Advanced HDR Techniques

I always use RAW, I can gather more information in each shot for later use, as you'll see later on.

Open each image in a RAW editor, but don't adjust it. Photomatix has a hard time with RAW images. And while it can do them, the color and sharpness will hurt. You can use any RAW editor for this step.

Open all the images in Photoshop, and place them all into one file, but don't close the images you have on the screen. Go to the picture that has all 3 stacked. And hit Auto-align. This wonderful tool allows you to stack images so they can line up perfectly. It's a great tool for 16bit panoramas also.

Actually it's not perfect, it lines up pretty well. I then choose DIFFERENCE. This will make a negative out of the layers below. Select the MOVE tool, and adjust the layers below the best you can. You want to see as little embossing as possible. The image will look colorful but flat.

Now you want to change it back to normal. Turn on the RULER (Ctrl-R), and drop guides down on all 4 corners. Turn on and off the layers to make sure you remove the white space surrounding the image. Now crop all the layers.

Slide each layer back to their original files. and crop them. Below is a video to help to explain it. It's silent though.

This is about the hardest HDR can get beyond jumping from a plane while shooting...

The idea behind this method is to remove the blurry moving parts with one of the sharper versions using masking. But in order to do that you need atleast 1 clear non moving subject. This usually occurs in the first few clicks, the -2 or 0 shot usually. Sometimes you get lucky and the subjects don't move at all during the shoot. This is rare, and is usually only caught on a bright sunny day with a fast shutter speed. If this is the case, you'll still have to do this with the faces.

The HDR method, overlaps all the images on top of each other. The result is often a chaotic mish mash of overlapping images.

Below is what the picture looked like before hand.

This is why you want to shoot in RAW only. Not only do you get more information, but as software improves, calling up old images can bring new life to them... Anyway, each raw in this image contains 2 sharper images and 1 RAW has window detail that I also wanted.

Adjust each RAW so you can get as much detail as you can from each subject. In this case one image contains the guy on the right. The other on the left. Unfortunately in this image the left guy is very noisy. But it is correctable with a little bit of work. After these two are opened, I reopen the darkest one and adjust for the window.

Again, stack everything into one file, close the others. This process eats up ram, conserve where you can. And again, use Difference and make sure everything lines up EXACTLY.

Now place the original HDR on the top and apply a mask. Put the layer you want to HDR to look like - below that one.

Using the 150px brush, where the pressure is just a shade, adjust the size to something small. Use black as a color, and make the mask. You'll want to start on the ghosted areas and work inward. Use lighter pressure on the ghosted parts. You don't want to remove too much, we want to keep as much of the original HDR as we can.

If the underlying image is a different color, we can adjust that later on, with the layer under the good one. Color it in and just be careful not to press too hard on the ghosts, and make sure the brush is soft, you don't want hard edges.

Just keep going back and forth, turning the layer on and off to make sure you have all the detail. Also get in real close to make sure you removed all the ghosting.

Some times it helps to fade the main image a bit just to see where the ghosts are.

When you complete the first step, move onto the next layer. In my case I have 3 layers. I did the left first. But while I was there, I also went over the guy in the orange. I was hoping that enough was clear that I could use that version of him instead of the noisy version.

MAKE SURE YOU SAVE OFTEN. I usually save after each section.

This guy is a bit of a pain. While on one layer he has a decent enough expression, and the position is good. The arm is way blurry. Compared to the layer I made just for him, which the pose was good, but it was dark, had too much contrast and was noisy. But I'm stuck with it, the face is dark, and everything is rather noisy.

After finishing the guy on the left, do the same thing for the orange guy. Noise can be fixed as you'll later on. It won't be the perfect fix though. And I'd much rather have something that had brighter colors.

HDR has a feature that is both nice and not. It's distinguished with odd shadows and grey areas. Sometimes this is wanted, it tells people that they are looking at an HDR. If the settings in Photomatix are light - you won't see that noise as much. But at the same time, you also loose that deep micro contrast that makes HDR what it is. I like HDR because it highlights that fine detail - but at the same time it enhances the dirt and pits on a wall, and any noise from ISO. And since I'm shooting indoors, high ISO occurs.

So, what do I do? Noise Ninja is a great product. However, it kills detail. And there are many noise removers. But while noise is removed the darker shadows are not. And those shadows are distracting.

When I'm done clearing up the movement in an image (people, plants, whatever), I do this step.

First make an a new empty layer, then Select a brush, I usually start with the 150 px brush and adjust the size as I go along. Choose the background color and lightly press on your tablet. Go over anything that has much noise or shadow.

Do this to the face choosing a skin color and adjusting in the color picker. I found that if I use a new layer set to MULTIPLY, I can darken each subsequent layer, and re-contour the face.

I'll paint the walls, skin, cloth, anything and whatever.

Now you can straighten your image, crop it out, clone out things you don't like.

Use different brush types to for final adjustment.

Ok, now we start the fun. The image has been prepped, the only difference between this image and others, is that it had moving subjects, this whole extra step too me an extra 20 min. Normally I would have started with the painting over the noise method.

Anyhoo... Flatten everything, SAVE IT, and make a new layer, fill with a 100% black and fade it to about 75%. Normally I will fade anywhere from 60-80%.

The normal method for this technique starts in your home studio. A long exposure, a dark room, a pen light and a still life. Draw the light over the subject in 30 seconds. Results are often stunning. Light from an unknown source lights the subject and it really creates a 3-d look.

Naturally if there already is a light source and there are highlights, and there are shadows; that the real effect wouldn't work. I use painting with light digitally to allow the viewers eyes to follow where I want them to follow.

Ok, so we have the black layer, set a mask up, use the brush that is one constant size. I usually stroke the background at an angle, mostly because it's easier to move at that angle.

I try to mimic where the light might come from. Remember that while we can only see one window, that doesn't mean there wasn't another elsewhere.

The idea is to push light where you want the eyes to be. Not to remove all that black. It will look dark afterwards, don't worry about that. Move over the faces, arms, body, etc. As you get closer move in. Follow the areas that are already lit.

Imagine cloth, and it's folds and highlights. The areas that are lit there should be lit now. Follow the contours of the cloth, etc. At this point we are only revealing what is already there.

You have to create some false highlights. Using a brush where you can adjust both size and pressure, look at the contours. Not all image have these many objects in the background. You'll want to get in real close and brighten up the contours of objects. Glass especially works well with this method. Get in tight on clothing, or anything you want to highlight.

SAVE IT!!!

It's easy to be side tracked, and saving can take a few minutes depending on the size. But more than once I've had to start over again because the machine crashed.

Up till now we have been removing the black mask in selective areas. This next step brightens details within the color itself. Now this step is dangerous, you can easily burn out the highlights with this, so watch it on light colors, or 8bit images.

Run your action - VIVID LIGHT, and create another layer that is empty. The empty layer is your shadow, the vivid, your highlights.

Remember that last step with the shadow layer? Your doing it again on the vivid light. Only instead of the black brush, your using white. Use a large brush and lightly go over everything (the brush should be at 100% pressure btw). Lightly go over the background again to enhance the lighter areas. Go over the face, etc, just like before.

Fine tuning takes a long time. Using a smaller adjustable brush we will go over every detail that you want to stand out. The candy in the jar, the top of a fold, the edge of a glass, etc. Using the shadow layer to push the shadow a little more. For the folds under a shirt, the crease, etc. Add a little here and there. You are the artist, there are no wrong ways.

Also keep note that if you mess up something, make it too bright, on that vivid light layer, just flip your colors to black and lightly move over it. It will darken it down again. You'll see that in the video below, it's bright then it darkens. Sometimes I'll hit undo.

What is contrast? Contrast is when you have a loud bright area compared to a darker one. It allows you to have shape because it shows us where the highlights are. It reveals contour. This step enhances everything in the room simply by adding a small glint where there would normally be one, and a few places where there wouldn't be.

The edges of a vase, a bit on a jar lid. It's small white line, it would look out of place in other parts of the picture. Use it sparingly. I've often used it on the very top edge of a crease to give it a more painterly look.

Make a new layer, set it to HARD LIGHT.

Use the general one size brush, choose white. In this scene I used light pressure and a downward angle and a quick pull. It creates false light from the window. The angle is a bit of a pain, and it can scatter a bit (I've studied real light when I'm bored). Trying to match the angle on the right guy's face. Adding black in the stripes and varying the size creates this illusion.

I often use this method when I want to lightly mask out the background to keep the foreground in focus. In the real world, haze is apparent, sometimes the camera doesn't pick this up. Adding my own and fading it, makes it pop more. In later demonstrations I'll try to show it used like that.

Anyway, add small glints and some general haze. It takes practice, but fake sunlight can be made. Personally I think this one worked better then other tries. Practice makes perfect.

This is still new. Something I've been experimenting with. Colorizing old wood to warm it up. Choose a dark color in the brown and red family. New layer set to LINEAR LIGHT, though sometimes other modes do work. Go over the subject lightly to color it. Choosing a lighter color however will brighten the subject so be careful. I've used this on old wood to enhance it's look.

This step is purely optional. But then again, so are all the others.

Flatten your image and save. Hold Ctrl-Alt-Shift down (not sure if the shift is actually needed though) and the ` (tilde key, the one below ESC). You'll see a select outline, this is your Luminosity. Hit Ctrl-J - New layer. I use curves, you can use whatever.

This will brighten everything without destroying the actual color. Try not to blow your highlights. You can saturate this layer and add contrast.

If you do blow a highlight just mask it out like I did on the faces.

Soft light in this case will softly blur the image, and at the same time will enhance the saturation in the image. Not always a good thing, dark woods look terrible. I would stop at that luminosity trick for those kinds of images. This step can soften it ever so slightly, but I believe you will be pleased with the results.

Adjust the curves to how you like it. The middle part will adjust the midtones, I like making them brighter usually. The upper part of the scale is the highlights, push them up or down it screws with the highlights. However when you play with the lower part - the shadow, it will control how much of the effect you want. Sometimes too much is just too much.

Pretty wonderful tool. In the layers pallet, in the tools section you'll find something called Selective color. This tool will let you adjust the tone of every color of your image. Open it up, and slide the BLACK slider of each color. This will make that color brighter or darker - without messing up you saturation. And If you would like to tweak the colors more, slide the color parts to adjust. Be sure to adjust the whites also this will brighten the whites.

So if your sky needs to be a little more blue, push the cyan. Is it overcast? Choose the white, and push the cyan towards darker. Simple as that.

Normally I use this step at the beginning. However the HDR process over-saturates it as it is. So with a Real HDR, I do this at the end since I messed with the colors a lot.

Tweak it more with curves if it needs it.

I will tell you that this really never happens. It happens when you push a RAW too much, then sharpen it. And this happened after I sharpened it. While I could mask out the sharpness, this would dull other details in his face.

For this I used the smudge tool with a small brush and just mushed it. So up close (and you have to be real close), its not that sharp. But in reality no image is that sharp that close up.