Photoshop HDR Tutorial

High Dynamic Range aka HDR,  is a set of techniques that combines multiple exposures of  images to create a single image. The results, you get more details in highlights and shadow areas. HDR Photography is very popular now, you find them in posters, ads, and event computer games.

Thanks to the advanced technology, we have powerful computer and software that can create HDR images easily. In this Tutorial, I will show you how to make HDR photography with Photoshop.’s build-in “Merge to HDR” feature.

What you need for this Tutorial:

1. Min. 3 images with different exposures (Most camera can do auto bracketing, if not you need to do it manually )
2. Photoshop CS2 + (You’ll need the Merge to HDR feature)
3. Be Patient! That’s all.

[click on images to get larger views]

If you can get more exposures, the more the better. But generally 5 exposures work great. Like you can see I only used 3 images, that will work too. Use a tripod, if you have one.

This photo was shot in a back-lit situation, so hopefully the HDR can get more details out of it.

Open the images in Photoshop. Choose menu File>Automate >Merge to HDR. A window will pop up. Let’s choose images, in this case click on “Add Open Files” If you are using CS3 or higher, check the auto align option.

The Merge to HDR window pops up, this step we will merge all the images to a single 32 bit image. On the left filmstrip, you see your photos. You can turn any of them off if they are causing you photo blurry. You want to keep Min. 3 images for a better result. I usually leave the White Point slider to the right. Click OK to merge the photos.

Now the image doesn’t look like HDR image.  Many people would Stop here.  In order to get HDR result, the image has to be converted to either 16 or 8 bit. To keep the file size down, let’s convert it to 8 bit. Choose menu Image>Mode>8 bit.

Now you’ll see an HDR Conversion Dialog box. There are 4 method options. There are the descriptions  on Adobe’s help page:

Exposure and Gamma

Lets you manually adjust the brightness and contrast of the HDR image.

Highlight Compression

Compresses the highlight values in the HDR image so they fall within the luminance values range of the 8 or 16 bit image file. No further adjustments are necessary; this method is automatic.

Equalize Histogram

Compresses the dynamic range of the HDR image while trying to preserve some contrast. No further adjustments are necessary; this method is automatic. Click OK to convert the 32 bit image.

Local Adaptation

Adjusts the tonality in the HDR image by calculating the amount of correction necessary for local brightness regions throughout the image.

You play with the settings, but use the Local Adaption. You get more controls. You can adjust the curves as well as the radius and the threshold. You want to get more details but avoid glows around the areas of contrast. When you done Click OK, your images are merged and converted to 8bit.

The Extra Steps

I find Photoshop’s Merge to HDR feature still need more work. To increase the contrast, press Command+ J on a Mac (Control + J on PC) to duplicate a layer and change the Blend mode to Multiply. And turn down to opacity down to 80% or so. You don’t want too much contrast.

If you want more saturation, add a new Hue/Saturation layer.  You can also increase certain color’s saturation.

Non-destructive Dodge & Burn is popular photography technique.  Hold Option on a Mac (or alt on a pc) and click create new layer icon under the layer panel. Change the Mode to Overlay and check Fill with 50% gray. Now if you draw on the layer with black, it will burn the image. If you draw with a white color, it will dodge the image. Just Play with it!

Final Result

So this is what it looks like finished. Kind of…  There are so much more I can do with it. And you may think it’s too saturated. Well HDR means different to everyone. Some one like more dramatic look, some prefer more natural look. It’s all up to you. Go have fun with it!

Further Readings

• Adobe Photoshop CS4 > High dynamic range images
• High dynamic range imaging