HDR: Not Only The 'Magic' Effect
Today we've got an awesome article about HDR and its applications. Andrea Pelizzardi, an italian designer, sent us an absolutily awesome tutorial on how to do 2 HDR effects... After checking this out, don't forget to visit his site! Cheers! ;)
When someone says to you: "HDR", what do you think about? A big, weird, impossible picure you can't believe... no? Well, a lot of people think that HDR was created to have a weird effect like the posters of Harry Potter, but this is NOT the purpose of it.
The High Dynamic Range is a technique that merges 3 photos (usually, but you can merge 20 photos also) and have the possibility to get every detail and every right lights from 'em, without having parts overexposed or underexposed. In fact, a HDR is just like a RAW file. You have a 32bit image, so you can work with higher ranges, expose the photo again, work on it without destroying any details, etc.
Surfing on Flickr or checking several photos, you can find these two kinds of HDR. The greatest part of 'em is formed by the usual "Harry Potter" HDR, like these:
Yeah, they're are very cool, wonderful and spectacular, but why did the photographer use the technique this way? To impress people? Because he loves it? It's a hard question... But I say that HDR was not created to do this, for another kind of work, like these:
I know that do the actual HDR technique is harder than get the "Harry Potter" one. Now, I want to try these two methods using the same 3 photos.
STEP 1 - (for both the methods)
Open the 3 photos in Photoshop CS3 (best software to do this work). Go to File -> Automate -> Merge To HDR.
Now click in "Add Open Files" and select "Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images" ONLY IF if you took the photos without a tripod or something to stable it. Then click OK.
Wait a few seconds, then click Ok again. Now you have a 32bit HDR file. Go to Image -> Mode -> 16bit.
Now you have the settings window for the 32 to 16 HDR conversion. Select "Local Adaptation" from the pop-up menu, then click "Toning curve and histogram".
STEP 2.A - 'Harry Potter' Effect
Now go to -> Image -> Adjustament -> Shadows/Highlights.
Set these values.
Now go to -> Image -> Adjustament -> Bightness/contrast and set these values.
Go again to Image -> Mode -> 8 bit (if you want to export a JPEG file).
Save and export.
STEP 2.B - 'HDR was born to do this' Effect
Set these values.
Now go to -> Image -> Adjustment -> Shadows/Highlights.
Set these values.
Go again to Image -> Mode -> 8bit (if you want to export a JPEG File).
Save and export.
You may download the sample picture down here for this tutorial. Enjoy!
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| samplepictures.zip | 9.85 MB |
About author
Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo, a 24 years old designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil. I work as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobbie for me since 1999. At Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you guys... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! Cheers! *Now on Twitter.
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eh...where's the tutorial? This is "opinion" followed by "use these settings".
have you forgotten to put in the levels for brightness and contrast or am I not reading this correctly?
er, methinks "the hostile monkey" speaks of himself in third person to a) sound cool, b) get attention, and c) because has serious issues with his existence.
dude, get away from the web once in a while, please.
Very good tutorial. Thanks so much
i would like to ask
when u say 3 same photos does that mean 1 photo that duplicates into 3 or 3 different photos?
I liked the tutorial.. but I've been trying to achieve the effect Dave Hill achieved in his photographs.. anyone?? check him out www.davehillphoto.com
Nice post, keep it on...
Awesome tutorial... with awesome results. Thanks for the tutorial.
HDR is cool but i use it more for as environment map for 3D rendering.
Is it 3 different photos with different adjusment or just duplicate one photo into 3 different photos?
There are no values for Bightness/Contrast given... Or am I blind?
But nice results! Great!
Wooh, awesome dude...
http://tropicalholidays.olympe-network.com
I'm the author of the post.
I'm sorry for the english, I'm 17 and I'm italian.
I try to do my best :)
Andrea Pelizzardi
wow, sorry about that, Joe.
This post was actually not written by any of us, but by a visitor... I did read it before posting, but I think I've just assumed that the person would know who to write in good english since he/she is not Brazilian. Lol.
Sorry again, and I'll read it all again to correct the grammar mistakes.
Cheers!
I love the articles here at Abduzeedo. They have helped me greatly. Now that the site is becoming even more popular I have one constructive comment to make. I think new articles should be reviewed for grammatical errors before they are posted. Even though I still manage to understand the articles, grammatical mistakes are distracting and confusing.
For example this sentence needs help in more ways than one:
"I think and I know that do the "normal" HDR is harder than get the "Harry Potter" ones. Now I want to try this two methods with you with the same 3 photos."
There other typos in this article that need to be corrected. Besides this though Abduzeedo is great. Keep up the good work!
The HDR r nice indeed, but in many cases they tend to look unusual...a nice article.
good tutorial on HDR...
however, some landscape photographers find it a bit un-realistic...
they seem to tend to digital blending (tutorial: http://terrychay.com/blog/article/digital-blending-multiple-exposures.sh...)
some samples of digital blending: http://www.flickr.com/photos/montinola/2666497863/
good tutorial. thx
I like this post
thanks andrea :]
Excelent tutorial. The photo looks great, i wonder how many photos are needed to create one like the boat at the sunset above. That one looks awsome!
Keep it coming.
regards
Thanks!!! great post... HDR is awesome!!!
Love this tutorial, the final product is fantastic on all images that I use it for!! Well done
Hey there I'm the author of this tutorial.
First of all thanks to abduzeedo's stuff for having published my tutorial.
And... if you users have some question contact me following the link.
:)
Andrea Pelizzardi
The Hostile Monkey is only familiar with the "normal" HDR technique mentioned. Can someone point The Hostile Monkey to the Harry Potter poster that spawned these faux-HDR monstrosities?
The Hostile Monkey wondered why HDR didn't seem to mean HDR any more. Now he knows.
Fantastic tutorial!
But not every photo could use to do a great HDR image. The photo is run by the lights, objets, brightness and more, so you should prove to do a lot of HDR process to get a photo like the post.
Best regards!!
uhh..nice post..i like it..
awesome. i didnt know that you can achieve an this good hdr effect with ps
contact me at aloa[at]abduzeedo.com
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