HDR Tutorial Part 3
(Continued from Page 2 – or go to page 1 of the HDR Tutorial)
Step 6, Continued
Stacking and Aligning the Photos
In the screenshot below, look down in the lower right at the layers. You can see the four layers there. I put the Photomatix result on the top layer, and stacked the other three below. The order does not matter. Note that as you become more advanced, you will not need to bring in all of these originals. Maybe just one or two will do the trick.
To import the photos, there are a variety of ways, as there is with everything in Photoshop! If you read the following bullet point list, I will assume you are a beginner, so I will try tell you the easiest way!
- After you open all 4 (or your number) into Photoshop, you should have 4 windows or tabs open in Photoshop.
- Bonus Tip: If you have Adobe Bridge, you can select all the photos, then go to Tools>Photoshop…>Load Files into Photoshop Layers… and voila, all are in one Photoshop window!
- Go to your Tonemapped photo that was the result of the Photomatix process. Remember this is your “Base Layer”. We will copy and paste all the other photos into this image.
- Go to one of the original photos.
- On the Menu, choose Select > All. Then Edit > Copy. Then go back to your Base Layer and do a Edit > Paste. Then you will have 2 layers.
- Continue to repeat this with all of the other photos.
- Once you have all the layers in one photo, you can re-arrange them as you see fit. I usually put the HDR result on the top.
I have also made sure to align all the images so they are neatly stacked:
- Select all the layers with CTRL or SHIFT-clicking them, then use Auto-Align under the Edit Menu – default options are fine.
- …Or you can press V to get into move mode and use the arrow keys at 300% to nudge them around. This is usually what I have to do with the HDR layer, turning it on and off to make sure it’s lined up just right.
Photoshop – Here we have the HDR image on top with some of the original photos on layers beneath.
If you look closely at the layers on the right in the screenshot below, you can see that I have created a LAYER MASK for the TOP LAYER. If you see those little black and gray marks there, that is where I have painted black to see the layer beneath. I used the Brush, adjusted the opacity to about 30%, and kept painting until enough of the lower layer shined through.
To create a mask and start revealing the layer underneath:
- Click on the top layer (the one you want to punch through)
- On the Menu, go to Layer > Create Layer Mask > Reveal All.
- Choose the brush tool (or hit B).
- At the top, there are two areas to adjust:
- “Opacity” - Set that to 30%. This means how hard you will be pushing down the brush to punch through to the bottom layer. Multiple brush strokes will make that percentage go up… For example, if you brush over the same spot ten times or so, you’ll be at 100% see-through!
- Brush – Click that dropdown and make the brush size 100. You will keep adjusting this size throughout, depending on what you want!
- Quick Tip – to change the size of the brush quickly use the bracket keys ( [ and ] )
- Now that you created the mask, you will see a little white box on that layer down in the lower right. See it? Click on that little white box it because THAT represents the mask.
- Make sure your chosen color over on the right is BLACK.
- Start using the brush on the photo. Each stroke will make that layer 30% more transparent. If you stroke the same area over and over again, you will get to 100%, which allows you to see the layer underneath.
- After you are done masking the two layers together, Merge Layers in the menu or by pressing Command (Ctrl on PC) E.
- Bonus Tip: Are you still MASSIVELY confused by Masking? This happens often because of my lousy description. I suggest you visit this nice YouTube Video on Masking (note that I did not make that video).
You will notice the areas in which I painted. Those areas were blown out and unreadable. So, I chose the DARKEST layer, in which the signs were very readable. I masked those through so we can read, for example, the ticker on the right at the ABC Studios.
Photoshop – Stacking the Layers and Starting to Mask. The gray areas in the white box represent where we have “punched through” to the lower level.
I hope that was easy for you to understand, at least in concept. People sometimes have trouble with Masking, so I hope I explained it okay.
The next thing I do is combine the top two layers by selecting both of them by selecting Layer > Merge Layers. Below, you can see how I have combined the layers top two. Now I only have three layers.
Photoshop – I have combined the top two layers after masking. Now just three remain.
This process of masking and combining should repeated until you are happy with the results.
Moving on, the next step in this particular photo is masking in the pedestrians so that they do not look “ghosted”. When they are moving around between the frames, Photomatix gets confused. I prefer to find my favorite of the original shots where the people are in the most interesting formation. I then use that photo to remix with the original. Below, you can see I have zoomed in on the pedestrians and created a mask on the top layer. I have used the Brush on the top layer to reveal the clean pedestrian layer beneath. Note that the pedestrians are not crystal clear, and I did not mind a bit of “motion” here, since it is Times Square after all.
De-ghosting the image by masking through to the layer where the people look best
Step 6 – Noise Reduction and other Tools
You will notice that you probably have a lot of noise in the finished result. The HDR Process does this… it is an unfortunate side effect, but easily cleaned up.
I will not go into the full description of Noiseware here, but you are welcome to go read my Noiseware Review.
The only thing I really have to do is to show you the following screenshot. I mean, are you kidding me? The only tip I can add beyond this, for a full master’s touch, is to create a duplicate layer of your finished product before doing the noise reduction. It may get rid of some details you quite like, in which case you can use the masking tricks above to just keep the details and noise how you best see fit for your own work of art.
As you can see below, this can help make your final product look a lot more silky-smooth.
This is the best software I have used for Noise reduction – better than Noise Ninja!
Below, we can see the final image once again! All the hard work has paid off! Behold!
The final product, after a lot of fun steps… remember… it’s the journey, not the destination…
Now that you are done with that, here are some other tools that I recommend. These are part of my workflow, and I recommend you get these and play with them all!
- Lucis Pro – I’ve also started using Lucis Pro more and more. It’s a lot like LucisArt, but it’s even better. I’ve written a Lucis Pro Review and a Lucis Tutorial here on the site, which maybe you can save for later. The same coupon code for LucisArt applies here of “TREYRATCLIFF”. She tells me it’s the best one available.
- Nik Software – Nik makes a great suite of tools I recommend. Use the Coupon Code of “STUCKINCUSTOMS” to save the most amount of money. You can get it from the Nik Software website. I have a full Nik Review here on the site for more info.
- OnOne Software – This is another great suite of powerful tools that I use a lot. Use the Coupon Code “STUCKINCUSTOMS” to save the most amount of money when ordering from the onOne Software website. I have a full review of the OnOne Plugin here on the site for you.
Bonus Step – Sharpening and adding pop with Lucis Pro or LucisArt
Many of my images get a visit from the sweet lady Lucis.
The LucisArt Plugin is awesome. I suggest you download the trial and give it a run! The trial is nice because you get a preview window that shows what all the cool sliders do. If you buy it, be sure to use this Lucis Coupon Code of TREYRATCLIFF. If I ever meet you in person, you can buy me a cappuccino or something… You can get the trial or order it at the LucisArt Website.
Note that sometimes I use an even better program, and you can find out more about that at the Lucis Pro Review. I really don’t mean to overwhelm you with options, just to let you know that there are good, better, and best paths to sharpening.
When you use LucisArt, I suggest the SCULPTURE setting with the top slider less than 12 and the bottom slider above 70 or so. Now, the screenshot below has the bottom slider at 55 original just to show you how it makes the lines “pop”. It’s a bit like UNSHARP MASK, but quite a bit better, in my judgment.
Bonus Step – Processing a single RAW file
In Photomatix, go you can simply open a RAW file and then go right to Tone Mapping! This is a new feature, and a welcome time saver… You will get a little warning that it is not a true HDR image, but just ignore that. Many times, I find that it is quite good enough.
People ask me all the time if it is better to use just One RAW or multiple. Well, sometimes you have no choice if the subject is moving… but the result can be quite nice in both conditions. For the record, I always take multiple exposures whenever possible.
To show you how good images can look from just a single RAW file, here are a few examples:
That is an hour of your life you will never get back, but let’s hope you formed some good memories and skills to create more. Best of luck and I thank you for all your comments and feedback. I currently have over 20,000 emails unread in my photography inbox, so I apologize if I do not get back to you… just don’t have enough time I am afraid. But thanks for all your comments and support! I hope you all have as much fun with HDR as I am – again, best of luck to you!
Did You Find the HDR Tutorial Useful?
If you did, please make a little blog post about it and link back here to “HDR Tutorial“! That would be very nice of you, and it would help more find out the best way to make good HDRs. Thanks!
HDR DVD Promo Video
Just a quick sample (excuse the YouTube low-quality) of the sort of stuff on the DVD. It shows segments from one of the 13 detailed tutorials.
HDR DVD
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HDR DVD - The Premium Package Includes
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HDR eBook
It’s finally available! I think you will love it… as with everything around here, if you don’t like it, we get you a 100% money back deal. So, no risk at all.
You can nab it here, or on our growing eBook page.
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$9.97- Top 10 Mistakes in HDR Processing, and How to Fix Them
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The new HDR Tutorial Page 3 is up!
I love the tutorials and the newsletter as well as the tips on other software. I use Photomatix, onOne and Topaz but I’m still a beginner in using them as I don’t have sufficient time. With Photomatix, my whites usually turn to grey and I can’t remember where I saw a tip on dealing with this. Any help would be appreciated and thanks again for a great newletter and tutorials.
Trey,
Great tutorial, I had a couple of questions / clarifications if you’d be so kind:
My questions are in
from step 6)
This, briefly, is what we are gonna do:
Import all of the original images plus the .JPG we just made in Photomatix
Please note that this is kind of overkill to import all of them – over time, you will probably only import just the ones you need, as you will see. Also, most likely you will have 4 images — the 3 originals plus your Photomatix result.
Repair the areas that are blown-out with the DARKEST of the original images by using “Masking”.
Repair the ghosted pedestrian and cars by selecting the best RAW, which we will have adjusted to have nice coloring in the RAW importer
from “Raw Importer”
Now, go ahead and open the original images plus the Photomatix result JPG in Photoshop. The dialog you see below is the RAW importer for Photoshop. It is very nice because it has these wonderful sliders that you can use to pull out additional light information. This is the wonderful secret of the RAW photo! As opposed to the JPEG, the RAW contains extra light information you can access using the RAW importer.
What I am going to do is select my favorite of the Original shots, and adjust the sliders so that it looks as close as possible to the Photomatix result.
Thanks in advance for the clarifications.
JeffN
My question didn’t show up in the last post, so lets try this differently. I’ll post them here.
1) in step 6
“import all of the original images plus the .jpg we just made in Photomatix”
…are you talking about importing the three original Raw or the three processed that are now .jpgs?
2) from the “Raw Importer”
“Now, go ahead and open the original images plus the Photomatix result JPG in Photoshop”….This is the wonderful secret of the RAW photo! As opposed to the JPEG,….What I am going to do is select my favorite of the Original shots”
I’m confused as to which files you are talking about. Should I be opening the processed jpegs or the unprocessed Raw files in camera raw and “use the sliders to make it / them look as close as possible to the Photomatix result”
thanks in advance for the clarifications.
JeffN
You spoke of NoiseWare and recommended it.
I see you recommend other Nik software.
Do you have any experience with Nik’s Define 2.0 noise reduction software? as compared to Noiseware?
Thanks all
Paulmario – the best way to handle that is to re-mix the original whites from one of the original pics, like I suggest via massking.
Jeff – 1) I usually just bring in the jpgs — if I need some part repaired with the raw importer, I may use the raw 2) If you do bring in the RAW, you can use the sliders to make it look more “HDR Like”. Often times, you do not need to bring in the RAW…. but if the JPG you are trying to remix does not cut it, then try adjusting the RAW
hej! Trey…great thanks with the tutorial…and love your photos too…
thanks for a great read. that was VERY helpful =)
I have been trying to generate an “HDR” image just from one picture, but it won’t let me. I’ve opened up the image, but the “Tone Mapping” feature is un-selectable.
Any ideas why?
Thanks
Hrmm.. do you do this for EVERY photo?? You must spend a lot of time editing pictures. I am an amatuer photographer.. a hobbyist..
However I am getting more and more into photography now that I have a semi-decent camera (Ricoh GX200). I notice that my camera does do auto-bracketing, which is a good start but I am a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of work and money involved in just getting started with HDR.
I have encountered many situations where I could have used these techniques but yer… that’s a lot of work (or so it seems) per photo.
How much is the initial software setup going to cost?
Thanks all.
Deana – make sure you drag the RAW file into Photomatix — that will create a “pseudo hdr” that you can tonemap
Ligt487 – yes – each photo takes me a small eternity! Software-wise, the one thing you really need is Photomatix – that is a little less than $100 when you use my coupon code. Once you are ready to add more software, just go through the ones I recommend!
Thanks for the feedback. I will check out the Photomatix software and go from there
Hrmm.. now I’ll have to go back to China again to take all my photos again with auto-bracketing 
thanks for the great tutorial. You opened up a bright new path ahead of me
Awesome tutorial. Do you suggest Lucis Art ED or or Lucis Art SE???
You’re pretty awesome dude!
I have been shooting HDR for a couple of years now, but still found your tutorial helpful, especially the masking section. Thanks so much for sharing. Many of your images are good, especially those where the core photo indicates thoughtful and penetrating personal vision on your part. Many do. These are your best images, and they can stand either “straight” or manipulated.
One general comment about HDR… I think we all have to be careful with this process, a heavy hand often suggests the photographer has just tasted some psychedelic cool aid.
Jan Armor
Thank You very Much Great Tutorial!! Helps me a lot.
One Question: You write
” I prefer to find my favorite of the original shots where the people are in the most interesting formation. I then use that photo to remix with the original.”
Mmmh. But what would you do if your favorite is in the brightest picture? When you remix it with the original this part of the picture will be also bright.
THanks!
Oliver – in that case, I would use the RAW importer and then make the exposure slider go left a bit…
Thanks a lot for this great tutorial. It’s a great reference for someone new to HDR photography. Also glad to hear that it is possible to just use a a single raw file and play with the exposure settings to create three different pictures– it is after all, exactly what the camera does, but the camera will has a fraction of a second between each frame. I’m still going to go with the exposure bracketing method, but I’m glad to know that I had the theory correct in my head of how HDR works.
Have you tried creating HDRs by changing lens settings? Like one exposure at, say, 1/2000 of a sec, one at 1/200, and one at 1/8? Or would it just be easier and get the same effect from changing exposure values?
Anyway, great tutorial– I’m off to go take my first HDR shots!!
Amazing photos and a great tutorial. Despite what the critics say, HDR’s are re-invigorating photography and will bring a new wave of artists along with it.
I have 2 questions:
1) When you create an HDR from a single image, do you tend to shoot that image underexposed (to ensure no part is blown out), overexposed, or right on?
2) Is Photomatrix required to get quality outputs (in your opinion), or can you used the HDR tool in CS4? (I admit that I cant get good results in CS4, but I think that might be due to user error rather then CS4′s limitations).
Thanks
Tom
Hello,
I’ve been shooting HDR for a few years now, just thought its about time to say thanks for all the help your site has provided. Keep up the great work.
Hello,
I am an amateur photographer (using Canon EOS 50D) and currently based in Singapore. I was really astounded by your pictures and never thought how expansive photographic creativity could be. The pictures are amazing and so is the tutorials. Im an old-fashioned photographer but seeing your pictures made me think otherwise. So, why not indulge myself with it for the sake of growth and for the sake of photography itself. . .I would just like to inquire if those softwares you recommended are stand-alone softwares or are they Photoshop plug-ins?. . .thanks so much in advance…
Keep shooting and keep inspiring people. . .
God bless. . .
Trey,
Great stuff.
Are you doing a survey on who is reading your ‘e-book’ ad? “1st” is spelled first, yes?
Also, do you have your HDR Tutorial in a PDF or some other downloadable version as you did a while back?
Thx,
Val
PS – Love your HDR Book. Inspirational!
[...] HDR Tutorial Part 3 [...]
Thanks for the tips! I’m really having a blast with HDR!
Trey,
Awesome tutorial. I have been very interested in HDR photography for a while, but have not had much success. Very recently on a trip to the rockies, I realized I was not even motivated to try out any HDR’s.
In the past I have used PS to do the tone mapping, but have been very disappointed with the results, particularly sharpness. I believe the layer mask steps make all the difference between a complete well processed HDR and a half a$$ job.
Do the noise reduction tools work with PC’s?
Reading your tutorial and viewing your pics have rekindled my interest in HDR. I am very close to buying the photomatix s/w, and if I decide to do so, will go through your website and coupon code.
Keep up the good work….
Abishek
Hi,
Is there a way to use masking in elements rather than photoshop?
Great Tutorial
Thanks
Hi Trey,
I stumbled upon your website a few weeks back (I don’t remember how)and I got hooked ever since. Thanks for your tutorial, it’s awesome. All your pictures look stunning, I can’t get my eyes off them.
I’ve shown my recent photos to my friends and co-workers and they said “WOW” and they feel jealous.
The pictures look clear and stand out. HDR is the way to go for me from now on. Keep up all your great work. Thanks
Hi Trey,
Repeat of Libby’s question – is there a way of doing the masking in PS Elements (v8 for me) rather than Photoshop?
Thanks.
Thanks for the tips. Will be useful in some projects.
Update on the Photoshop Elements masking question. There’s a neat little workaround described here:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0310/rb0310-1.html
Hi Trey,
I’ve been playing with HDR for a few weeks now having read your tutorial. I wanted to mention a neat feature I’ve just discovered on my first dSLR (Canon 500D).
Auto-bracketing on my camera limits you to -2, 0 and +2 EV, which is fine normally. But I’ve discovered that if I turn on auto-bracketing and then adjust the EV to -2, it will auto-bracket -4, -2 and 0. Moving the EV the other way allows me to take 0, +2 and +4. Doing this gives me 6 shots with two at 0EV (but you can just delete one of course) ranging from -4 to +4 at 2EV stops for those few occasions when -2 and +2 aren’t quite enough.
Obviously only really useful in a fairly static scene and on a tripod. But I thought it was neat and wanted to share. I imagine other brands of cameras do the same.
Really inspired by your work Trey. Thank you so much for making this tutorial and the eBooks.
This HDR tutorial is the best…! I’ll do my best to take photos like you and process HDR like you someday. yay!