PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 95
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Starttheblendingprocess
OpenyourbracketedshotsintoPhotoshopandgo to
Fi le>Automate>Mergeto HDRPro. In thedialogue
th atappears,clickAddOpenFilesandthentickAttemptto
AutomaticallyAlignSourceimages.Evenif youshotfroma
tr ipod,thiswill correctanymovements.ClickOK to continue.2
ControltheHDRblending
Atthetoprightof theHDRPropanelarepresets,but
most,apartfromFlatandPhotorealistic,areugly.Tick
RemoveGhostsandsettheModeto 8-bitandLocalAdaptation,
whichgivesthemostcontrol.At thefootof thepanel,youcanalso
cl ickoff theindividualexposuresto seewhatlooksbest.4
Controlthehighlightsandshadows
UseDetailto increasesharpness,butdon’tpushit too
fa r or it will breakup.UnderAdvanced,usetheShadow
and Highlightsettingsto lightenor darkenthosepartsof thetonal
ra nge,thenadjustcolourwithVibranceandSaturation.ClickOK
when you’redone.3
Adjust the GammaandExposure
Under Edge Glow,leaveRadiusandStrengthalone, then
move down to Tone and Detail. Lower the Gamma to
flatten the highlights and shadows and emphasise the midtones,
or alternatively, raise Gamma to make highlights and shadows
more prominent. Exposure controls the overall brightness.
Blend the exposures in Photoshop
Combining your separate exposures in Photoshop can be as
automated a process as you want, as there are lots of presets
available. But, Photoshop’s HDR Pro tool also lets you take
control over how the exposures are tone-mapped into the
final image – that is, how light or dark the image is and how
much micro contrast is applied.
If you want to end up with an image where you’ve simply
controlled the contrast, and kept things as realistic as
possible, then it’s best to err on the side of subtlety. But if
you want to make an image that has a more surreal finish,
there are options for that too.
Overall, the best approach is to consider the HDR
blending as the starting point rather than the end of the
editing. Make an image where the contrast has been tamed
and you can then work it up as you’d normally edit an image,
for instance, drawing attention to the focal point. See the
video lesson on the disc or download for a run-through.Above Depending on the number of images it took to cover the light
in the scene, you might have three, five, seven or more shots.