HDR Revolution

I have been doing some searching concerning HDR (high dynamic range) photography and the "Merge to HDR" function in Photoshop CS2+. I have pretty much fallen in love with the whole technique, although I have yet to master the CS2 method, I have found that Photomatix Pro offers a great engine that will do the trick.

I am no expert, this is all very new to me, but I thought I'd give you a bit of explanation of what HDR is. Basically, your camera can't record the full range of your photo. So with an HDR image you can take photos taken at varying exposures and combine them to create an image with the "perfect" exposure.

Here is an excerpt about HDR from Cambridge in Colour:

As digital sensors attain progressively higher resolutions, and thereby successively smaller pixel sizes, the one quality of an image which does not benefit is its dynamic range. This is particularly apparent in compact cameras with resolutions near 8 megapixels, as these are more susceptible than ever to blown highlights or noisy shadow detail. Further, some scenes simply contain a greater brightness range than can be captured by current digital cameras-- of any type.
The "bright side" is that nearly any camera can actually capture a vast dynamic range-- just not in a single photo. By varying the shutter speed alone, most digital cameras can change how much light they let in by a factor of 50,000 or more. High dynamic range imaging attempts to utilize this characteristic by creating images composed of multiple exposures, which can far surpass the dynamic range of a single exposure.

Here is my first sucessful (I think) HDR merge using Photomatix Pro (I used the trial version, which is available here)

This photo was taken at the golf course in town and was done by combining the exposures of 8 photographs. This also has some post-work done in Photoshop. I made the sky bluer (because it appeared grayish in the merge) and I increased the overall contrast and saturation to make the greens "pop" even more.

Because I am still learning the technique and I don't want to mis-tutorialize, I am providing some links to useful resources that you can use to find out more about HDR merging.

Vanilla Days - Many, many resources on HDR, including tutorials, articles and more.

Cambridge in Color: HDR - Some great information and tutorial

The Luminous Landscape - Great detailed information on how HDR works. (also a tutorial)

NatureScape - Detailed information on HDR

Backing Winds - Very good tutorial and a wonderful blog. Great photographer.

Some examples of HDR:

Thanks to everyone who checked this out. I urge you to look around for any other resources you can find on HDR. If anyone find a great example of the use of HDR, then feel free to leave a link, etc... I would love to check it out!!

God Bless,
Brittany

The Black and White Conversion

I decided that my first post should be a tutorial for one of the most basic and most useful effects that we can use for photography. Converting a tutorial from Color to black and white. I will share with you five of the more popular techniques that I have seen others use and shamelessly share my personal opinion about the advantages and disadvantages of each. The first two that I'll start with the most commonly resorted to techniques that I believe should NOT be used.

Conversion #1: DESATURATE

Many people will find that going to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate (Ctrl-U) will take all of the color out of your photos. It is true that you don't want color, but you also don't want to sacrifice the depth, the contrast, or the appearance of your art, either. I do not suggest using this method.

Advantages
- Quick and easy

• Disadvantages
  - Results are varied and often lacking.

Conversion #2: GRAYSCALE

Another common technique people automatically assume will work right is to go to Image>Mode>Grayscale. The scale is right, but the appearance after this technique is used is just aweful sometimes, So I would not suggest this method.

Advantages
- Not much advantage in my opinion.

Disadvantages
- If you use this method, you have to covert your photo back to RGB or CMYK if you want to add any color to it, etc...
- Results also not dependable and your picture often loses some of its quality.
Conversion #3: MUSICAL MODES

This is probably considered the most accepted and professional method of converting photos from color to black and white. It is more complicated, but results in a photo of more quality. The first step is to convert your photo to lab color by going to Image>Adjustments>Lab Color. Once that is done open your Channels pallet and click on the "Lightness" layer to select it. You must then convert your photo to Grayscale by going to Image>Mode>Grayscale. When promted to delete other channels click "yes." Then Convert it once more to RGB mode by going to Image>Mode>RGB. You should now have an accurate and more pleasing black and white photograph. At this point, dependeding on the photograph, you can adjust the contrast of your photo. This can be done many ways, the quickest options are probably to go to either Image>Adjustments>Levels or Image>Adjustment>Curves and play around with the highlights, shadows, and midtones.

Advantages
- Clean and professional, resulting in an overall accurate conversion

Disadvantages
- Making all the mode conversions can take a little extra time, and if this method is going to be used, I would suggest creating an action so the process can be automated.

Conversion #4: Mix it Up

Some people choose to use a more cutomizable method to convert their color into black and white by using the channel mixer. You can go to Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer, or you can create an adjustment layer which can be edited later (I prefer to do most of my adjustments with adjustment layers instead of Image>Adjustments because you can adjust it at any time). To do this go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Channel Mixer and hit okay. Now you can check the "Monochrome" option at the bottom of the palette and play with the sliders until you find a suitable setting. Remember, once you've made your changes and hit okay, you can still go back and change your settings if you used an adjustment layer.

Advantages
- This method lets you customize your black and white to each specific picture and with an adjustment layer can be changed easily.

Disadvantages
- It takes a little more work to customize each photo with this method and sometimes we may create something that looks okay, but isn't really doing the picture justice.

Conversion #5: Treasure Map

I might as well admit up front that this is the method I use the most. Mainly because it creates a photo with high contrast which I love. It is also realatively simple. To use this method, hit the "D" key on your keyboard, or click the Default colors button on your tool palette. Then go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map. This will create an adjustment layer above your photograph's layer that automatically applies a black to white gradients to the color range of your photo. This is not necessarily professional, but I usually like the results most of the time. As with all of these conversion techniques, every picture if different and you shouldn't assume that any method will work with every photo.

Advantages
- This method is very quick and simple and results in a high-contrast black and white photo.
- By using an adjustment layer you have more control because you can mask the effect or lessen the effect, etc... (the same is true with using the channel mixer or any adjustment layer)

Disadvantages
- Not all photos look good with high contrast and some photos will turn out too dark in the shadows.

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So Those are the 5 methods I have seen and I'm sure there are many others and each photo is different. As always you are welcome to ask any questions about this post or about anything you might need help with. I don't have all the answers, but I'm willing to do what I can to help you out. : ) Hope this was useful and I appreciate any comments.

God bless,
Brittany