HDR workflow tutorial

[Dylan & Marianne]

Hi all! I had a free weekend so I tried to put it to good use by describing what I do with exposure blending and HDR processing in photoshop.
The link to it is here if anyone is interested:
http://everlookphotography.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/hdr-workflow-tutorial/

and the image that it creates is :
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2589/4142172567_4ee364bceb_b.jpg

[dbax]

Thanks for this, I know how to do it, but you do it so well! now I'm inspired to have another go at HDR's

[Dylan & Marianne]

thanks david - if there are any suggestions people have,that'd be great - I'd like to incorporate stuff into the tutorial too

[Satine]

Thanks for this, don't have time to have a look right now but will defiantely come back to it. I love HDR but haven't had the time to play around with it much. Should have some time over Christmas so will give it a go then.

[Jules]

Excellent tute, thanks Dylan.

[clm738]

Thanks Dylan, will give it a go over Chrissy.

[gcflora]

Great tutorial! Thanks for taking the time to write it and post a link.

[mongo]

thanks Dylan, this is very helpful and Mongo is hard at it taking it all in.

[Dylan & Marianne]

no worries guys - I'll try to do another one sometime on usual workflow too

[Philr]

Thanks for sharing Dylan, I will surely give it a go... we all know your secret now;)

[geedee]

Great Tutorial and link Never really thought of taking the images back to Photoshop and using mask's

[KALBO]

HI. Do I have to shoot RAW for HDR processing? CHeers!

[ricktas]

HI. Do I have to shoot RAW for HDR processing? CHeers!

No you don't, but a RAW file contains a lot more data than a JPG, so the end result can be manipulated and tweaked a lot more, without image quality (IQ) degradation.

[KALBO]

ahhh thanks RICK!!! While we're here... I have just started shooting RAW and yes I can view it using the Canon software. How can I convert and save HDR's from raw photos... so I can post it in forums? DOes that make sense?

[ricktas]

ahhh thanks RICK!!! While we're here... I have just started shooting RAW and yes I can view it using the Canon software. How can I convert and save HDR's from raw photos... so I can post it in forums? DOes that make sense?

You create the HDR from three or more RAW files, it then becomes one HDR file, which you treat the same as any other photo file, process it, resize it, and save it in JPG format to upload to the net.

[KALBO]

Bingo!!! Cheers Rick!

[Dylan & Marianne]

Sorry about not checking this thread Kalbo -
Rick's already answered your questions
In terms of some other suggestions

1. Rick is right about RAW being better than jpeg for HDR work
2. You can convert directly from the RAW file to HDR, or you can export it as a TIFF file from the canon software. You should try to shoot these files in threes but even if you have 2 exposures you can run them through photomatix to give it a go.
3. If you export even a single RAW file as a 16 bit TIFF image, you can run the photomatix program to give you a "pseudo HDR" look to your single images if it's suitable.

hope that helps and doesn't confuse the issue more - if it idoes, ignore me!

[beaco]

that waterfall pic is great. Thanks for the tips

[Milbs1]

This is fantastic, I'm new to photography and HDRs and workflows really help to pull ideas together.

[Dylan & Marianne]

Thanks beaco, milbs, I'll try to add more to the site when I can