HDR tutorial requests about my high dynamic range imaging workflow have come in via email (my photography site email) for a couple of years now. Again a couple more last night, but this time through the form on this site that I finally “fixed”.

So my question is… what do you need help with the most? Use the Contact Me page to send me what area you need help in the most whether it be HDR Capture (camera settings), choosing a camera for HDR Capture, HDR Post Production like HDR in Photoshop or HDR in other apps, Tonemapping, or otherwise.

In 2006 when I first heard about HDR there was very scarce information online to work off of.  HDR Tutorials were geared towards grunge looks and I was seeking to provide my clients nearly photo realistic looks for real estate work. Back then there were very few players in the market for applications and I decided to just use Photoshop from Merge to HDR – to tonemapping – to final tweaks.

Late last year weather turned bad here for weeks so I took some time to peek around the net and even some books at Barnes and Noble just to see what was out there in terms of HDR Tutorials and HDR Training.  I was amazed to see so many “gurus” or folks posting tutorials either slamming Photoshop for HDR work or quickly moving folks on to Photomatix because the sliders are easier to work with for beginners.  The slider issue I understand totally, but the steering away from Photoshop for HDR work I don’t get at all.

For example, one of the many things I like about using Photoshop for HDR is it is a complete high dynamic range pipeline from raw to final output.  That and you can view the entire exposure range in pieces simply by opening up multiple windows of the same view.  You navigate to the top menu to WINDOW>ARRANGE>NEW WINDOW and presto, another window of the same file you are working on opens in a new window.  If you just merged to HDR here in 32 bit space in Photoshop, then this second window has another exposure slider at the bottom to change at will that has no impact on the file, it is simply for viewing purposes.  You use the slider at the bottom of that new window to adjust the exposure range of the image you want to view in that one window.

That slider  is NOT some kind of adjustment layer, it is just for viewing purposes.  So you can open multiple windows, place the exposure slider to various under/over exposed settings so that as you make changes to the document here in 32 bit space, those changes update in each window.  This way, you can make local or global changes using various adjustment levels over either parts of the image or the entire image and see the results across the ENTIRE exposure range via viewing the multiple windows you’ve opened.

Here is a screen capture to understand what I’m talking about.  What you see is nine windows opened and I’ve adjusted the exposure slider at the bottom of each window.  I took that screen capture after I had merged to HDR and before I made my tweaks in Photoshop in 32 bit space.  Once I finished my adjustments and then tonemapped out to a 16 bit TIFF, I made some final tweaks right there in photoshop and the image on the bottom was the result.

Photoshop is VERY capable at creating photo real images as a single application pipeline – from Merge to HDR to final output right in Photoshop.  I would say if Photoshop’s pipeline has a major fault it is that it is TOO GOOD at keeping saturation levels under control and makes creating grunge and technicolor images a more difficult process because it doesn’t over saturate colors and it doesn’t create wacky artifacts like other applications do.

It blows me away when I see “gurus” poo pooing photoshop as being lacking for editing HDR images.  There are so many things you can do right there after merging to HDR waaaaaaaay before you ever go to the menu to choose IMAGE>MODE>16 bit to tonemap it down.  And you can work in layers in 32 bit mode just as you can in any other mode so if you know photoshop well already, then why are you taking your HDR images to other applications, then bringing them back to photoshop when you could just do everything right there in Photoshop?

Give it a chance.

I can’t provide a link to an online tutorial showing how to take advantage of the full capabilities of Photoshop’s HDR workflow because I never found anyone else using it like I do.  I’m sure others use it this way and they are either too busy shooting to create tutorials (I can relate to that) or such tutorials do exist and I never found them.

Like I said, with nobody to turn to in 2006, I just starting farting around in Photoshop and eventually figured stuff out on my own.  Even Photoshop CS4 still has ZERO help files for working this way in 32 bit space, which is probably why so many folks use Photomatix Pro and the like.

HDR PhotoStudio™ Review will have to wait ’til another day sadly.

Despite having 12 gigs of ram, beefy graphics card, etc., etc. I unfortunately fell just shy of system specs to run HDR PhotoStudio because it requires a minimum of an Intel dual-core 2.5GHz, but my MacPro is only Intel dual-core 2.0GHz so I unfortunately won’t be able to review HDR PhotoStudio™ anytime soon.

Having just bought a Canon 5D mark II and about to purchase the $2500.00 Canon TS-E 17mm f/4 Tilt Shift lens, I don’t have the cash flow to buy a new beefy computer to test out HDR PhotoStudio™.  Bummer.  It looks very promising.

HDR PhotoStudio™ Now available for Macintosh!

I’ve been waiting for the Mac version for some time now.  Finally available!  Of course Murphy’s Law… I’m right in the middle of a huge edit and can’t/won’t mess with it to test until later this week, but rest assured I’ll be reviewing this app.  Why do I like this app?.. or at least find interesting?  This paragraph from their website:

HDR PhotoStudio is the only solution capable of creating HDR images that truly unlock the full range of color as perceived by human vision. The software grants complete control over the colors within an image and provides a comprehensive toolbox to address the effects of merging multiple exposures, while simultaneously improving workflow.

Here’s some geeky system/spec info:

Version: 2.15.28 build 4449.
Download size:
Mac OS: 21.9 MB.
Windows 32-bit (x86): 11 MB.
Windows 64-bit (x64): 12.5 MB.

System Requirements:

OS: Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)/Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7.
CPU: Intel dual-core 2.5GHz minimum, quad-core, 2.8GHz is recommended for best performance.
RAM: 2GB minimum, recommend 4GB.

LINK = HDR PhotoStudio™ Now available for Macintosh!

More to come once I’ve played with it

Recently I tutored a photographer and while in Photoshop he mentioned that I’m a Photoshop Speed Demon. I’m not so sure I’m the fastest one out there, but I’ll tell you one thing that changed my life. It’s not a photoshop tip per se, it is a device that I use to speed up my workflow in photoshop (and other apps).

A brief run through history of how I got to this point. Like others (possibly yourself), I wanted to increase my productivity by converting repetitive tasks into actions that I could play back with keyboard short cuts.  So I created a dozen or so actions, associated keyboard shortcuts to those actions and for awhile I was content.

Then one night it dawned on me. Rather than keyboard shortcuts which take two or three keys pressed to activate, how could I dumb it down to one key.  More importantly, how could I get those one key strokes in one place on the keyboard, but also gather things like the “[" and "]” keys which control the brush size for when I want to paint on a mask or work with the stamp tool, clone tool, etc, etc.

I took a peak around sometime around 2008 and I settled on the Nostromo n52 (pictured below). The belkin nostromo n52 product link is HERE

As you can see, it has a keypad and a thumb joystick and various other buttons.  Now I’m not going to bore you with the details of each button and what I assigned it to, but when I am working in Photoshop I only need my mouse and that nostromo n52 gaming pad.  I don’t even touch my keyboard, but once or twice an hour when using Photoshop.  I’ll share a few vital keystrokes and anyone that does work with layers will relate to how easy this is for me now.

With my left hand on the pad, my left index finger sits on the top right key which I mapped as the “B” key to toggle on the BRUSH tool.  The key to the left of it is my middle finger and I’ve mapped that to the “X” key to switch back and forth between foreground/background colors which I usually have at White/Black for when dealing with masks.  The thumb joystick is where I mapped the “[" and "]” keys.  So if I press higher (top key on joystick) it bumps the size of the brush up a notch, pressing down makes the size of the brush lower.

As you can see with that index finger, one tap I get the brush tool and my thumb controls the size up or down and my middle finger switches the foreground/background color of the brush white/black so I can easily paint on masks very quickly.  I of course have another key stroke equal to command+Z for undo.   Also, that big red button above the joystick control I have set to command+shift+F which brings up the fade dialogue box.  So no matter if I just laid down a stroke or ANYTHING else in photoshop and want to fade that effect by 1-100%, that big red button brings up that dialogue.  For a final comment I have that key below the joystick for the thumb set to the spacebar for when I want to grab the canvas and pan, etc.

There are actually 14 keys on the pad plus a scroll wheel that can be pressed down like a key press and scrolled in either direction for additional commands.  Many of the keys on that keypad I have mapped to shortcuts to actions in the action panel.  Some of those actions are very intense 3-10 step actions that I used to do repetitively over and over using the mouse, keyboard and menu system.  Now they are just one key presses and my left hand doesn’t have to play “twister” all over the main keyboard as it used to.

Now here is the mind blowing part.  There are actually 3 “states” the keypad can be in so that technically the pad can be put in quickly so that you actually can map all those keys three times over.  That is information overload for me and I thought it would actually defeat my goal of one click key pressing so I ignored it.  The n52 works on Mac and PC, but I bought it two years ago so check the specs before you purchase.

Now did this take me a little while to play with and to get used to? Yes.  It took me a week before it stopped costing me more time to recall what each keystroke was equal to, but I have saved countless hours since by speeding up my edit sessions for portraits, landscapes and real estate shoots.  And photoshop is not the only application I use it in.

And when I want to switch to my PC I just unplug the USB connection and then go plug it in my PC and work with the PC apps I use.  Of course this means keystrokes for that new app are different, but I was surprised at how well I could compartmentalize things from app to app (your mileage may vary).

There may be better devices on the market than the n52, but it works for me and my hand sits comfortably on the hand cradle so that I can use it for many hours a day without strain. I also have a Wacom Intuos 6×8 tablet which I use when those rare edits benefit from from time to time as well, but I’ve found I’m far faster with a mouse and the n52.

I found this little known fact out first hand when I was first experimenting with different tone mapping operators a few years back.  I was testing out the various softwares that will take your bracketed shots and “Merge to HDR” to create either a .hdr or .exr.  Turns out the act of merging to a High Dynamic Range Image using bracketed images, can be and IS unique amongst the various apps on the market.

The process the application goes through to merge to hdr  is not as standardized as I thought it would (or should be) and is slightly differently with various apps (done under the hood with their code).  Hence the reason that merging raw files to save in one app and then opening that .hdr or .exr in another app could and can does lead to different results than just using that 2nd app to merge and then tonemap the same files.  One would think that it should be a standardized formula that would lead to the same .hdr / .exr.  But as it turns out… different chefs make different dishes despite starting out with the same ingredients.

So the next time you are planning to use an application to provide automation (merge to hdr for dozens of folders) using one app, then tonemapping those .hdr / .exr saved files in a totally different app… you should know what the tendency of the original app you are using to merge “tends” to do (create).  Color, saturation, etc…

Just a little HDR tip to close out the 2009 year.

I received another email about HDR Darkroom and a 1.2 release of the mac beta.  Here is the landing page for the download and specs.

http://www.hdrdarkroom.com/download.htm

I never posted about the 1.0 version of the Mac Beta because I never received an answer back from the developer about why it wouldn’t load on my macs (despite meeting the required specs).  Unfortunately the same is true for this 1.2 update.  I have only bothered to try and load it on my macs. It still will not load on either my MacPro or iMac running (both running 10.4.11).

I’ve submitted another email to the developer about the inability to launch the program and I will report back once the problem has been solved.  I realize it is a relatively new app and likely a small dev team so I am willing to at least mention it here on the blog despite the app not loading and the developer being non-responsive to previous support requests.

Until I can get a response from the developer I will continue to use Essential HDR on my PC http://www.imagingluminary.com which is currently the gold standard for realistic tonemapping.

Essential HDR is also in beta testing on the Mac and I will report when it is available and out of beta.

I’m not starting a war over this, but I would like to shed some light here.  Hell, I think the concept needs to be tonemapped to reveal the details in the shadows (blatant pun intended).

Anyone have any online resources linked they can send me?  I’m looking for links online that explain what tonemapping is as well as why tonemapping is necessary for 8bit viewing and printing. [[[ HINT: Anything viewable on the web or in print is NOT hdr. ]]]  If you didn’t even know this much then the links I post from users or an example I create myself if necessary will hopefully shed some light on the matter.

I’d rather not recreate the wheel and just link to current resources.  If there are none out there that clarify the concept for mere mortals then I’ll have to do so myself (only if necessary).  It needs to be simple enough so that my mom can understand.  She can barely use a DVR so she is my ultimate technology challenged litmus test.  If you have a link that cuts through technical jargon, send it to me and I’ll post it.

No comments on this post.  Send the links through my contact page (use navigation above).

If I don’t get responses or if the links provided to me can’t be understood by my mom, then I guess I’ll have to step up to the plate and create an example myself… but I’d love to save the time and just link to current resources.

Jack Howard has put together a great list of top class HDR capable cameras over at Adorama’s Learning Center.  Check out the list here:   2009 HDR All-Stars

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For you iPhone addicts, check out the very interesting app that allows you to take two images and they get tonemapped in the iPhone.  The app is called TrueHDR =  http://pictional.com/TrueHDR/Videos.html

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Here is a recent shoot I did for an existing client. On this shoot I used a D3 exclusively and many of the shots required a range of -5 to +5 EV in total.
Builder Shoot (Gallery Link)

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Here is a link to a High Dynamic Range Image sequence.  It is a “tilt” sequence I shot at a local garden near a state park.  This series was shot with a D3 and each frame is actually 7 images spaced 1EV apart and then tonemapped before being placed one after the other in post.

The amount of quality lost when exporting to a web video format is horrifying, but I have no choice.  The full 1080p version has no loss of color, detail/clarity or color shifts.  That said, here is the link to the web clip:
HDR Video (link to landing page)

Last night I posted a gallery link showing 12 images from a recent shoot.  Half taken with a Sigma SD14, half with a Nikon D3.  Shots 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 were taken with the SD14 and shots 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 were taken with the D3.

I could have shot the entire shoot with either camera… so why the split?  Well, that day there was a pretty intense glare off the gulf and I wanted to use a circular polarizer for most of the water shots.  You can’t use filters on the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens.  It has a protruding round end on the lens and doesn’t take filters.  It does extremely well handling glare (amazing actually), but I can’t get a circular polarizer on it.  Hence why you’ll notice that almost all the shots with water in frame were with the SD14 + Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC EX + Circular Polarizer.

The one balcony shot I took with the D3 was a south west view.  So with the sun situated off a bit to the southeast, the glare for that shot was milder than any other angle.  Also, I wanted to go a full 14mm for one balcony shot to give the potential rental customers a sense of space out there on the patio.  I can’t get that wide on the SD14.  The SD14 crop factor is 1.7 so the 10-20mm acts like a 17mm at the widest point (10mm x 1.7 factor).  I’d have preferred to have been able to go a bit wider, but I sacrificed width in order to get better exposures and with the filter, make the gorgeous Emerald Coast water (here in North West Florida) stand out.

Using a Circular polarizer creates its own issues of course, but I was willing to work around those sky density issues in photoshop in order to improve the image hitting the sensor.  It really helps big time with darkening the sky and a side benefit is it reduces the glare off the water.  I knew if I used the filter I could get away with only a 3 AEB with the SD14 because the filter was in effect reducing the difference in exposure of sky to ground.

For several of the interior shots I needed the width of the D3 for certain shots (definitely the bathroom shots).  I’d probably have just shot the whole thing with the SD14 to not have to mess with different post production workflows.  If I’m shooting for an architect or builder I don’t normally go as wide as 14mm, but I needed it for this shoot.  The rental companies want every single room no matter how small and as such, 14mm comes in handy for bathrooms and small bedrooms (and bunk beds in rooms).

Rental companies and realtors just want shots turned quickly so I generally skip merging to HDR and tonemapping for these shoots.  All 12 shots were using my alternate method of achieving (compressing) a high dynamic range into a narrow one.  “Exposure Blending”.

I’m told that Photomatix has the Enblend (or similar) code baked into it and if you use it’s exposure blending feature rather than tonemapping, you should get decent results.  The process is to feed it your multiple exposures and the code does some fancy math and then blends the exposures together to give a more balanced exposure.

The BIGGEST reason to use exposure blending over a merge to HDR, then tonemap approach is that you can actually BLEND various shots of natural light, flash, etc… to be blended into one final image.  I’m realizing now that it would take many paragraphs to walk you through this and I don’t have the time.

In fact I have just a few minutes to finish up this post.  I’m against the clock here to finish an edit and I’ll be up most the night to complete it and meet a deadline.  So I’ll bullet point some of the apps I used.

For the SD14 shots I used the provided software Sigma Photo Pro which is their raw converter.  To date their converter does the best job converting their FOVEON sensor raw files (X3F).  And it has one slider that is SICK!  It is like a tonemapper.  It is a fill light of sorts, but it is actually acting like a tonemapper.  I’d have to show you to have you understand.  Anyway… Once I tweak the SD14 raw files I then export 16 bit tiffs and then use the open source “Enblend” software.  Then finalize edits in Photoshop.

For the D3 I use LightRoom, make tweaks, then select those exposures and go FILE>ENFUSE using the Enfuse LightRoom plugin and it spits out a 16 bit tiff that I also finish off in Photoshop.

I expected to go a bit further in detail, but have to get back to editing this last shoot!

~~~ POOF ~~~

Just 3 minutes ago I got an email about the new betas for HDR Darkroom.  Here is what was sent with the links to download the public betas:

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We would like to invite you to test our innovative HDR software – HDR Darkroom, which provides you surreal HDR results and photo-realistic/natural results for your HDR photography in one package.

After a few months of hard work our HDR Darkroom 1.0 Windows and Mac beta test version is finally available to the public. No matter if you are a professional photographer or you are a newcomer to HDR photography, please feel free to download our HDR Darkroom beta version and test our innovative technology.

HDR Darkroom packages two patented sophisticated Local Tone Mapping Engines for your preference no matter you like surreal HDR effect or photo-realistic/natural result. One is called Local Tone Balancer, which aims to provide more surreal HDR effect. The other is called Local Tone Enhancer, which is oriented to provide more photo-realistic/natural result.

The following is our forum where you can download HDR Darkroom Windows beta test version:

http://www.hdrdarkroom.com/forum/index.php?topic=6.0

The following is our forum where you can download HDR Darkroom MAC beta test version:

http://www.hdrdarkroom.com/forum/index.php?topic=234.0

Please feel free to post any comments, suggestions, or opinions in this forum at:

http://www.hdrdarkroom.com/forum/index.php

or send us emails directly at:

hdrdarkroom@gmail.com

Your feedback will help us make improvements for the final product. We plan to provide product discounts and other rewards to those who have helped us in the beta test stage.

During this testing stage we welcome you to send us your HDR photos that have been created using our HDR Darkroom software. We will select to publish several of the photos on our showcase page with your name (if you want this information published). In addition, if your work is published you will receive a free version of HDR Darkroom once the standard version is released.

HDR Darkroom Development Team