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How to upload mod

HDR

Speedtouch

By Speedtouch
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Speedtouch Mentor

Speedtouch

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Right then. This is the (and my) first tutorial. I am basing it on the art of HDR.

 

Now HDR is a wonderful process, and when used well, can give spectacular effects (see examples at bottom). However do not expect it to come easily. There are many different aspects, and many different processes you have to go through before you get a final photo, and even then, sometimes it can still be terrible (even I've suffered from this, so don't give up if you get it).

 

The best way to do HDRs, is to shoot with RAW. Pretty much all DSLRs will do this, so all you need to do is find the Image Quality settings and set it to RAW. This is the process I will be covering now. I may do one for JPEGs later, but a quick RAW HDR tutorial for now.

 

First things first, take your picture. HDR will bring out the darker details in the photo, so may not be entirely of good use, as this example proves:

 

-- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) --

 

Remember this when taking your photo. There is a time and a place for HDR, and this wasn't it. Landscapes tend to be the best type, as this brings out reflections, like in water very well.

 

Anyway, onto the processes.

 

Once you have taken your photo and transferred it to your PC, you will need to sort it into the exposures (in the JPEG method, this is done by taking many different photos with different exposures - using a single RAW makes this very simple)

 

Stage 1: Preparing for HDR

 

Open the file into Photoshop (some people have had problems with this, but I didn't, so I'm not sure what goes wrong, or how to fix it. Post here if you have any problems and we will try to fix them).

 

TUT1.jpg

 

For now, we will only use the exposure setting. You can change it to what looks best (if the picture you took was dark, then increase it until the image looks normal) but its best to leave it alone for now. Then you need to change it to intervals of 1, starting at -2, going to +2. However if you changed it, keep the extra amounts in the equation. For example, if you decreased the exposure by 0.6, your intervals should be -2.6, -1.6, +0.6, +1.6, +2.6.

 

TUT2.jpg

 

Once you have changed the values of exposure (red box), you can save it (blue box). You need to do this for each value.

 

This box should pop up once you click 'save' (not File>Save As). Change the location to a place where you will remember (red box), and change the File Naming to 1 Digit Numbering (use drop down list), and start it at 1. Finally ensure it is set to TIFF, as this gives a better quality (blue box).

 

TUT3.jpg

 

Stage 2: Making HDR

 

Once you have done this 5 times, you can close down photoshop. Now open Photomatix (download free trial here - unfortunately the trial watermarks your final photos, so you can use it for practice, but to use it properly, buy it or PM me for a code).

 

TUT4.jpg

 

Open them up using the 'Generate HDR Image' (red box), and browse to find all 5 of the pictures. Put them into the list in order, then hit OK (blue box)

 

Hit OK twice more, and then wait whilst it renders your image. When it loads, hit 'Tone Mapping', and it should look a bit better. This is your HDR image now, and all the tools to manipulate it.

 

TUT5.jpg

 

The way I do things from here onwards, is just play around with all the different settings. Once you have spent a short amount of time with it, you get to know what all the things do. Use all the smaller tabs, and all the sliders to change certain bits of it, and the curve works just the same as anywhere else. You can either use 'Details Enhancer', or 'Tone Compressor'. I prefer the former, and once you have what you want, hit Process. File>Save As and set it to .jpg to finish off.

 

You can open it back up into photoshop and add some more final details if you want, such as borders etc, or just take it as it is.

 

My finished example:

FINAL.jpg

 

Sorry this was such a bad tutorial, but it is my first :p I hope it helped you.

 

If your camera does not take RAW:

If you know how to take separate exposures with your camera (which doesn't do RAW), then use a tripod, and change it to something like -3 to +3 EV step (just like with the Exposure setting in PS). I'm not sure how this works, but in theory it should give you a load of images to then put into Photomatix, which is the key part.

 

2 more examples of mine:

2560815013_ae2355cc5d_t.jpg 2572961150_7f147b4dc1_t.jpg

 

I think maybe for the next one, it will be less of a tutorial and more of a tip giver to take a better photo, even with a 'point and shoot' type camera.

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Mb Grand Master

Mb

Posted
Posted
Great pics! Also - fail at counting. Clearly you didn't pay attention at school when they talked about a little thing commonly known as 'maths'.

Sorry, when i wrote that i put 2 there, but i saw i had another 2 and forgot to change it :)

Thanx for lovely comments <3

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Speedtouch Mentor

Speedtouch

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Oh yeah forgot about that... :o

 

Basically you download the program from their website (http://www.hdrsoft.com) as a demo then put the code in when it asks you for it. Only I can't find the code I used... And I don't remember anything about installing it because I installed it a long time ago, and haven't used it in a long while. Sorry.

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