Quicklinks to all course lessons: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Lesson 8 sections: 8-1 8-2 8-3 8-4 8-5 8-JFF 8-IDEA
Lesson 8 sections: 8-1 8-2 8-3 8-4 8-5 8-JFF 8-IDEA
A08-03: High Dynamic Range Imaging in Photoshop & Camera Raw
Objectives:
- Learn what HDR (High Dynamic Range) images are, and how to work with them in Photoshop and Camera Raw.
- Apply what you've learned by creating an HDR image from three exposures.
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Learn:
High Dynamic Range processing (also know as HDR processing) is another powerful feature for photographers and graphic designers using Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom. One problem we constantly face is that our cameras see the image differently than our eyes do. When we set the exposure for the sky, the foreground gets underexposed. When we set the exposure for the foreground, the sky gets overexposed. One solution digital photography hardware and software tools have come up with to deal with this is to take multiple bracketed exposures, and then combine the best lighting in all of them. In the photos at right, I wanted to capture the restoration of the Provo City Tabernacle as the Provo City Center Temple. I took three exposures - one for the sky, one for the middle ground, and one for the shadows.
I then took all three photos into Camera Raw (you can do this in Lightroom and Photoshop as well.) I then select all three in the filmstrip (Command-A or click the first image and shift click on the last image). In the filmstrip menu, select "Merge to HDR..." That will bring up another dialog box...
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3 separate exposures of the Provo City Center Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photos by Nathan Smith
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Unless you're shooting on a tripod, it's important to check the align images checkbox. Auto Tone will look at the combined result and adjust it further based on the dynamic range of values within the image. Most of the time I leave this off, and do my correction work in Camera Raw. The important things is that you now have 3 images worth of data to play with!
When you click "Merge" - Camera Raw will prompt you to save the image as a raw file. Once you've saved it, it will open up in Camera Raw, and you can adjust it further. Below is my final result.
When you click "Merge" - Camera Raw will prompt you to save the image as a raw file. Once you've saved it, it will open up in Camera Raw, and you can adjust it further. Below is my final result.
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Even if you're on a tripod, something may move from one image to the next. A leaf may flutter, or a bird fly across the view. Deghost looks at all the images and determines what has moved. You can view this by checking the "Show overlay" box. You can see I wasn't using a tripod for this! Everything moved!
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