MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - HDR photography in Gimp or Photoshop

HOW TO - HDR photography in Gimp or Photoshop

Jason writes -

High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is the process of taking several images at different shutter speeds and combining them into a single photo that contains no washed out or underexposed areas. The result is a surreal, almost too perfectly lit photograph that contains a high level of detail throughout the image.

Photoshop has a built-in HDR photo merging tool which produces some incredible results without too much effort. The image above, from Ryan McGinnis' excellent Photoshop HDR tutorial, is pretty surreal. It reminds me of a high-res rendering from a video game.

If you're using the GIMP, you can get similar results by carefully masking and merging layers, or you can download and use the exposure-blend plugin which will simplify the process a little. Below are links to both processes - you can see which works best for you.

Whatever package you use, the important thing is to use a solid tripod and only adjust the shutter speed between shots. For the best results, you'll also want to set your camera to RAW mode.

More:

How to Create Professional HDR Images in Photoshop - Link
HDR photos with the GIMP - Link
Using the GIMP exposure-blend plugin - Link

Related:

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: stephen on December 25, 2007 at 2:39 AM

well... i do believe that that picture was stolen from a linux magazine.

Posted by: Isaac on December 25, 2007 at 1:32 PM

great lighting in that pic... however, maybe someone should also post a how-to for ridding of converging verticals and other lens distortions!...

Posted by: Drone on December 25, 2007 at 4:09 PM

Actually, Tone mapping is "the process of taking several images at different shutter speeds and combining them into a single photo that contains no washed out or underexposed areas."

Posted by: dorbie on December 25, 2007 at 6:51 PM

WRONG, HDR is something else, combining images into a high dynamic range image that you then need to expose appropriately to view (and you won't see the full range if done correctly), you're doing something else here.

Posted by: aesthete on December 27, 2007 at 8:37 AM

HDR sucks sucks sucks, except for maybe 0.0001% of the time. It's an artless pox.

Posted by: Doğan on January 19, 2008 at 5:35 PM

güzel, teşekkürler.

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