different from the rest. I will not go into too many
details about camera specific settings because all camera manufacturers are very different. If you have questions about how to find your cameras specific functions, consult with your manufacturer s manual after reading this section. My setup for multiple exposure capturing is relatively simple. * Place your camera on the tripod* with the shutter release attached (if you have one). Place your capture mode on RAW and Aperture Priority (A or AV). This will ensure your camera captures the same depth of field for every shot by maintaining a constant Aperture through all of the exposures. The variable will be the shutter speed. * You may be able to get the exposures without using a tripod if you are confident in your handheld capture capabilities. You may need to practice proper breathing techniques and have ample light to capture the multiple exposures. A good breathing technique to eliminate camera shake is to take a deep breath before the shots and as you exhale snap the exposures for the brackets. Holding your breath will increase your heart rate and cause camera shake. * I have found that most HDR images look best at medium to high apertures, f/8.0 - f/16 and so on. These apertures will ensure the bulk of the picture is in crisp focus.
Figure 8. Example of different Apertures and HDR. * High image noise tends to lurk in the bokeh areas at lower apertures, therefore I try to make sure my exposures for HDR are taken at higher apertures whenever possible. This may not be possible in low light scenarios; you may need to adjust accordingly. * Try to set your ISO to the lowest possible setting. For me that is an ISO of 100, however there may be times when you need to increase the ISO in lower light scenarios. * Just remember the higher the ISO the more noise there will be in each exposure. Higher ISO noise tends to compound during the HDR tone mapping process resulting in a much noisier finished product. * You may use Manual focus or Auto Focus. If you intend on using Auto Focus, I would set your camera on its highest burst fire mode. That will tell the camera to bypass the auto focus mechanism between shots. * Put your camera in Auto Exposure Bracketing (AB or AEB). I set my camera to 5 exposures at +/-1 Exposure
Value. With these settings I will receive 5 exposures each with a different Exposure Value: * The proper exposure for the given light reading of the scene (0EV). * An exposure with double the amount of light (+1EV) * Another exposure with double the amount of light of the +1 EV exposure (+2EV) * An exposure with ½ the amount of light (-1EV) * And finally an exposure with ½ the light of the -1EV exposure (-2EV) For the above scenario, the exposure range will look something like this: Figure 9. Depiction of exposure values as captured with AEB +/-2 EV over 5 exposures With my camera I am able to get a +/-2 EV range over 5 exposures as depicted in Figure 9. Other cameras may allow
you to take more or less. Refer to your camera specifications to see how many exposures you can capture in AEB. Do not worry if you can only get 3 EV s per AEB set. I have noticed that the +1 and -1 EV exposures are not critical to have. A set of 3 exposures, -2 EV, 0 EV, and 2 EV seems to be the perfect range for almost all circumstances. Try to set your cameras AEB to +/-2 EV over 3 exposures if that is the case. Once you have the exposures captured you will need to process them in some type of tone mapping software. For most cases, I prefer Photomatix, but that is a personal preference. There are mixed reviews on the best way to process the exposures. Some photographers process the RAW files first, in something like Adobe Camera Raw, save them as 16 bit TIFFs, and then bring them into Photomatix. I personally prefer to drag and drop all of the RAW exposures directly into the Photomatix window without any pre-processing. You are free to do it however you please and I encourage you to experiment. Photomatix is a pretty intimidating program with all of its sliders and odd nomenclature. I could break the whole program down for you, but they already have a very well written manual for that. However, there are a few settings I tend to lean pretty heavy on when I process my images in Photomatix.
In the Pre-Processing Options * Select Align Source Images & Crop Aligned Images. This will avoid having to crop the image later. * Select by Correcting Horizontal and Vertical Shifts if tripod mounted (it will process quicker), By Matching Features if handheld. * Select Remove Ghosts, this will ensure objects like tree leaves and running water will be free of movement lines called ghosts. * Select the Selective Deghosting Tool if you would like to select the ghosting areas yourself, I highly recommend this if there was wind blowing through the trees in your scene. * I generally select automatic if I know there are no areas of intense motion. * It is also a good idea to routinely select Reduce Chromatic Aberrations too. Those little cyan and magenta fringe lines are just annoying! There are methods of reducing them during post processing as well. My methods will be discussed in Chapter 9.
Figure 10. An example of the Preprocessing Options in Photomatix After you press Okay, Photomatix will align your source images to set you up for the tone mapping process, you will then be prompted with a bunch of adjustments.
With a bit of experimentation with the slider adjustment combinations you will be making awesome tone mapped images in no time. There is one Preset that I have created that is a very good starting point for most scenes regardless of the dynamic range present. Unfortunately, there is no one perfect combination for every photo as the dynamic range from one scene varies to another so you may need to make adjustments accordingly. * In the Tone Mapping Interface of Photomatix Pro 4.2 apply the following settings in the Details Enhancer Method. * Strength: 100 * Color Saturation: 55 * Luminosity: 10.0 * Detail Contrast: -1.0 * In Lighting Adjustments check the Lighting Effects Mode and select Medium * Smooth Highlights: 29 * White Point: 2.48% * Black Point: 0.126% * Gamma: 1.30 * Temperature: 0.0 * Micro-smoothing: 0.0 * Saturation Highlights: -5.2 * Saturation Shadows: -4.3 * Shadows Smoothness: 50 * Shadows Clipping: 0.0
Figure 11. The product of the settings listed above, works well for most scenes These settings usually create a great baseline for me to work with during post processing. You may need to tweak some of the numbers a bit to work for your particular image. If you are having problems with some common tone mapping imperfections, you can follow Figure 12 to help you along. The goal is to create a flat looking image that is not too dark, too light, or too stylized. Using post processing techniques like Curves and Dodging & Burning will help to add depth to the tone mapped image later. Refer to Chapter 9.
Figure 12. Photomatix Trouble Shooting Chart Remember, try to be conservative with the tone mapping treatment in Photomatix. You are trying to exploit the dynamic range not DESTROY it!
Figure 13. Comparison of Good and Bad HDR, I hope you can tell the difference! Now that you have your tone mapped file it is imperative that you save it as a 16 bit TIFF and post process it in your favorite image editing software. As discussed in Chapter 2 about the RAW file, this tone mapped product is still considered a negative. I prefer using my Digital Darkroom, Adobe Photoshop, to further enhance my HDR images. Refer to Chapter 9 and the Bonus Chapter for examples of my typical post processing workflow.
BONUS CONTENT: You can also process these multiple files in other tone mapping software like HDR Efex Pro 2. A Video Tutorial is provided on EverydayHDR.com!
Chapter 4 Method 2: HDR Extraction from a Single RAW File Uses: This method is great when you only have one exposure in RAW format to work with. What you will need: * A Single RAW File. Click this link to download the image used for this tutorial to follow along. * Adobe Photoshop with Adobe Camera Raw. BONUS CONTENT: Adobe Camera Raw Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com There are several methods used to extract dynamic range from a single photo. I use this specific method to achieve a quick HDR look without 3-5 exposures from the camera to work with. It works particularly well when your subject is in motion and is practically impossible to capture with multiple exposures. You may also find it useful when you want to quickly exploit the dynamic range in a single photo without the hassle of multiple exposure tone mapping. For this method I used the 0 EV exposure from an image taken in an old Tobacco Warehouse. The shooting conditions were less than ideal for HDR as the exposures were very long due to the limited lighting and my lack of a tripod.
I could have increased the ISO, however, I preferred to keep my ISO as low as possible to limit the amount of noise in the final image. Figure 14. The 0 EV exposure prior to Adobe Camera Raw work. I opened the RAW file in Adobe Photoshop CS 6 which, because it is a RAW file, the Adobe Camera Raw Interface prompted me for editing in the Basic Editing Module.
Figure 15. 0 EV exposure ready for editing in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) Prior to making any edits in ACR it is a good idea to press the (U) and (O) keys. These adjustments will toggle the clipping previews enabling you to see how your slider selections are affecting the highlight and shadow clippings. These clippings will appear as blue for clipped shadows and red for clipped (blown) highlights. These areas of clipping are warning signs alerting you that you are essentially destroying your highlights or shadows by taking them too far in one direction or the other. A clipped highlight or shadow is an area where there is no recorded luminance information. If the file gets saved that way, especially as a JPEG, there really is no going back to fix it.
In most cases it is a good idea to try not to clip the highlights or shadows too much, a little bit is acceptable and actually quite natural. Figure 16. Example of shadow clipping and the effect on the image After you have set yourself up with the clipping warnings it is time to start exploiting the dynamic range!
* Start with the Exposure adjustment. This will set the tone for the rest of the photo. For this particular photo I increased it by +.35 EV s. *Increase the Shadows to +100. You may want to go a bit lower depending on your photo. It is subject to individual taste and how it affects the dynamic range of the scene. * Adjust the Highlights to somewhere between -20 and -100. It really depends on the image you are working with. For this image I went to -42. * Hop on down to the Clarity adjustment and start it at +100 to see what the image looks like. The Clarity slider will give you an overall texture; it is like a contrast adjustment but in the finer details of the image. You may find that 100 is too much, if so tone it down to your liking. * Adjust the Contrast to the right to increase the overall contrast of the image. I went to +9 for this particular photo. * After adjusting the main dynamic range adjustments, it is a good idea to tweak the Whites and Blacks as well to ensure your image is not flat. These adjustments will be the biggest culprits of the clippings, be sure to watch how far you take them. * Adjust the Blacks to +3 for a little extra light in the darkest areas.
* Increase the Whites to +14 to achieve a nice Histogram that conveys no clipping of the highlights. See Figure 17. * As the finishing touch in the Basic Module, I will often add a bit of Vibrance to the photo. The vibrance adjustment allows you to increase the saturation in the colors that appear less saturated without affecting the areas of high saturation in the photo. I guess you could call it subtle saturation. * Increase the Vibrance to +27 for this photo to recover some color in the areas that were lacking it a bit. Figure 17. Example of the finished Basic Module for this photo
Since RAW files do not undergo any noise reduction in the camera, it is a good idea to tackle that here in Camera Raw as it possesses some of the best noise reduction capabilities on the market. * Go to the Detail Module, it is the third module in from the left. * I like to leave the Sharpening set to the default settings. If you need more by all means increase it. However, I try not to sharpen my images too much until I am ready to print. I will often use other means discussed in Chapter 9. * Go on down to the Noise Reduction. Set the Luminance and Luminance Detail to anywhere between 30 and 50. You do not want to lose too much detail in the image by reducing the noise too much. * For this image I took the Luminance to 31, Luminance Detail to 40, Luminance Contrast to 0, Color remained at the default of 25, and Color Detail to 50.
Figure 18. Example of Noise Reduction in ACR Lastly, I like to hit those nasty chromatic aberrations here in ACR. * Go to the Lens Correction Module, the sixth one in from the left, and go to the Color tab. * Toggle the Remove Chromatic Aberration box and watch those bad boys disappear! * If they do not disappear after selecting Remove Chromatic Aberrations, you may need to tweak the Purple Amount and Green Amount to the right, usually between 4 and 8 does the job. * And if that does not completely get rid of them, you can change the Hue of the Purple and Green to match the surrounding colors by adjusting their individual Hue adjustments accordingly.
Figure 19. Chromatic Aberration reduction in action. When you are finished in the ACR interface, you may open the photo in Photoshop and save it as a 16 bit Tiff. Always make sure you keep the original RAW file, but if you want to do anymore processing afterward you can go ahead and do it on the TIFF file. To save your image as a 16 Bit TIFF in Photoshop: * Go to Image>Mode and select 16Bits/Channel * Then go to File>Save As * In the Format block select TIFF (*.TIF,*.TIFF) * Select Save * Press okay when the TIFF Options dialog box opens leaving all of the values at their default.
Figure 20. Before ACR
Figure 21. After ACR HDR Extraction For this photograph all of the above settings worked great. However, it is imperative to know that the dynamic range is drastically different from one scene to the next. Therefore, these same settings may not be ideal for the next image you bring into ACR. Use these settings as a baseline for your processing, but know that not all settings will work the same from one image to the next.
Chapter 5 Method 3: Multiple Exposures Extracted From a Single File Uses: This method is great when you only have one exposure in any format (RAW, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) and want that HDR look from your tone mapping software. What you will need: * A Single RAW, JPEG, or TIFF File. * Adobe Photoshop or Post Processing software with Exposure adjustments. * Photomatix or your preferred tone mapping software. BONUS CONTENT: Multiple Exposure Extraction Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com This method is a hybrid of the two methods covered in the previous chapters. It can be very powerful when used in conjunction with a RAW file. This method will use a single file to create multiple exposures that will be individually saved and brought into your tone mapping software. For this tutorial I will be using screenshots from Photoshop, however, you can do the same process with any program that has an exposure adjustment.
* Open the photo you would like to make multiple exposures of. If you are using a RAW file you can make any necessary adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw before proceeding. * In the Layers Palette of Photoshop, create an Exposure Adjustment Layer. Figure 22. Exposure Adjustment Layer creation in the layers palette
* Highlight the new Exposure Adjustment Layer. * In the Properties Tab, increase the Exposure to +2. Figure 23. Exposure Adjustment Layer set to +2 EV * In the Layers Palette press Ctrl+Shift+E (Mac: Cmd+ Shift+E.). * This will flatten your layers.
* Go to File>Save As and save the image as a TIFF. I like to save this one as +2 EV-(name of scene).tiff. * Be sure all of the images are saved with the same pixel depth. If you save one as an 8 bit TIFF, save them all as an 8 bit TIFF, likewise for a 16 bit TIFF. * If you fail to do so and try to bring these files into Photomatix, you will receive an error stating the files cannot be loaded together because they contain varying pixel depths. * Go to the History Palette and select Modify Exposure Layer. This will allow you to go back in time and edit the Exposure Adjustment Layer once again.
Figure 24. Use the History Palette selection for some back in time action * Go back to the Layers Palette and click the (+/-) graphic on the Exposure Adjustment Layer to adjust the properties. * In the Properties Tab, decrease the Exposure to -2. * In the Layers Palette press Ctrl+Shift+E (Mac Command+ Shift+E). This will flatten your layers. * Go to File>Save As and save the image as a TIFF. I like to save this one as -2 EV-(name of scene).tiff. Save it in the same folder as the previously saved image.
* Once again, go to the History Palette and select Modify Exposure Layer. This will allow you to go back in time and edit the exposure yet again. * Go back to the Layers Palette and click the (+/-) graphic on the Exposure Adjustment Layer to adjust the properties. * In the Properties Tab, increase the Exposure to 0. * In the Layers Palette press Ctrl+Shift+E (Mac Command+ Shift+E). * This will flatten your layers. * Go to File>Save As and save the image as a TIFF. I like to save this one as 0 EV-(name of scene).tiff. Save it in the same folder as the previously saved images. After you have saved the TIFFs, you can process them the same way you would multiple exposures taken in the camera! Refer to Chapter 3 for a Photomatix tone mapping refresher. This method was shown using Photoshop CS 6, however, you can use any post processing software that allows you to modify the Exposure of an image. Just remember to save all of the exposures separately in the same folder for easy access later.
Figure 25. Original 0 EV Exposure
Figure 26. Final product after the multiple exposures were created, tone mapped in Photomatix Pro, and post processed You may be wondering why you would ever want to shoot multiple exposures if you can easily make them yourself after a single exposure has been taken. While this method is very handy, it does have its limitations. It will suit you rather well if you shot in RAW and the scene did not have any drastic dynamic range changes.
Scenes with drastic dynamic range changes are sunsets, sunrises, or indoor scenes where you want to capture the view from outside the window as well as the inside architecture. Scenes with such dynamic range changes are best captured with multiple exposures in the camera as a single image file can only capture one stop of dynamic range at a time. BONUS CONTENT: You can follow this link to the video tutorial for this method, while there you can also download the Action for Photoshop to automate this process.
Chapter 6 Method 4: 32 bit HDR Tone Mapping Using Photoshop and Camera Raw Uses: This method works exceptionally well with multiple exposures captured in RAW format. It uses Photoshop s 32 bit Merge To HDR Pro function and Adobe Camera Raw to make some really enticing natural looking HDR images. What you will need: * Multiple RAW exposures. Click this link to download the RAW files used for this tutorial to follow along. * Adobe Photoshop CS 6 * Adobe Camera Raw 7.1 or higher BONUS CONTENT: 32 Bit Tone Mapping Using Photoshop Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com Often times I will refer to this method when I just cannot seem to get the image right in tone mapping software. Which in many cases are night time scenes where the noise produced from tone mapping is just unbearable in the night sky. I also use this method to create stunning sunset and sunrise HDR images. I have found that tone mapping can do some funny things to clouds in sunrise and sunset pictures. This is a great method for creating natural looking clouds in sunset and sunrise photos, as you will see in this tutorial.
There are many benefits to using this method for HDR over tone mapping. It produces incredibly natural looking images with very little noise, a drastic difference from Photomatix tone mapping. It also does not require any program other than Photoshop CS 6 so you do not have to run out and buy any additional HDR tone mapping software. It is advisable to start with multiple RAW files (refer back to Chapter 3 for capturing multiple RAW exposures in the camera). RAW files contain a substantial amount of information necessary to spread the gamut of a 32 bit file. Multiple 16 bit TIFF files created from a single RAW file would be suitable as well, refer to Chapter 5. I would shy away from using JPEGs with this method. If you start with 8 bit files like JPEGs you are not getting the full quality out of the resulting 32 bit file and will not be able to do as much processing to them as multiple RAW or TIFF files.
Figure 27. JPEG pixel discoloration when a 32 bit HDR image is created from JPEGs The following steps will guide you through the 32 bit HDR process in Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Camera RAW (ACR). * Open Adobe Photoshop. * Go to File>Automate>Merge To HDR Pro * You will be prompted with the Merge to HDR Pro dialog. Browse to the multiple exposures you would like to select and press OK to start the alignment process. For this tutorial I will be using the 5 RAW files supplied in the download file.
Figure 28. The Merge to HDR Pro dialog in Photoshop CS6 * After all of the source images are aligned you will see several adjustments on the right side of the Merge to HDR Pro Module. * Located at the top right hand side of the module is the Remove Ghosts option. If there was any movement in the photo this option will help reduce the risk of movement trails, or ghosting. I usually select this unless I am positive there was no movement in the scene, i.e. still life or product photos. * Go to the Mode dropdown box and select 32 Bit.
Figure 29. Select Remove Ghosts and 32 Bit from the dropdown * Once you select 32 bit, you should only see one box that looks like a mini histogram. You can slide the adjustment left to right to see the exposure range in the 32 bit file. * For best results, it is ideal to place the adjustment to the far right of the histogram. Sometimes this is at the end of the furthest slope and other times it will be all the way to the right. Figure 30. Example of different 32 bit histograms * After making your histogram adjustment press OK. The aligned exposures will open as a 32 bit image.
Figure 31. 32 bit HDR file prior to saving * Before doing any editing to the 32 bit image, go to File>Save As. * In the Save As dialog you can change the File Name and select TIFF(*.TIF,*.TIFF) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save. * The TIFF Options dialog will open. Make sure 32 bit (Float) is selected and click OK.
Figure 32. Saving dialog for 32 bit TIFF file * After you have saved it you can close the image. At this point you now have a saved 32 bit HDR file, but there is still plenty more work to do in Adobe Camera Raw. Before pressing on, be sure ACR is setup to handle all supported TIFF files.
* Go to Edit>Preferences>Camera RAW. Go to the bottom of the Camera Raw Preferences dialog and click on the drop down next to TIFF:. * Select Automatically open all supported TIFFs. By default this is set to Disable TIFF support. Figure 33. Camera Raw Preferences, select support TIFFs * Now that you have your 32 bit image saved as a TIFF and TIFF files set to automatically open in ACR, you are ready to open it again.
* Navigate to the 32 bit TIFF file you just saved and double click it. It should open in Photoshop in the ACR Basic editing module. * In the Basic adjustment panel you want to get this image looking pretty good but the full effect will not be visible yet. Get yourself a strong working base. Figure 34. Default ACR settings for the 32 bit TIFF * Start editing the 32 bit file by increasing the Exposure by +1.00 EV to bring some more light into the scene. * Increase the Shadows to +47 to open up some more of the shadows in the field.
* Decrease the Highlights to -100 to avoid any blaring highlights. * Proceed to adjust the Whites (+26) and Blacks (-6). This will take them as far as you can without clipping the shadows and highlights too much. Refer to Chapter 4 for a refresher on shadow and highlight clipping. * The finishing touches will come from the Clarity (+94) for texture. Vibrance (+65) for some color in the areas that need it and Saturation (+8) to bump up the global color a bit more. I try to be very selective with the Saturation adjustment as it tends to make pictures look surrealistic very quickly. That is not my personal preference. * Go back up to the Contrast and decrease it by -13. The Contrast & Clarity adjustments work hand in hand and are actually very similar. The Contrast adjustment focuses on a heavy overall contrast increase or decrease whereas the Clarity adjustment modifies the contrast in the finer details of the image. I usually adjust the Clarity first and then re-address the global Contrast if necessary.
Figure 35. The adjusted ACR settings for the 32 bit TIFF image * Open the file in Photoshop by selecting Open Image. Do not worry about noise reduction as of right now. * Once you open the image in Photoshop, go to Image>Mode>16 Bit. By doing this you will be changing the 32 bit file to a 16 bit file. * Go to File>Save As and save it to your destination folder. I usually save it as the same file name as the 32 bit, but put 16 bit after it so I know what file it is, for example Sunrise 16 bit.tiff. * Open the 16 bit file in ACR by double clicking it. Did you notice that all of the settings in the Basic module are reset to Default? You can do all of the adjustments all over
again to really push the limits of the dynamic range in the scene. Figure 36. The 16 Bit TIFF opened in ACR with the defaults set to zero * Start processing the 16 bit file by increasing the Exposure by +.30 EV, to bring a little bit more light into the scene. * Increase the Shadows to +12 to open up some more light in the field. * Decrease the Highlights to -31 to tame any highlights on the verge of clipping. * Proceed to adjust the Whites to -33.
* The finishing touches will come from the Clarity (+3) for some more texture in the finer details. Vibrance (+19) for some more color in the areas that need it. And Saturation (+1) to bump up the color a tad bit more. * Go back up to the Contrast and increase it by +30. Figure 37. 16 Bit TIFF after ACR adjustments * You may feel free to do any Noise Reduction to this 16 bit file in the Details Module. * Increase the Luminance to +20 and Luminance Detail to +50 and leave the default Sharpening that Camera Raw applies, Radius +1 and Detail + 25.
* You may now open it in Photoshop and proceed to post process the image as you see fit. Refer to Chapter 9 for some tips on what to do after you have the HDR image. * After you have completed all of your edits, it is a good idea to delete the original 32 bit TIFF. Those 32 bit TIFFs can be very cumbersome on the hard drive at a whopping 130 MBs plus! The 32 bit file was just a means to get to the 16 bit TIFF. Figure 38. Original 32 Bit File before ACR and 16 Bit ACR processing
Figure 39. Final 16 Bit HDR after ACR adjustments Be sure to check out the Bonus Content for an alternate method using Photomatix Pro s 32 bit capabilities! BONUS CONTENT: 32 Bit Tone Mapping Using Photomatix Pro Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com
Chapter 7 Method 5: Multiple Exposure Merging Uses: This method is great for creating realistic looking photos that do not appear to be your typical HDR images. It works particularly well for landscape photos with a drastic dynamic range change from the background to the foreground. What you will need: * Two images, one exposed for the background (sky) and one for the foreground (the ground or structure). Click this link to download the images used for this tutorial to follow along. * Photoshop This method does not require any tone mapping software to accomplish. It only requires the merging of two contrasting exposures. There are several ways to accomplish this method. I will start by showing an example of two different exposures. One exposure will be exposed for a sunset sky. The other will be exposed for a church in the foreground. The two will be combined using masks in Photoshop. The mask function is one of the top 5 reasons (if not the top reason) to own Photoshop. It is extremely powerful and really makes your post processing possibilities endless.
* Start by opening both exposures in Photoshop. You can see the dynamic range in the two photos is very different. Figure 40. Two different exposures of the same scene opened in Photoshop * In the Layers Palette of the image exposed for the sky, select the move tool by pressing the (V) key. Click on the Background layer, hold Shift and drag it onto the image exposed for the church. Holding Shift will ensure that the layer you are moving ends up in the middle of the photo you are dragging it onto. * You should now see two layers in the Layers Palette of the image exposed for the church.
Figure 41. Picture exposed for the sky on top of the picture exposed for the church * To ensure both of these layers are stacked perfectly, highlight both layers by holding Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and clicking on the individual layers to the right of the layer name.
Figure 42. Both layers selected in layers palette while holding Ctrl or (Cmd on Mac). * With both layers selected, make sure you have the move tool selected by pressing (V). * Look at the toolbar at the top of Photoshop and select the icon that looks like a mirror image of two boxes, Auto- Align Layers. Figure 43. Select Auto-Align Layers option. * The Auto-Align Layers dialog box will prompt you to select your method. Select Auto and press OK.
Figure 44. Auto-Align Layers dialog, select Auto * Photoshop will select both layers and align them by their matching features. This will ensure that both layers are placed directly on top of one another, which is imperative for the following steps. * Select the Quick Selection Tool (W) and select the sky from the top most layer. The quick selection tool has varying brush sizes. The larger the brush the larger the area it will select at one time. I like to use a small to midsized brush, somewhere around 100-200 pixels for a 4000 x 3000 pixel image. * With the Quick Selection Tool selected, start painting the area you want to keep (the sky). Try to stay away from
the areas you do not want to keep (the under exposed church). If by chance you accidentally select something you did not want, hold Alt (Option on Mac) and paint in the area you accidentally selected to remove it. Figure 45. Quick Selection tool selecting the area you want to keep * Paint the whole sky with the racing ant lines (selection lines look like racing ants). I did not concern myself with getting the perfect selection right away.
Figure 46. Not entirely concerned with the trees right now * Once you have made your selection, click on the Refine Edge button on the top of the toolbar. Figure 47. Refine Edge Button located on the top toolbar of Photoshop with the Quick Selection Tool selected * In the Refine Edge dialog, change the View Mode to Overlay by pressing (V). This will make everything that you did not have selected show up in red. It makes it a bit easier to see your selection.
* With the Edge Detection Brush start painting over those areas that did not select well with the Quick Selection Tool. These areas of special attention should be hard edges and objects like trees and tree branches. If at any point you select too much, you can always paint over those areas by holding Alt (Option on Mac). Figure 48. Areas that needed to be refined * In the Output section, select Output to: Selection.
Figure 49. Select Output to Selection * You should now have a nice selection around the entire sky. * Go to Select>Modify>Expand and select 4 pixels. Figure 50. Go to Select>Modify>Expand and select 4 pixels
* This will expand your selection by 4 pixels. This number may vary depending on the size of the image you are working with. But 4 is usually a good starting point. * In the Layers Palette, with the underexposed sky layer selected, press the Add Mask Layer button. Figure 51. Create a layer mask with the selection you just made on the layer exposed for the sky * At this point, you should have a nicely exposed sky and nicely exposed foreground blended together. However, there should be a definitive line around the foreground image. That is because we expanded the previous selection by 4 pixels.
Figure 52. A hard line around selection due to the 4 pixel expansion * To correct this, select the layer mask you just made and click on the Properties tab and increase the Feather to 3 pixels. This is just like fading a haircut!
Figure 53. Select the mask properties and Feather the mask by about 3 pixels * You should have a pretty good mask, but may need to clean it up a bit. With the mask selected, you can paint with white to bring areas back and paint with black to continue to mask them. If you would like to see an overlay showing the areas you are masking out or recovering, press the (\) key. Figure 54. The red overlay showing you the areas you are masking out
* At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image. * If you do not want to flatten the image but would like to keep working on it, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Cmd+Option+Shift+E on Mac) on the top most layer in the layers palette to make a stamp of the two images combined. * Any edits done below the Stamp will not be visible, be sure to make any new layers or adjustment layers above the stamp. Refer to Chapter 9 for post processing tips that will help you take this HDR image to the next level.
Figure 55. The best of both worlds in the two exposures
Chapter 8 Method 6: After Market Plug-Ins: Topaz Adjust 5 Uses: This method is great when you need a quick HDR look on any image or layer within your compositing workflow. I use this all the time when I am compositing multiple images in Photoshop and need a quick HDR look on a non HDR layer. I also use it as a finishing touch to add detail and effects to my HDR images. What you will need: * The layer or photograph you would like to apply the plug-in to. * Topaz Adjust 5. BONUS CONTENT: Topaz Adjust 5 Video Tutorial Provided on EverydayHDR.com! After-market plug-ins are great tools to have on your HDR workbench. Many of these plug-ins are installed directly into your post processing software and allow you to add some quick HDR effects rather easily. I have been using Adjust for quite some time and have seen it flourish over the years. Follow this link to take a look at Adjust 5 and all that Topaz Labs has to offer. I typically use Adjust as a final touch during my HDR post processing. Figure 56 and 57 depict a quick adjustment
on already tone mapped images and how Adjust can be used to add another layer of detail to any final product. Figure 56. Before and after of the effects of Topaz Adjust on a tone mapped image
Figure 57. Before and after of the effects of Topaz Adjust on a 32 bit tone mapped image I implore you to at least download the trial version and give it a shot! To get you started, try using these settings to spruce up the detail in your images. These settings work great on 32 bit processed images. Prior to making any adjustments to your image, I suggest making a duplicate of it by pressing Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac). Make any Topaz Adjust modifications to the new layer to ensure you are not doing any destructive editing. By creating a new layer you can also adjust the Opacity of the effect to subdue it if it comes off to strong.
Slight Detail (Almost Like Clarity in ACR) Figure 58. Very similar to a clarity adjustment in ACR Figure 59. Slight detail adjustments in Topaz Adjust 5 Refer to Figure 59 for the necessary adjustments in the Global Adjustments section to make the Slight Detail Preset.
Split Tone & Moody! You can also get pretty creative in Topaz Adjust 5. Try making modifications to several adjustments at a time to get more edgy effects. The following settings will give your photos a slight vintage and moody look, similar to a cross process effect. Figure 60. A creative cross process effect in Topaz Adjust 5
Figure 61. Global Adjustments for the Split Tone & Moody effect
Figure 62. Finishing Touches for the Split Tone & Moody effect Figures 61 and 62 show the adjustments required to achieve the Split Tone & Moody effect in Topaz Adjust 5. Continue to experiment on your own to see what you can come up with. At any time you can save these presets so you can go back and use them on multiple photos!
Figure 63. The Saving Presets Dialog in Topaz Adjust 5 To save a preset from the adjustments you have made, click the Save option located under the Presets module. You will be prompted with a Save Preset Dialog, I try to make my preset names match the effect that it gives. It makes it a bit easier to remember the effect it will have on the photo. When you are done adding the necessary comments press OK. From now on you will be able to access it whenever you would like! I suggest saving all of your presets in your My Collection section so you know where they are. There are many presets that make Adjust very easy to dive into. I suggest that you also check out the Dynamic Pop and Dynamic Pop II presets nested in the HDR Section of Topaz Adjust 5.
Chapter 9 Nine Post Processing Tips for HDR Images I am a firm believer that no photograph is worthy of showing without some post processing. I am sure this drives my wife mad because I will not show her any pictures from a photo shoot until I have post processed them. Back in my 35mm film days I would rarely say, Hey come check out these awesome negatives! I would likely wait until I had a print or at least a contact sheet before I showed anyone. A digital photograph straight from the camera is just like a film negative. It must be processed for it to look its absolute best! The same is true for any HDR image that has been tone mapped. There are some necessary adjustments that need to be made to the photo. Most HDR software contains some minor post processing adjustments outside of the typical tone mapping capabilities. However, they are not as powerful as the adjustments that can be made in Photoshop. This chapter will cover some of my favorite HDR post processing techniques using Photoshop CS 6. While these adjustments will be made on HDR images, you are free to try them on regular photographs as well.
As you read about these techniques do not feel overwhelmed by the amount of information covered in this chapter. You may only need to use one of these post processing techniques or you may use many of them on the same photograph. I tend to run every photograph through all of these methods in some way. It is a workflow that I have developed over the years of post-processing that I find very effective. By taking a peek at another photographer s workflow, you will soon develop a refined workflow of your own. This refined workflow will leak its way into your photographs and before you know it you will develop your own unique style!
1 Removing Chromatic Aberrations Chromatic Aberrations are those annoying green, magenta, red, or blue lines that form around an area of high contrast to an area of low contrast, like tree branches (high contrast) to a blue sky (low contrast). These aberrations are a byproduct of wavelength focusing in the lens that manifest themselves as multi-colored fringes around high contrast, hard edges. The HDR process will really make these aberrations stand out! However, there are several ways you can fix them. I will show you three ways that I combat them during my post processing workflow.
The First and Simplest Way Using Adobe Camera Raw: * In Adobe Camera Raw, go to the Lens Correction Module. It is the sixth icon in from the left. * Click on the Color Tab in the Lens Correction Module. Figure 64. Notice the Purple Chromatic Aberrations around the leaves * In the Color Tab select the Remove Chromatic Aberrations box.
Figure 65. Notice the slight change in the Chromatic Aberrations * This may fix your problem right away. If it does not, you may have to make a few more adjustments. * You have to assess the color of your chromatic aberrations to decide what adjustments you will need to make. In this case it is just purple. * I moved the Purple Amount in the Defringe section until the purple was no longer noticeable. An amount between 4 and 8 usually solves the problem.
Figure 66. Notice the lack of Purple Chromatic Aberrations * You may need to adjust the Green Amount as well. This particular image did not require additional adjustments. The chromatic aberrations from image to image will vary. * If the aberrations have not ceased after adjusting the Purple and Green Amount, you may have to adjust the Hue of the Purple and Green to match the surrounding colors by modifying their individual Hue sliders. * Keep in mind, the same adjustments may not work from one image to the next. You may need to experiment a bit to achieve the best results for your specific aberrations. * You may move on with your post processing workflow after removing the chromatic aberrations.
The Second Way, Using Photoshop s Lens Correction: * Open the image in Adobe Photoshop. * Go to Filter>Lens Correction. Figure 67. Lens Correction navigation * Once the Lens Correction dialog opens, go to the Custom Tab.
Figure 68. The Custom Tab in the Lens Correction Dialog * Assess the type of aberrations you have in the image, for instance, this photo has some Green/Magenta aberrations. * Move the appropriate aberration slider(s) until the image is free of noticeable aberrations. * For this particular photo, I moved the Fix Green/Magenta Fringe adjustment to -30.16.
Figure 69. Final image free of noticeable aberrations
The Final Way Using Layer Masks and Saturation: The final method is the manual way to rid your photo of aberrations when the automated methods just cannot seem to beat them. It requires making a saturation adjustment layer and masks in Photoshop to fight these devilish aberrations. * Open the image in Photoshop that has the aberrations you would like to get rid of. * In the Layers Palette select the New Adjustment Layer Button. Select Hue/Saturation. Figure 70. The Layers Palette and Hue Saturation Adjustment
* You should see a Hue/Saturation layer added to your Layers Palette. Zoom into the areas of high chromatic aberration by 3-400%. * While zoomed in this close you should be able to assess the color of the aberrations you are dealing with. In this image they are Magenta and Cyan. Figure 71. Magenta and Cyan aberrations, zoomed in 400% * With the Hue/Saturation layer selected, go up to the Properties tab. * Click on the dropdown menu labeled Master. Select Magentas.
Figure 72. Hue/Saturation Properties Select Magentas * Reduce the Saturation of the Magentas to -100. * Experiment with the Lightness adjustment as well. This will affect the luminance (brightness) of the effected Magenta areas. This may help to blend those areas with the background better. * For this image I chose to make those areas lighter by changing the Lightness value to +30.
Figure 73. Magentas adjustment, Bye-Bye Magenta Aberrations! * Go back to the dropdown menu and select Cyans. * For the Cyans I adjusted the Saturation to -100 and the Lightness to -43.
Figure 74. Cyans adjustment, Bye-Bye Cyan Aberrations! * Select the Magnifying Glass by pressing (Z), right click on the image and select Fit on Screen. * At this point you are looking at a global saturation adjustment, meaning everything you just did with the Saturation layer affected the entire image. * Take a look at the results of the global Saturation adjustment. If the rest of the colors in the image were affected by the Magenta and Cyan de-saturation, you may need to make a layer mask to hide the effect.
* Click on the white box in the Hue/Saturation layer. This is a layer mask. It is a non-destructive way of erasing the saturation adjustment. Paint with the brush tool (B) with Black to erase and White to bring an area back. I suggest using a brush with a hardness of 0%; this will help the mask blend a bit better. Figure 75. The effects of the layer mask to hide the saturation adjustment * You can press the (\) key to see exactly what the mask is affecting. This can be very helpful to ensure you do not hide areas that you intend to keep. Hit the (\) key again to turn off the red haze of the Show Mask.
* At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image. Bonus Content: View the Video Tutorial for a variation of this technique provided on EverydayHDR.com!
2 Noise Reduction Noise reduction is essential for every HDR image. One of the major problems with the HDR process, especially tone mapping, is the noisy byproduct. There are several ways to fight noise in an HDR image. I prefer using the Adobe Camera Raw Detail Interface and Photoshop s Reduce Noise Filter. Noise Reduction Using Adobe Camera Raw * Before opening your file in ACR, you may need to edit the preferences. In Photoshop CS 6, go to Edit>Preferences>Camera Raw. * At the bottom of the Camera Raw preferences, select the dropdown box next to TIFF: and select Automatically open all supported TIFFs. If it is a JPEG that you are opening select Automatically open all supported JPEGs. * Open the photo in Adobe Camera Raw. * Go to the Detail Interface (the third tab from the left). * Press (Z) to select the magnifying glass and zoom into the photo to 3-400%. * Go to the Luminance slider under the Noise Reduction section and slide it to somewhere between 25 and 50. This adjustment will control the overall strength of your
noise reduction. I usually do not go any higher than 50 or the effect is just too much and the pixels just start to blur. * Go to the Luminance Detail slider and put it to somewhere between 20 and 40. This adjustment will protect the detail during the noise reduction. I usually do not go much higher than 40, otherwise it does not appear that the Noise Reduction is affecting much in the photo. * At any time during your adjustments you may press the (P) key to toggle the before and after preview of your adjustments. Figure 76. Luminance Adjustments in ACR * Move the Color slider to the right until the speckles of color noise disappear. This is usually between 20 and 35. However, the color noise in the image you are working with will dictate that.
* You can adjust the Color Detail as you see fit for your image as well, for this one I went with 13. This is very similar to the Luminance Detail adjustment except that it protects the detail in the color noise. Figure 77. Color Noise adjustments in ACR Figure 78. Noise comparison Before and After ACR adjustments
Noise Reduction Using the Reduce Noise Filter in Photoshop * Open the photo you would like to reduce the noise on in Photoshop. * In the Layers Palette, select the layer you would like to reduce the noise on and press Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac). This will duplicate the layer. It is always a good practice to make filter adjustments on a duplicate layer. It is like an insurance policy on your original image. * Select the Magnifying Glass by pressing (Z) and zoom into an area of high noise to 3-400%. Figure 79. Duplicated image in the Layers Palette
* With the duplicate layer selected, go to Filter>Noise>Reduce Noise. * You will be prompted with the Reduce Noise options window. Be sure to press the (+) sign at the bottom until you reach 3-400%. Figure 80. Noise Reduction options zoomed to 400 % * For most instances, the Basic options will be all you need to adjust, however there are times when the Advanced dialog may need to be selected to adjust the noise in a particular color channel. * A good starting point for noise reduction is a Strength setting between 5 and 7. Preserve Details between 20 and 45%. Reduce Color Noise between 20 and 40%. I
try to keep the Sharpen Details between 10 and 20%, any higher than that and the pixels start to artifact and counteract your noise reduction settings. Also make sure Remove JPEG Artifacts is checked. Figure 81. A good starting point for Noise Reduction * Remember that every image is different. One noise reduction setting may not be perfect for all images. I highly suggest you experiment with this interface on a case by case basis. * Once you press OK you will have your noise reduction on a separate layer. You can add a layer mask to it and paint on it in Black to remove any unwanted noise reduction, or paint on it in White to bring areas back.
* At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image. Figure 82. Noise Reduction comparison using the Reduce Noise Filter
3Extreme Noise Reduction One of the major obstacles of HDR tone mapping is the amount of noise that can occur. Sometimes the noise from 3-5 images compacts during tone mapping this noise may be confused with detail to many noise reduction programs. Therefore the noise reduction algorithm does not work quite like you may intend. I refer to these areas as Extreme Noise. These areas of Extreme Noise can be tough to fight even with after-market plugins. Figure 83 depicts a portion of an image zoomed in 300%. The normal noise reduction methods discussed previously were used as well as a noise reduction program. This area of Extreme Noise bested both of them!
Figure 83. Extreme Noise from the tone mapping process Zoom=300% If you run into this sort of noise, it is pretty easy to fight off. You have a valuable tool in your arsenal that many overlook, the blur tool! Yeah I said it, the Blur Tool. * Start by creating a new layer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N (Cmd+Option+Shift+N on Mac). * Select the Blur Tool with the following settings. Mode: Normal, Strength: 50%, and check the Sample All Layers Option. If you are working with a pen tablet it is
also a good idea to take advantage of the pressure sensitivity as well. Figure 84. Select the Blur Tool with these settings * With the newly created layer selected, begin to paint on the areas of extreme noise with the Blur Tool. Select a brush size that is slightly smaller than your area of noise. * You may have to paint over it several times to clean up all of the noise. * Since the Sample All Layers option was applied, the effect will only affect the new layer. * This is a great technique to avoid destructive editing. Destructive editing is any editing that directly affects the original image layer.
* Since the blur adjustment is on its own layer, you may adjust the Opacity if the effect is too harsh. Figure 85. Comparison of Noise Reduction using the Blur Tool
4 Straightening the Horizon Line * Open the image you would like to straighten in Photoshop CS 6. * Select the Crop Tool (C). * In the navigation bar at the top of Photoshop select the level icon followed by the word Straighten. In Photoshop CS 5 you will find the straighten tool in the Ruler tool options. Figure 86. The Photoshop navigation bar with the Crop Tool selected * Your mouse cursor should turn into a level with a plus sign. Find a strong horizontal line in the photograph. Left click and hold on the beginning of the would-be horizontal line and drag it tracing the contour of the line. * When you release the mouse button you will be looking at a Crop Preview. * If the picture is not straight after making your selection, press ESC to revert back to the original and repeat the selection process using the Straighten Tool.
* If the picture looks straight after making your selection press the check mark in the navigation bar or press Enter (Return on a Mac). Figure 87. Line drawn with Straighten option with Crop tool on a strong horizon line (exaggerated for easier viewing) * If you are satisfied with the selection you are free to move on with post processing. * If you would like to check the straightness of your horizon line, press Ctrl+R (Cmd+R on Mac) to toggle the rulers on the borders of the image. * You can click anywhere in the horizontal ruler and drag it down to create a horizontal guide. By default Photoshop makes these guides an aqua blue like you see in Figure
88. You can toggle these guides by pressing Ctrl+H (Cmd+H on a Mac). Figure 88. Three guide lines drawn over three strong horizons
5 Bringing Back the Shadows You may have realized by now, this HDR stuff is kind of cool! It opens shadow areas where there may have been 75% black to near darkness. You may be seeing things in your images that you never thought possible in a single photograph. You may be running around praising the light god that you can finally see everything in the picture without the fear of losing them in the shadows. Well, I am here to burst your bubble a bit. You see, those shadow areas are actually extremely important! They create a sense of depth in your photo. Sure the detail that comes with HDR is pretty amazing, but the drawback of losing your shadows means less depth and a very flat image. There are many ways to increase the Shadows in your final HDR photo to bring that depth back. I find Photoshop and the Curves Adjustment to be my favorite go to option for adding depth to a newly tone mapped image. It may not be as easy as sliding an adjustment to the left or right (like Camera Raw), but it offers you the ability to add a layer mask to control where the depth adjustment is affecting.
Figure 89. An image with very little depth Figure 89 depicts an image with very little depth. There are no real black areas and no real white areas. When the brain sees this it immediately thinks flat, and moves on. You can very easily bring those areas back using Photoshop s powerful Curves Adjustment Layer. * Open the tone mapped image in Photoshop. * With the layer selected go to Select>Color Range * In the Color Range interface, select Shadows in the dropdown box and press OK.
Figure 90. The Color Range Interface, select Shadows * You should see racing ants all over your image, don t worry this is supposed to happen! You just told Photoshop to select everything that is a shadow. * With the racing ants marching around your shadows, go to the Layers Palette and click on the Adjustment Layer button and select Curves.
Figure 91. Curves Selection for Shadows * Once you select Curves the racing ants should go away, but you will be left with a Curves Adjustment Layer that has a layer mask for the shadows! Figure 92. Curves Adjustment with Shadows Layer Mask
* This means that any adjustment you make to this Curves Adjustment Layer will only affect the Shadows in the image because they are white on the layer mask. * With the Curves Layer selected, go to the Properties Tab. * You can manually change the Input to 137 and the Output to 107 by clicking on the curve to make a point or you can grab the center and pull it down. Figure 93. Shadows dramatically adjusted with the Curves layer * With the layer mask selected on the Curves adjustment press the (\) key. You can see that the shadow areas (not highlighted in red) are very hard edged and do not blend very well with the rest of the image, depicted in Figure 94.
Figure 94. The Show Mask option applied using the ( \ ) key * To fix this issue click on the Layer Mask. In the mask Properties, move the Feather adjustment to somewhere between 10 and 20. * The Feather adjustment finds the edges of the layer mask and softens them.
Figure 95. The layer mask with feathered edges * Toggle the show mask option by pressing the (\) key. If the effect is too strong, you can tone it down by selecting the Curves Adjustment Layer and reducing the Opacity.
Figure 96. Reduced Opacity of Curves adjustment * If there are areas that you did not want to be affected by the Shadow adjustment, select the brush tool (B) with a hardness of 0% and paint them out with black on the layer mask. Painting with White will bring areas back. * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Figure 97. Curves adjustment for shadows, before and after
6 Three More Ways to Add Depth In case you have not noticed by the previous section and the title of this one, depth is pretty important in your final image. A strong foreground, middle ground and background play an integral role in successful photographs. All too often you will see HDR photos that have no point where your eye can rest for a bit on any plane. This is due to the compression of the tones during tone mapping. In the following pages you will find 3 more ways to increase the depth in your HDR images using some pretty quick fixes.
The S-Curve to the Rescue! * Open the image in Photoshop. * Click on the Adjustment Layer Button in the Layers Palette and select Curves. Figure 98. Selecting the Curves Adjustment Layer * Manipulate the Curve by making a small S. Pull down the curve by clicking on the lower left hand part of the diagonal line and dragging it down. This will add more depth to the shadow areas in your image. * Head on up to the upper right hand part of the diagonal line in the curves adjustment and pull it up. This will increase your highlights a bit.
Figure 99. The S-Curve on the Curves Adjustment Layer * This S-Curve will push your darks back and pull your highlights out a bit. This small adjustment will work wonders on any image that lacks depth. * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image. BONUS CONTENT: The Curves Adjustment Layer Video Tutorial on EverydayHDR!
A Gradient Map of the World Well, okay not really, but it was a cool title! This quick tip will apply a Gradient Map to your image that is always a sure shot for added depth. * Open the image in Photoshop. * Press (D) to reset your Foreground and Background Colors to the default of Black & White. * Click on the Adjustment Layer Button and select the Gradient Map option. * This will map all of the colors in your image to their equivalent grey value. It will match whatever 2 colors you have selected in your Foreground and Background Color. Hence the switching to the default colors before selecting it to create a very strong black and white image! Figure 100. Select Gradient Map with Default colors selected
* With the new black and white Gradient Map layer selected, go to the Blending Options dropdown and select Luminosity. Figure 101. Instant depth enhancement! * If the desired effect is too much, you can always lower the Opacity of the Gradient Map layer. * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Photo Filtered Goodness! This last technique will add some depth to your image using the Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. Yep, you heard me, you may not think of a photo filter as a way to add depth, usually it is used to add a hint of color. However, with the selection of the Soft Light Blend Mode, you can do both! * Open the image in Photoshop. * Click the Adjustment Layer Button. From the list of adjustments select Photo Filter. Figure 102. Select the Photo Filter from the list of Adjustment Layers * This will create a new Photo Filter layer, by default it will be set to Warming Filter (85). You can really use any filter in the list, I implore you to experiment with all of them to see which works best for your image.
* Be sure that Preserve Luminosity is selected; you can keep the Density set to the default of 25%. If you decide to increase the Density it will add more color to the image. Figure 103. The Photo Filter Properties, check Preserve Luminosity * In the Layers Palette, with the Photo Filter Layer selected, go to the blending options and select Soft Light. * If the effect is too strong, reduce the Opacity.
Figure 104. Soft Light selected on the Photo Filter Layer * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
7 Dodging and Burning Dodging and burning is another technique that really falls in line with adding more depth to your final HDR image. Do you see a pattern yet? This depth stuff is pretty important! In the darkroom during my 35 mm film days, dodging and burning was a daunting, tedious, and painstaking task that required a lot of cutting, steady hands and the patience of a ninja. The act of dodging and burning was extremely important during the final processing of any photo in the darkroom. It required looking at your image very closely to determine which areas required more time under the enlarger and which areas were just right. Once you found the areas that needed more time to expose on the photo paper, you would make a cutout of the areas that you did not want to be affected by the light because they had already been fully exposed. Once the time came to start dodging that area out, you would slide your cutout between the light and the paper. You would then slowly agitate it in tight circular motions. The idea was to feather the edges to burn in the portion of the picture that needed more time. The final product would yield a perfectly exposed picture, one would hope, that would give you the perfect
blend of tones from light to dark throughout the entire picture. These days dodging and burning is really quite simple in Photoshop, however, it still makes me shutter a bit when I think about all those countless hours spent under the enlarger. I wasted so much photo paper trying to perfect it! * Open the image you would like to dodge & burn in Photoshop. * Upon opening, you could go to town on the image with the Dodge & Burn tools, but that is a destructive process. Once you put those adjustments to the original photo, they stay there. * To avoid the destructive nature of the Dodge and Burn Tools, do all of your dodging & burning on a separate layer. You will have so much more control over the final effect. * Create a new layer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N (Cmd+Option+Shift+N on Mac). * With the new layer selected press Shift+F5. This will open the Fill dialog. * Select 50% Gray from the dropdown box and click OK.
Figure 105. Creating a new 50% Gray layer * With the 50% Gray Layer selected, change the blending option to Overlay.
Figure 106. 50% Gray layer set to Overlay in the blending options * The 50% Gray Layer should currently have no effect on the underlying layer. At this point it is pretty much invisible until you start dodging and burning. * Select the Dodge Tool in the tool bar. See Figure 107. * In the tool presets under the Photoshop navigation bar, set the Range to Midtones, the Exposure between 15 and 25% and check the Protect Tones box.
Figure 107. Select the Dodge tool from the tool bar * Set the brush to something comfortable to work with for the image, keep in mind that you will be making small adjustments at a time. A brush size of about 300 pixels should be acceptable for a large size image (4031 x 3022 pixels). * Also set the Hardness of the brush to 0%, this will ensure that you have a soft edged brush to work with.
Figure 108. Setting up the brush size * With the Dodge Tool selected start painting in the areas you would like to make lighter on the 50% Gray Layer. * You want to build up your dodged areas slowly so it looks more natural. That is why you selected 15-25% on the exposure setting of the Dodge tool. Every time you stop painting and start painting again the Exposure will increase by 15-25% in that selected area. * For this image I dodged the green foliage to make it stand out more.
Figure 109. Comparison of Dodging on the highlighted areas * At any time you can switch to the Burn Tool by pressing and holding Alt (Option on Mac) while painting. This is a great way to do all of your dodging and burning very quickly. * I burned the areas that were shadows, in between rock crevasses, near the trees, and I hit the corners pretty hard to make a very subtle lens vignette effect.
Figure 110. Comparison after Burning the shadow areas You should continue to dodge and burn the entire image until you have attained a final product that is not flat in appearance. Your final photo should have a solid foreground, middle ground, and background. You can achieve that by pushing and pulling the highlights and shadows in the appropriate areas. If you look at Figure 111, you can see that the 3 dimensional quality of the image has been accented through successful dodging and burning. The Before image has very little depth, the earthly platforms to the left and right of the stream have faded away into mid tones. The highlights in the background were lost during the tone mapping process lessening their power over the middle ground bleeding into the foreground.
The After image possesses a much higher quality of depth. The mounds of earth adjacent to the stream appear to exist on their own plane. The highlights in the foreground act as stepping stones into the middle ground and background. You should strive for similar results when you dodge and burn. Dodge and burn with a purpose! * After dodging and burning you are free to continue post processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image. Figure 111. Final comparison from the original image to the final Dodge and Burn edit Bonus Content: Dodging and Burning Video Tutorial on EverydayHDR.com
8 Fixing Electric Colors Due to the strenuous tone compression during tone mapping, some odd things can occur. One of the most common is what I refer to as Electric Colors. These Electric Colors appear as vibrant over-saturated patches in the final tone mapped product. Common areas where you may see these are blue skies with clouds and areas of bright foliage. Lowering the White Point in Photomatix will fix them, but that may come with the sacrifice of some important details in the rest of the image. Figure 112. An example of electric colors in the clouds
These areas should not be accepted as a drawback to tone mapping and get overlooked during post processing. They are very easy to fix with 2 simple curves adjustments. * Start by opening the image in Photoshop. * Go to Select>Color Range. In the Color Range options click on Highlights in the Select: dropdown menu and press OK. Figure 113. Color Range options, select Highlights from the dropdown menu
* After clicking OK you should see a selection around all of the highlights in your photo. * Go down to the Layers Palette and select the New Adjustment Layer icon. Select Curves. Figure 114. Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer * The selection will disappear with the creation of the new Curves Layer in the Layers Palette. This curves layer will have a layer mask focused on the highlights. Any adjustment you make to this curves layer will only affect the highlights. * Select the Curves Layer and make a small curve adjustment in the Properties tab that mirrors the adjustment in Figure 115. Your input should be around 155 and output 185.
Figure 115. First Curves Adjustment * Select the Layer Mask of the Curves Adjustment Layer and go to Properties. Increase the Feather to approximately 12 pixels. * This will create a soft edge around the masked area of the Curves adjustment allowing it to blend better.
Figure 116. Feather the Curves Adjustment layer by 12 pixels * With the Curves Layer selected, change the Blending Option to Color.
Figure 117. Change the Blend Option to Color on the Curves Layer * With the Curves Layer selected, press Ctrl+J (Cmd on Mac) to duplicate the layer. * Select the Curves Copy Layer and adjust the Properties to match the curve in Figure 118, one point with an Input of 75 and Output of 55 and another with an Input of 185 and Output of 195. * Switch the Blending Option of the copied Curves layer to Normal. * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Figure 118. Second Curves Adjustment Figure 119. Comparison of the Curves adjustment on the Electric Clouds BONUS CONTENT: Three HDR Tone Mapping Pet Peeves! Video Tutorial on EverydayHDR!
9 Sharpening There are 2 common methods of sharpening that I routinely apply to my HDR images. Both of which I apply after all straightening and wide angle corrections are done. The act of straightening a photo may distort the pixels in a picture causing a blur. For that reason I ensure the sharpening is done after straightening. Some photographers say sharpen last after all edits are done. I think it really comes down to personal preference and where it fits in your work flow. I do encourage you to do all sharpening after noise reduction. Noise reduction, in its most basic form, is the act of slightly blurring the pixels to reduce image noise.
High Pass Sharpening * With the photo you would like to sharpen open in Photoshop, duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac). Figure 120. Duplicating the background layer * If you are already working with multiple layers, I recommend making a stamp of all of the layers you are working with. * With the top most layer selected in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Cmd+Option+Shift+E on Mac). This will create a new layer that is the flattened product of all of the layers below it.
Figure 121. Creating a Stamp if working with multiple layers * Regardless of the method you chose from above, highlight the newly created layer and go to Filter>Other>High Pass. Figure 122. Select the High Pass filter on the new layer
* In the High Pass options window select a Radius between 5 and 10. Try not to go much higher than 10 or the effect starts to look more artistic or painterly than sharpening. * Press OK. * Do not be alarmed that your High Pass layer turns gray, this is supposed to happen! Figure 123. High Pass sharpen radius adjustment * With the High Pass sharpen layer selected press Ctrl+Shift+U (Cmd+Shift+U). This will de-saturate the layer. With a High Pass Sharpen layer you want the detail enhancement from the contrast without the color. * Go to the Blending Options of the High Pass Sharpen layer and select Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid
Light, or Linear Light. Each option will give you very a different look. I prefer to set mine to Soft Light as it tends to be the most subtle change. I encourage you to experiment with the others. * If the effect is too strong, you can always reduce the Opacity of the High Pass Sharpen layer. Figure 124. Change the blending option of the High Pass layer to Soft Light * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Figure 125. Comparison of the effect of High Pass Sharpening on the original photo
Unsharp Mask * With the photo you would like to sharpen open in Photoshop, press Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac) to duplicate the layer. Figure 126. Duplicating the background layer * If you are already working with multiple layers, I recommend making a stamp of all of the layers you are working with. *With the top most layer selected in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Cmd+Option+Shift+E on Mac). This will create a new layer that is the flattened product of all of the layers below it.
Figure 127. Creating a Stamp if working with multiple layers * Regardless of the method you chose from the previous steps, highlight the newly created layer and go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask
Figure 128. Highlight the new layer and select Unsharp Mask * In the Unsharp Mask options select an Amount between 125 and 150%, a Radius of 1.0 Pixel, and a Threshold of 0 levels and click OK.
Figure 129. Unsharp Mask options * If the Unsharp Mask layers effect is too strong, you can always lower the Opacity. * At this point you are free to continue processing the image or flatten it for saving by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Shift+E on Mac) or go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Figure 130. Comparison of the effect of Unsharp Mask on the original photo
Closing Thoughts While exploring HDR, we covered many topics from making an HDR image from a single RAW photo to making a 32 bit HDR image from multiple exposures in the camera. After going through all of these methods you may find you prefer one more than the other, there is nothing wrong with that! I find that all of these methods of creating an HDR image have their place in my workflow. However, I do tend to create more tone mapped HDR images from multiple exposures taken with Auto Exposure Bracketing than any other method. I must re-iterate how important it is to post process an HDR image or any photograph for that matter. No photo is complete without some post processing treatment. We covered nine different techniques that are very helpful, but they are just the tip of an ever evolving iceberg! I have been using Photoshop for over 13 years and every day I teach myself something new. I am not just saying that to try and inspire something in you. I am serious! Every time I open Photoshop I learn something new. Some may find that intimidating, I find it refreshing. It is refreshing to know that tomorrow I am going to wake up and learn something new.
I challenge you to find yourself a workflow in Photoshop. Find that workflow that is perfect for you and then change it. Find a new way to do it, read a book by someone else who has a different workflow, or consult with some other photography blogs. If you are not continuously improving your workflow, then what are you doing? Do not limit yourself to the content found in this book. There is a world of information out there. I encourage you to visit EverydayHDR often. I continually update the content to keep it as fresh and new as possible. Check out the Tutorials page to find a plethora of helpful post processing guides from beginner to advanced techniques.
Bonus Chapter! Post Processing a Tone Mapped File in Adobe Camera Raw Uses: I do a lot of work on my tone mapped HDR images in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) before I even bring them into Photoshop. This is a good idea before delving too deep in post processing in Photoshop as many little things can be fixed on the front side in ACR. What you will need: * A tone mapped image straight out of your tone mapping software saved as a 16 bit Tiff. Download the TIFF file used in this tutorial here! * Adobe Camera Raw 7.0 Throughout Chapter 9 there were quite a few helpful techniques for editing an HDR file in Photoshop. I use Photoshop on almost every photo that I process. However, I also use ACR to do some heavy hitting before I get too crazy in Photoshop. As you have seen before, ACR is not only for RAW files, you can process JPEGs and TIFFs in there as well. While we discussed many ways to use ACR throughout Exploring HDR, one area I did not touch on was using ACR as tool for post processing images that have already been tone mapped. Think of ACR as the rest stop on the highway between your tone mapping software and Photoshop. It can be
bypassed, but it is many times beneficial to stop through and say hello! After all, ACR does have some amazing noise reduction algorithms that we saw in Chapter 9. The image being used for this tutorial was created from 5 exposures ranging from -2 to +2 exposure values. It was processed in Photomatix using the same settings from Chapter 3. These settings worked out very well for this particular set of exposures. They created an HDR image that was not too dark, not too light, and not too stylized the perfect HDR canvas for post processing. It was saved as a 16 bit TIFF in Photomatix which provided a lot of information during post processing * Before you open the image, it is a good idea to set your ACR preferences to automatically open supported TIFF files in ACR. * In Photoshop, go to Edit>Preferences>Camera Raw. Go to the bottom of the Camera Raw Preferences dialog and click on the drop down next to TIFF:. * Select Automatically open all supported TIFFs. By default this is set to Disable TIFF support.
Bonus 1. Camera Raw Preferences, select support TIFFs * With these options in ACR you should be able to open any TIFF file that ACR can support as long as that TIFF does not contain layers! I have never had a problem with any files straight out of Photomatix. * Open the TIFF file you created in Photomatix. * If you are using the image provided you are free to follow the adjustments that will be made in this tutorial. If you are not, just know that these settings will NOT be the same for every image. You may need to do some
experimenting with the adjustments to best suit the photo you are working with. * With the TIFF open in ACR the first thing you should address is the overall White Balance in the photo. While editing a TIFF file in ACR you will only have three options for the White Balance, As Shot, Auto, and Custom. * As a rule, I usually select Auto first. I know I know, isn t that cheating? But hey if it looks good go with it, if not, you may need to set it to custom and modify the Temperature and Tint adjustments to suit your taste. * For this image, setting it to Auto did not turn out so bad. It moved the temperature a bit to the left making the image a bit bluer. This brings out the glass pretty well. I ll take it!
Bonus 2. White Balance set to Auto * Next thing you want to do is straighten the image. Find a strong vertical or horizontal and select the Straighten Tool by pressing the (A) key. * Your cursor will turn into a protractor. Find a strong vertical in the image. For this one I chose the verticals of the bar cabinets in the background as they seemed to provide the most stability for my eye to gravitate toward. * Use the Straighten Tool by clicking on your starting point and dragging to your end point. I suggest following a strong horizontal or vertical line that you know should be straight in the scene. * Once you release the mouse button on the end point you will be provided with a preview of what the crop will look like after the image is straightened.
* Press Enter (Return on Mac) to accept the changes, if it still does not look correct press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) to undo the last step. Repeat the selection process using the Straighten Tool until you get a straightened photo. Bonus 3. Straighten Preview in ACR * After straightening the photo it appears there is still some distortion in the image. I did shoot this with a wide angle lens at its lowest focal length so there will be some wide angle distortion that needs to be addressed. * Go to the Lens Correction module, the 6 th icon in from the left that looks like lens elements. * Select the Manual tab under the Lens Correction module. Set the Distortion adjustment to +3 and the Vertical adjustment to -13. * For this particular image these settings work great. Just know that all wide angle shots will not fair the same way.
You must experiment with the image at hand to see what looks best. At any time you can toggle the preview by pressing (P). Bonus 4. Use Lens Correction to fix wide angle distortion * Next stop, noise reduction! We covered this in detail in Chapter 9 so I will just give you a quick snapshot of the adjustments made to this image. * Noise Reduction is nestled snuggly in the third icon from the left, Detail. Use the following settings. * Sharpening Amount: 31 * Radius: 1.0 * Detail: 19 * Masking: 0 * Noise Reduction Luminance: 45
* Luminance Detail: 34 * Luminance Contrast: 0 * Color: 32 * Color Detail: 25 Bonus 5. Noise Reduction settings It is always good to have your own workflow so you do not forget a step. I know I always need to address three key things before I get too far in the processing, those are White Balance, Straightness/Wide Angle Correction, & Noise Reduction. Now that all of the boring technical adjustments are out of the way we can focus on the fun part, making this image look better! * Go to the Basic module, the first icon that looks like a shutter and skip down to the Exposure adjustment.
You can tell by the environment that this was a pretty dark room and I probably could have gotten away with a single exposure instead of using 5. However, I really wanted to capture the detail in the restaurant and what was outside the large window. The tone mapping process was perfect for giving me the best of both worlds! * To recapture that dark atmosphere start by reducing the Exposure by 1 stop, or -1.00. * Increase the Contrast to +17. * Darken the shadows by reducing the Shadows adjustment to -12 and the Blacks to -4. * Onto the Highlights in the image. Increase the Highlights to +87 and Whites to +44. Many would fear the idea of Highlight blowouts or clippings, which is a perfectly reasonable fear. However, sometimes these areas are supposed to be blown out. If I had shot the window with one exposure metered for the restaurant they would have been. It is safe to blowout highlights and they will look natural in naturally blown out areas like windows, clouds, and gleams off of chrome. * Add some texture using a Clarity setting of +20. * I am not a fan of over saturation and I continually keep myself in check with the Vibrance and Saturation adjustments. I brought the Vibrance down to -6 and the Saturation down to -11.
Bonus 6. Basic Module Settings for this particular image * The photo looks pretty good at this point and could almost be complete, but that spot in the upper right corner, the light from the lamp, is really bothering me. * We tend to gravitate toward the brightest spots in a picture first and that spot with its beaming bright nature and bright yellow saturation are taking the cake! Since there are no layers or layer masks in ACR, you can use the Adjustment brush to fix select areas. You basically paint the area you want to adjust and any modifications to the settings will only affect that area you selected. * Select the Adjustment Brush by pressing (K) or by navigating to it in the tool bar. It is the 5 th icon in from the right on the top tool bar and looks like a brush. Start by selecting Auto Mask and Show Mask at the bottom of the Adjustment Brush options.
Bonus 7. Setting up the adjustment brush * Just above the Auto Mask and Show Mask options are the brush settings. Be sure to set your Size to 7, Feather to 47, Flow to 50, and Density to 92. You want to make sure your brush is a bit smaller than the area you are going to be selecting. See Bonus 8. * You may want to select Show Pins as well. This will allow you to see the areas that you have selected with the adjustment brush by flagging them with a pin. This is very helpful if you decide to adjust multiple areas with different settings.
Bonus 8. Adjustment Brush size settings * Start painting the area you would like to selectively adjust. As we discussed before, I am going to paint that area in the upper right hand side of the picture. * In order for the brush to allow you to make a selection on the image, you must have at least one adjustment set to something other than 0. I set Saturation to -25 to start. * When you start painting the area, it should show up in red as you selected Show Mask in the previous step. It is very helpful to see the area you will be working with.
Bonus 9. Painted area with Show Mask selected * Be sure that the adjustment you are working on is ON. If the pin is gray the adjustments you are making will not affect the area selected as the pin is OFF. To turn the pin ON, click in the center of the pin to turn it into a green circle with a black dot in the middle. Bonus 10. Adjustment Brush Off/On * Toggle the Show Mask off and use the following settings in the Adjustment Brush settings Exposure +.75, Contrast +24, Highlights -60, Shadows -38, Clarity +4, Saturation -46.
* These adjustments will not get rid of the highlight area; they will merely take the edge off of that strong yellow cast and help blend the highlight in with the rest of the image. * You can toggle the before and after preview of the Adjustment Brush on and off on the fly by pressing (P). Bonus 11. Toggle Show Mask off and change Adjustment Brush settings * If you would like to make another Adjustment, be sure to toggle the New radio button on to make a new selection. A new pin will appear in the area of the new adjustment after you have painted it.
* Once you feel satisfied with the finished product, go back to the Basic module by pressing (K) to see a full before and after preview of your ACR work. * When you are in the individual sections like, Adjustment Brush, Details, etc. pressing (P) will toggle a preview of that specific section. If you go back to the Basic module, pressing (P) will give you a before and after preview of all of your ACR workflow. Bonus 12. Comparison of ACR workflow on a tone mapped image BONUS CONTENT: Post Processing HDR Tone Mapped Images Using ACR Video Tutorial provided by EverydayHDR!
The great thing about post processing is that it is an art form and anyone who post processes their photos is in-turn an artist. Each image will speak to one artist completely different than another. You may love or hate the adjustments made in this or many of these tutorials, and that is perfectly acceptable. Everyone s style is different. I learned this very quickly with my HDR Concert series on Everyday HDR. I post exposure brackets that people can download from all over the world and post process using their HDR techniques. I accept up to 12 people on a first come first served basis. It is awe-inspiring seeing how differently everyone sees the same image and how they tone map and post process it. Go off and become one with the HDR winds, let them guide you on a journey of fruitful post processing endeavors! Just remember to continuously improve your process and never become sedentary! A sedentary workflow will be the death of your photography!
About Blake Rudis Blake Rudis is the creator and host of www.everydayhdr.com. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware in 2006. He studied Printmaking and Sculpture, but had an interest in painting, photography and ceramics as well. Blake has since channeled his passion for the arts into his love of HDR photography! Since 2010 Blake has been publishing written and video tutorials on Everyday HDR. Blake aims to inform the masses of upcoming products and software with to-the-point reviews. He has written articles for Topaz Labs and conducted reviews and tutorials for several tone mapping software companies to include Nik Software and HDRSoft. In 2012, EverydayHDR was awarded The Best HDR Blog of 2012 by the readers of HDR One Magazine.
Other publications by Blake: The DSLR Survival Guide: A Beginner s Guide to Surviving Digital SLR Photography 11 Things Every Photographer Should Know About HDR Photography Have you already read them? If so, I would really appreciate your thoughts. You can click on the link and write a review on Amazon.com! Thanks!