HDR Photography Processing – Cityscape Example

I discovered the exciting world of HDR last year. At first, I remember thinking what in the world type of cameras are people using to create such incredible pictures?!?! I soon discovered anyone with a just about any DSLR could create HDR images by using a series of “bracketed” images. Most DSLR cameras and even my point and shoot Panasonic LX3 has auto bracket feature which means the camera will take a series of photos typically three shots with one over exposed, one under exposed and one a normal exposure. Then the three images can be merged together to create the HDR composite image using tools and process that I’ll cover in detail below.

Full disclosure – I’m not a professional photographer rather I’m an hobbyist who greatly enjoys the creative world of photography. I find it a great way to let the logical side take of my brain take a break from the definitive engineering / technology world I live and work in daily. I also enjoy learning many Social Media tips and tricks from photographers who I consider the Social Media pioneers as they’ve always been in the business of self promoting, contributing and collaborating openly within the larger community.

I’ve been picking up HDR tips and tricks over the past year from various sources; however, I’ve found very few examples that actually walk through a detailed example HDR image process. In the spirit of giving over the holidays, I’ve decided it is time for me to give back and contribute what I’ve learned by outlining the HDR process and tools I’ve found most valuable in one detailed HDR workflow example.

I’m going to use one of my favorite shots “Chicago Navy Pier HDR v2.0″ HDR photo. I took the picture back in August of 2009 while traveling to Chicago for a business trip. I made special arrangements to stay at a hotel close to the Navy Pier so I could wake up early and take some photos before my meeting. It worked out great. There was great morning light with a real nice partly cloudy blue sky. It was so bright out that I was able to hand hold the camera and capture three bracketed shots with my Canon 50D and Sigma 24-70mm lens. The photo is special to me because on my way home that night I was involved in a major car accident which totaled my car. Thankfully, I was able to walk away unharmed and my camera and laptop miraculously survived the rear impact while being in the trunk of my car!

The image above represents the final product. I will now attempt to outline the process and tools that I used to produce the final result.

Tools Used

• Adobe Lightroom to import and organize the images
• Photomatix Pro to merge the three bracketed images into a composite HDR photo
• Adobe Photoshop to edit and enhance the HDR photo
• Topaz Adjust to give the photo an extra ‘pop’
• Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0 plugin to enhance the photo
• Noiseware to remove unwanted noise from the final HDR image

Export the three bracketed photos from Adobe Lightroom to Photomatix Pro

The Photomatix settings dialog box with appear. Do not check “automatically re-import to Lightroom” because when “auto” is selected you will not be able to use the “double process” trick we are going to cover below. I typically do not select the other options such as reducing ghost artifacts since we’ll address that in Photoshop. After you’ve verified all the settings, click on “Export” to process the images.

Click on “Tone Mapping” to begin the Photomatix editing.

Tone Mapping Settings

• Strength – I typically push this to 100%
• Color Saturation – Be-careful here not to over do it. It varies greatly depending on the image.
• Luminosity – This setting will help make sure you have a good exposure with a nice hump in the middle of the histogram
• Microcontrast – helps enhance small details
• Smoothing – This is where the HDR magic happens. The right side is used for a more realistic result and the left side is used for a more psychedelic result. I typically prefer the right side.
• White Point – Is used to help with the exposure. I typically adjust this to ensure a good hump in the middle of the histogram
• Black Point – Same as White Point. I’ll adjust as needed to ensure good result in histogram.

When all of your settings are complete with a good result in the histogram, click on “Process” to render the HDR composite photo.

Since I did not select auto export to Lightroom, a new window will pop up in Photomatix with a preview of the final result.

Do not save yet. Now here is where a really cool trick can be used. Press “Command+T” to process the image a second time! A new Tone Mapping Settings window will pop up. Adjust settings once again and process a second time to really enhance the HDR effect.

After it processes the second time, save the image to desired location and close Photomatix.

Import the new HDR image into Lightroom.

Step 2 – Create HDR like versions of the original images
Use Photoshop masks and layer merging to blend some details in the original images into the composite HDR image. Before begin the mask process, create HDR like versions of the original images to ease the details masking and merging efforts. To begin this process, select one of the three original images and edit in Photoshop.

In Photoshop, I prefer to use Nik Color Efex 3.0 “Tonal Contrast” tool to create an HDR effect on the single image.

This will create a new layer with the Tonal Contrast effect applied.

Close the image and select to save changes. This will create a new ‘edited’ image in Adobe Lightroom thus preserving the original image.

Repeat the same process for the other two original bracketed images.

Step 3 – Mask and Blend Details

After new HDR like images have been created for all three original bracketed images, open in Photoshop all three new HDR like versions and the HDR composite from Photomatix. Select all four images, Edit in Photoshop and “Open as Layers in Photoshop”.

In this example image, I didn’t need the underexposed aka ‘dark version’ so I only opened three images into Photoshop. The first thing to do once opened as layers is to align the images. This is done by lowering the opacity of top layer then using the ‘V’ hotkey to enable the move tool. Adjust as needed until all the layers align.

Now that the images are aligned it is time to start merging and blending details from the original images into the HDR composite layer. I started with the darker of the two which is the “normal” exposure with an HDR like effect applied to it. I used this layer to bring out the details in the buildings and eliminating some ghosting in the HDR composite image. To create the mask, highlight the top image then create a mask for this layer. Then using the brush tool set to a lower opacity (like 40% or lower) and painted with black over the building details to bring into the HDR composite from the original “normal exposure”.

When completed with the masking, select the two layers and merge together.

I repeated the process on the lighter layer to bring out the details of the water in this image. Once completed and merged, close and saved the image to create a new “edited” copy of the image in Lightroom.

In Lightroom, I compared the original tone mapped HDR with the new “edited” copy with the merged details which resulted in a much more realistic and crisp HDR image.

Step 4 – Final exposure edits

Select the “Edited” copy and open back up in Photoshop with Lightroom adjustments so it will create a new copy of the image.

I did not have a polarizer that morning so the first edit I want to make is to add a polarizer effect with Nik Color Efex Pro. This helps take some glare out of the water and darken the blue sky.

Next, I applied my favorite filter for softening the sky – Nik Color Efex “Glamor Glow”. This effect is great for the sky but creates to much of a blur effect to everything else so I used a mask filter to limit the effect to the sky only.

I created another layer with the Topaz Adjust “photo pop” setting to add some sharpness and exposure correctness.

I used Noiseware to remove some unwanted noise in the sky before saving the edits and re-importing back into Lightroom. I prefer to use “stronger color” preset in Noiseware since it does a good job keeping most of the details and eliminating almost all of the noise.

Now with the image back in Lightroom, I used the develop module to add the Lightroom preset “punch” which basically adds some clarity and vibrance to the image.

Additional Reference Links

• Kelby Training – Tons of awesome video on demand training from some of the best photographers in the world. I especially enjoy Scott Kelby’s videos. He just has a very special way of making everything loose easy and inspiring others to try it out.
• Stuck in Customs – The best HDR resource on the internet! Trey is by far the ruling godfather of HDR. I greatly admire how open he is with his incredible tips and tricks and incredible portfolio of work.
• Digital Photo Experience – New exciting site created by one of my favorite photographers – Rick Sammon. I first learned of Rick on Kelby Training. I was blown away when he was gracious enough to respond personally to several of my Twitter questions. His warm and fun spirit energizes me to learn more and try new techniques.
• Moose Peterson – Moose has an awesome blog full of excellent tips and tricks. He is another world class photographer who is very open and shares a ton of incredibly valuable information.
• This Week in Photography – Excellent podcast with a good mix of hosts that often promote and share wonderful HDR tips.

Hope you enjoyed the blog post and at least found a few useful tips along the way to incorporate into your own HDR workflow. Thanks for visiting!