Lr4 - Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop

[Remo Nonaz]

As noted in thread http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=67600.msg534812#msg534812, I never did have much luck using CS4 to merge shots out of Lr4. I downloaded the trial version of CS6 and things are much better. The following two beach shots were put together this way and would not be as good by just trying to stretch the range of the best exposed shot.

The third shot is a single shot and serves to demonstrate how good the dynamic range of modern digital cameras is. You really don't need HDR unless you want 'that HDR look' (why?) or the subject has an exceptionally wide exposure range.

[Tony Jay]

It is true that late model high-end cameras have better and better dynamic range however it is not true to say that merging images for the purposes of extending dynamic range in Ps or another application is redundant.

As for the result - that is in the hands of the operator. If you don't like the grungy look don't go there. It is a complete fallacy that the "grunge look" is an inevitable consequence of using merge to HDR software.

My current workflow is to do lens corrections, merge to HDR, save the image as a 32-bit TIFF and then re-import that back into Lr4 where I do all the tonal manipulation as well as other changes. Using Lr for tonal manipulation is so much more intuitive and easy. If you have planned the original exposures well an excellent result completely devoid of the grunge look is possible.

Obviously, if I can get the result I want with a single appropriate exposure why go to the trouble of HDR workflow.

Regards

Tony Jay

[Mike Guilbault]

I've just starting using that same method Tony and so far I'm quite impressed with the results.  Used it on a commercial interior job today and I liked the result much better than a Photomatix process. And you're correct in that it is a lot more intuitive. 

[Tony Jay]

Interesting feedback Mike.
I look forward to hearing if others are also discovering the utility of this approach.

Regards

Tony Jay

[leuallen]

I have tried it. Sometimes with success but others with miserable failures. Unfortunately I have deleted the failures or I would show you. An interior shot with a bright exterior through the window. In HDR Pro the clouds in the sky had big magenta/red splotches which I could not remove. I tried the same exposures in SNS-HDR and got perfect results. I have no idea what caused the problem in HDR Pro and I tried a couple a variations with no success. I agree that it is a simple, intuitive process. Just doesn't work for me sometimes.

Larry

[Tony Jay]

Larry, I think that in which software one does the HDR merge is less of an issue than the importing of a 32-bit TIFF file back into Lr4.1 for tonal manipulation.
If you use SNS-HDR with success don't change.
The real issue is whether Lr4.1 is a better or at least equivalent utility to do the subsequent tonal manipulation.

Regards

Tony Jay

[leuallen]

Tony, I agree. 4.1 rocks!

Larry

[BartvanderWolf]

If you use SNS-HDR with success don't change.
The real issue is whether Lr4.1 is a better or at least equivalent utility to do the subsequent tonal manipulation.

Hi Tony,

In my experience with both SNS-HDR and LR-4.1, SNS-HDR is still (far) ahead. Mind you, in many cases LR will do the job good enough, but I strive for better than that.

Cheers,
Bart

[Tony Jay]

Thanks Bart.

Your contribution is food for thought.
I, personally have never used SNS-HDR.
I think I might acquire it and give it a crack.
At the least i will be able to directly compare Merge to HDR Pro and SNS-HDR.

Regards

Tony Jay

[BartvanderWolf]

Thanks Bart.

Your contribution is food for thought.
I, personally have never used SNS-HDR.
I think I might acquire it and give it a crack.
At the least i will be able to directly compare Merge to HDR Pro and SNS-HDR.

Hi Tony,

It's indeed best to try oneself, but attached are example crops of an impossible scene I shot, not for artistic purposes, but as a test for HDR scene tonemapping.

I first tried optimizing the resulting 32-b/ch TIFF image to my taste in LR 4.1, but I ran into impossible to avoid posterization artifacts. I then tried in SNS-HDR to simulate the overall look of the LR rendering, and the posterization was not there, and the green and magenta colors were also absent. All based on the same 7 exposure bracketed Raw files. Normally I would use Raw converted TIFFs as input for SNS-HDR, but I did a quick conversion directly from Raw to output here (a bit more similar to the LR workflow).

Cheers,
Bart

[Tony Jay]

Yes, I have to admit that I don't like the posterization and colour shifts very much.
I had a look at the SNS-HDR website last night as well as several reviews and tutorials.
The only way forward now is to get myself a copy and experiment.

Regards

Tony Jay