tags: HDR, Legacy Hospital, Lightroom, moon, photomatix, photoshop, professional photographer workflow, Tutorial, Vancouver Washington, workflow
So I wanted to take a little time to explain a bit of my workflow for processing an HDR image.
First, I take up to 9 different exposures of a scene. I definitely use a tripod if I have a choice. I have been able to do some handheld but feel much more comfortable using a tripod.
Here are the 9 different exposures that are 1 stop of difference between each shot (ranging from 1/40 sec. to 8 sec. exposures:
I select all nine images and take them into Photomatix Pro 3.1. Photoshop CAN do HDRs but they aren’t well known for it. Frankly, Photomatix had the best reviews! You don’t need 9 images and in fact for this shot 9 images is a bit overkill. The rule of thumb is if the scene is high in contrasting tones (both really bright highlights and really dark shadows) then you need MAYBE up to 9 and for most scenes you can probably use 3 or even 2. When I took this one, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to set things up so I just quickly popped off 9 and said, “I’ll look at it later… better to have too many than too few.” I used all 9 and was pleased.
After taking it in to Photomatix Pro, this is what it looked like before I did tonemapping:
Right now, the image is in 32-bit color depth. This means that after combining all 9 images together there are certain shades of color that cannot be shown on a normal 16-bit monitor. Until we all upgrade and get these fancier-more expensive monitors we have to push and squeeze the shades of color until they all fit in a 16-bit color space. This process is called tonemapping.
Here is what it looks like after tonemapping:
The image is now tonemapped and ready to take back in to Adobe Lightroom. In lightroom I add some contrast, deepen the blacks, and bring up the exposure slightly. This is a part of the “David Martschinske” look and things from here on out can all be done according to your personal taste. This is what it looks like after I applied the previously-mentioned changes:
As you can see HDR photography can be fun! I love doing it for still as well as moving objects.
