32-Bit HDR Images

Quick reference

• 00:04 Today I'm going to be showing you guys how Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 and
• 00:09 Adobe Photoshop CS6 can work hand in hand to produce stunning HDR images.
• 00:15 In the past, I would typically use one or the other: Lightroom with a plugin, or
• 00:19 directly merge the photos to Photoshop's HDR Pro.
• 00:23 So if I could only use one application in the past,
• 00:26 why the heck would I wanna use two?
• 00:28 Well there's a very good reason, 32 bit editing.
• 00:31 With Lightroom 4.1 we now have the ability to edit 32 bit
• 00:36 HDR images, which eliminates the need for an external plug-in, and
• 00:40 you're more likely to end up with a much more natural result.
• 00:44 Let's go ahead and take a look.
• 00:46 So here in Lightroom I have three images which I took at Oxford University.
• 00:50 As you can see each image has been taken at a different exposure to
• 00:54 capture the shadows, the midtones, and
• 00:56 the highlights, which a single image simply cannot do.
• 01:00 I'm only working with three images, but if you want an even higher dynamic range you
• 01:04 can easily use five brackets if your camera supports it.
• 01:07 So with all three images selected, I'm gonna right-click on any of them,
• 01:11 go to Edit In, and
• 01:13 then select Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop, which has been there for a while.
• 01:17 At this point, Photoshop will spring into action and start the process of not only
• 01:21 combining the three exposures, but it will also attempt to line up the images.
• 01:26 Sometimes, especially if you're like me and
• 01:28 don't use a tripod, don't tell anyone, your photos may be slightly misaligned.
• 01:33 Lining them up will give you a much cleaner result.
• 01:37 And here's the HDR Pro window, which many of you may be familiar with.
• 01:40 But instead of going through all the sliders to create a 16 bit HDR image,
• 01:45 we're actually gonna switch it over to 32 bit here at the top.
• 01:49 This will simply merge all three of the images and
• 01:51 the data, allowing us to bring it back into Lightroom and
• 01:55 use all the wonderful adjustments that Camera Raw has to offer.
• 01:58 Which, again, should give you a much more natural result than HDR toning would.
• 02:03 Now don't worry too much about the White Point slider at the top.
• 02:06 It's simply there for preview purposes.
• 02:08 I'll click OK to finalize the merge, which could take a few minutes depending on
• 02:12 your computer and the amount of exposures that you're working with.
• 02:16 And once the merge is complete all you need to do is save.
• 02:19 A simple Cmd or Ctrl+S will pop your new 32 bit image in
• 02:23 the same location that the other images are stored.
• 02:27 Let's hop back over to Lightroom where our new image should be waiting for us.
• 02:31 And there it is.
• 02:32 From here you can use the same adjustments that you've been using previously, but
• 02:35 because we have a 32 bit image made up of three exposures there's a ton of
• 02:40 data to work with.
• 02:42 Take a look as I increase and decrease the exposure.
• 02:45 Obviously you wouldn't need to go this extreme, but
• 02:47 it gives you an idea as to what's actually available to you.
• 02:51 I'll leave the exposure increased ever so slightly.
• 02:54 I'm gonna dump the highlights to get rid of some of the unnecessary bright areas,
• 02:58 and then I'm gonna increase the shadows to allow us to see into some of
• 03:01 the more shaded areas of the photo.
• 03:03 And, of course, what's an edit without increasing the clarity?
• 03:07 This will increase the contrast of your midtones which looks great on
• 03:10 textures such as bricks and stone.
• 03:13 Finally, the overall color of this image is a little bit dull so
• 03:16 increasing the Vibrance a touch should do the trick.
• 03:19 I'm not gonna touch the Saturation slider as the stones have a lot of
• 03:22 yellow in them.
• 03:23 Increasing the saturation on images that contain a lot of yellow or
• 03:26 skin tones can result in some unnatural effects.
• 03:29 Sliding down the Develop Module,
• 03:31 the Selective Adjustment Tool is also available to us.
• 03:34 I love this tool.
• 03:36 You're able to selectively adjust the hue,
• 03:38 saturation, and luminous of any part of your image.
• 03:42 For example, if I wanted a slightly darker sky, under Luminance,
• 03:46 I can activate the Selective Adjustment Tool and then click and
• 03:49 drag on the color that I want affected, in this case the blue of the sky.
• 03:54 Dragging up will brighten it, while dragging it down will darken it.
• 03:58 The same goes for hue and saturation.
• 04:00 Let's say I wanted to slightly decrease the yellow tint in the stones.
• 04:04 Selecting Saturation will allow me to use the same tool to increase or
• 04:07 decrease the saturation of the stones and even the grass, if I wish.
• 04:14 Finally let's slide down to Lens Corrections to deal with some of
• 04:17 that chromatic aberration that I see in the trees.
• 04:19 Also new in Lightroom 4.1, I can use the Fringe Color Selector to sample any
• 04:24 blue or green fringes that may be present and then adjust the sliders if necessary.
• 04:29 And that should complete the edit.
• 04:31 Let's take a look at the final result in comparison to the original images.
• 04:35 We started with an overexposed image to capture the shaded areas of the scene,
• 04:39 an underexposed image to capture the lighter areas like the roof of
• 04:43 the building and a neutral image that captured everything in between.
• 04:47 And merging all three images into a 32-bit HDR file, and
• 04:51 performing some pretty basic edits, we're left with a beautiful photo that
• 04:55 captures a range that's more true to what the human eye sees.
• 04:58 So even though it may seem more convenient to use only one application,
• 05:03 utilizing all of your resources can leave you with a much more desirable result.

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