HDR Tutorial

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Examples of my own HDR photography can be seen in my Creative Gallery

Welcome to the world of HDR photography. HDR may not suit all images but is very effective in bringing out the highlights and shadows in an image.

To process an HDR image following this tutorial you will need Photoshop (or similar) editing software, and Photomatix (or similar) HDR software.

An example of the image before HDR processing:

1. Take multiple images of the same scene

To achieve an HDR look you will need at least 3 images:

Underexposed

Normal exposure

Overexposed

Ideally to start with you should have an image of -2 exposure, one exposed correctly, and one of +2 exposure. You could use many more exposures, how many you need depends upon how great the difference is between light and shadow in your subject.

2.Merge the images in Photomatix

Open Photomatix and choose Generate HDR Image.

Choose your three jpeg or RAW files and press OK.

A new window will appear with options to align the images, reduce noise and attempt to match any moving elements - choose accordingly for your image. Press OK.

A merged version of the image will appear which looks highly unrealistic - this is because standard monitors cannot display all of the detail correctly and so we must further Tone Map the image.

3. Tonemapping

Having pressed the Tonemapping button next to the merged image, a new, more realistic image will appear with lots of options. This is where you can alter the image to your preferred look.

Photomatix will automatically revert to the Default or previously used settings, though it also has some Presets and the option to save your settings for future use.

These are the settings available:

Strength: This is key to the final look of the image, a high setting will increase the "cartoon" look

Colour Saturation: Boost the vibrancy of colours throughout the image

Luminosity: A higher setting will boost the shadows and brighten the overall image

Microcontrast: Increase the contrast on the details in the image

Smoothing: Adjust this to change how dynamic the range of highlights and shadows appears. Avoid setting this on it's highest setting where the image can look extremely unrealistic. Adjust to your taste and the specific image. You are aiming for a natural look which accentuates the highlights and shadows

White, black and gamma points: Adjust these according to the histogram to ensure the whole shape fits within the window

Temperature: Increase or decrease the overall temperature of the image

Saturation highlights/shadows: Increase or decrease the saturation of the highlights/shadows according to the saturation point you set for the image earlier

Micro smoothing: Reduces noise but be careful not to lose all of the detail!

Highlights/Shadow smoothness: Increase this to bring some of the natural highlights/shadows back to the image, particularly useful when keeping a natural look to the sky in an image

Shadows clipping: Adjust how much of the shadows is clipped, move carefully to reduce noise in the shadows

When you are happy with the look of the image press Process, and save the image which appears

4. Masking ghosts and retaining a natural look

Finally, open Photoshop or similar software and open your tonemapped HDR image.

Add one or more of the original exposure images as new layers and use Layer Masks to allow original areas to show through. For example if the blue sky on your original image was perfect, use a layer mask and brush through to mask out that area on the HDR, allowing the perfect blue sky in the original shot to show through.

This is also particularly useful for HDR images with movement, for example trees blowing in the breeze between your original images, or moving people.

An example of the final HDR image: