Are there any actions or quick easy steps in getting an HDR look in your photos?

That is something I am interested in... HDR photos.. But haven't spent much time looking into it. I assume one needs to shoot multiple shots and combine them to get a HDR photo. I am interested in any responses to this as well.

Johnny just posted his LR presets with an HDR preset included... $15 for the whole set...

http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index...c=31662&hl=

Good point! There are also a bunch of free hdr presets as well. I guess there are probably tons of hdr actions but I haven't googled that. And I guess you answered the original question. But it seems to me that one really needs to take multiple pictures in order to extend the range of their camera.

just shoot it in raw and get a consistent exposure in camera to start (you only would need one image to create the HDR look).

Then take the image, set the exposure for, say, the background (maybe deep sky, dark, rich grass), then take another instance of the image and expose it for the subject (couple).

Stack them in photoshop and mask what you need and you're done!

For an action/script, Unique Images is selling their script for this here (costly, but quality, I think).

Thanks!!! That is what I thought you did. It would be nice if there was an action or plugin that could to the merge automaticaly.

I think you can setup the camera to take 3 shots (under, correct , and over exposed) with a single push of the shutter. Is that true? I guess I need to go RTFM.

its not really HDR but is this anything like what your after: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/disc...77686705/page4/

Jonathan

Jim, the guy I share my studio with does this a lot. He actually does a 9 exposure range; he's got it set where it will rapid fire off 9 shots, half over and half under. Then he runs it through some software to merge them--I can't think of the name of it but I'll ask him and post it. Not portraits, but here are some hdr shots he did of the Palace here in Louisville http://www.sniperphotography.com/gallery/3...218605661_6xtmq

edit--just talked to him--it is photomatix pro. And I think it is 6 exposures he does, maybe not 9. But apparently you can do it with 3? Not sure.

THANK YOU!!!!

That is pretty awesome. His images rock!!! I can see a new toy I need to get.

Photomatix is a tone mapping plugin. Definately check it out.

You can get the Photomatix plug-in, or the standalone program. (The program is better in my opinion. You can read about the differences on the website.) You can also download the program for free. It is the real program, and not a trial one that expires, but it puts a watermark on the rendered images until your register. It's nice because you can mess around with it and learn before you buy!

Hope that helps!

Good luck. HDR is a pain to get to look right.

Are you asking for an HDR look or for real HDR?

For just the look, try the shadow/highlight adjustment in Photoshop.


Eric

I do not like pain.

Me neither~ especially after messing around with that program last night. I like it in wide environmental scenes, stuff with some detail left in my skies, etc. It was hard to get to look right, especially on people!

Thanks for the update. I suspect you saved me a bunch of time and effort. I will just wait for a better technology to arrive.

Right on.

But when done right...Oh my!

I loved these that I saw the other day:

http://www.smallsrecords.com/art/galleria/gallery-hdr.htm

Check them out.

~rc

There are varying opinions on what HDR "done right" looks like. I personally don't like the painted/cartoony look. But that doesn't mean someone else might!

Okay, yeah, I never got my "pseudo-HDRs" (from RAWs) to look ANYTHING like those, haha.

Not sure if this is something your looking for, but I found this free action here http://www.nill.cz/index.php?set=tu1

I also bought one that is called Polarize, but it doesn't look like it, looks more like the HDR effect. The store is apparently down for maintenance, but I've gotten other actions from her before.

http://www.xpressionsbymichelle.com/store/index.php?

hope this helps

Agreed, My wife doesn't like those either. But if you separate them from photography and look at them as art, then I like them quite a bit.

They remind me of Archibald Motley's work. And that's a good thing.

~rc

Thanks for the input guys, guess I can't be lazy and pratice doing it myself!