June
29th
Lightroom, Photomatix, and the Single-shot HDR
High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is still in its early stages. Photoshop, among others applications, gives us the tools to deal with all the information in an HDR image. With those tools and a little planning we can create some stunning images that better capture what we saw when we captured the scene. Or, with the same tools, we can explore the HDR world with a more surrealistic and illustrative eye. Not trying to capture the reality of the scene but, rather, the reality of our vision. Whether you are in the real camp or the surreal camp (or somewhere in between) HDR affords yet another creative avenue for the photographer.
While Photoshop provides a fair toolset for dealing with HDR images it is somewhat basic. If you are serious about exploring the world of HDR then I recommend a program from HDRsoft called Photomatix. Photomatix is one of the most comprehensive HDR tools on the market. The level of control over every aspect of your HDR image is astounding. It is available as a stand alone application and as a plugin for Photoshop. The stand alone version comes with a plugin for Lightroom which makes dealing with your HDR images even easier from a Lightroom workflow without ever having to open Photoshop! If you are a NAPP member you can get 25% off. Not a NAPP member? Try Trey Ratcliff’s site Stuck In Customs for an excellent and comprehensive HDR tutorial which includes a code for 15% off your purchase.
This tutorial is not meant to cover the making of an HDR from start to finish. Here I will look at using Photomatix via Lightroom to take a single image through the HDR process. If you are new to HDR and/or Photomatix then I strongly recommend Trey’s Tutorial. Another excellent introduction is Ben Wilmore’s two part tutorial. Part 1 covers HDR basics in Photoshop while Part 2 explores Photomatix.
Ben’s Tutorial – Part 1
