8October2009
HDR Settings For Canon Eos 350d / Digital Rebel XT Video Tutorial
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: hdr; technique; tutorials.
Camera-shake and subject movement are the enemies of clean HDR Photographs, we need to keep our cameras as still as possible, and take the bracketed images as quickly as possible to get the best shots.
In the video I’m setting the exposure-bracketing on my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT to plus and minus 2 e.v’s – but to be honest you don’t always need to be that extreme. In more even light you could find + or – 1 ev is sufficient.
Which software you’re using also really affects how your Tone-Mapped HDR comes out. Photoshop and others aren’t that good at dealing with subject movement – whereas Photomatix is fantastic. Even quite extreme differences can be dealt with. You’ll still get the odd ghosting effect, but that can be sorted out by painting in different layers in Photoshop or Elements.
So, in conclusion, use a low ISO, switch to Aperture Priority Mode, turn on Automatic Exposure Bracketing and Continuous Shooting to get the best HDR shots out of your 350d / Rebel XT, and remember, and if you want really good shots use a tripod!
Cheers, Rob.
3September2009
Topaz Adjust Review- Single Exposure HDR’s And Much, Much, More
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews; software.
Take a look at these:
Both are single exposure photographs edited in the Photoshop / Elements / Paintshop Pro Plug-In “Topaz Adjust”, created by the great people over at Topaz Labs.
Topaz Adjust is a Plug-In, that is to say that it’s a piece of software that works inside your main photo-editing program, whether that be the full Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or any other software that is compatible with Photoshop plug-ins. You fire up Photoshop, open your image, then go to the filters menu and choose Topaz Adjust. You’re then whisked into a separate programme where you make your edits, then when you’re done you’re returned to Photoshop to finish your work. Easy.
But what does Topaz Adjust do? That’s a tricky question, because it does so much. It enhances the detail in your photo’s, makes them more dynamic, and gives you a level of control that’s outstanding. To see if you might be interested in the type of images Topaz Adjust can help you create, why not check out this slide show of Flickr images tagged Topaz Adjust.
Lots of the photographs have a HDR look – which really means they’re full of detail, in the shadows and the high-lights. The beauty of Topaz Adjust is that you can get this look with single exposures – so you don’t have to worry about your subject or background moving between shots, which usually happens with multiple exposures.
Let’s dive in and look at how easy is to use the software. I’ve loaded an image into Photoshop, and fired up Topaz Adjust:
Topaz Adjust ships with 22 presets which you can use as a starting point for your editing. Just scroll through the different options, and by clicking on the previews on the left your main image in the middle is changed too. Click on “View Original” image to check the difference it makes.
The presets vary from simple and subtle colour pops and contrast or detail enhancement, right through to “Alien Sky” extreme HDR conversions and Psychedelic treatments. You can just choose one of these as a starting point, and then work through the tabs, nudging the sliders as you go, experimenting with the changes each one makes. You can be as dramatic or naturalistic as you like – you have total control over the final look.
I won’t go into details about how each tab works in this review, and in fact the controls are so intuitive that you’ll pick it up extremely quickly anyway. I particularly applaud the inclusion of Noise Reduction in the final tab, and again you have control over how the Plug-In removes the noise – how much and over what threshold.
Topaz Adjust opens up a whole new world of photo manipulation that is simple, quick, and easy to use. You don’t need to be a Photoshop Expert to create dynamic and striking images – in fact, you should go over to the Topaz Labs site and download the free, 30 day trial and have a play. If you like it (and I’m sure you will), the price for the full version is a bargain US$49.99.
It’s brilliant that we now have a tool that can help us create intricately detailed HDR-like shots, without the need for multiple exposures.
Topaz Adjust – highly recommended!
Thanks, Rob.
UPDATE: If you do decide to buy Topaz Adjust, enter the coupon code “robnunnphoto” (no quote-marks) for a 10% discount. This is a limited time offer, so use it quick!
23July2009
Improve HDR’s By Merging Different Versions In Photoshop Using Masks And Auto-Align Layers
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: tutorials.
Sometimes when you’re creating HDR images, whether in Photomatix, Photoshop, or other software, you end up with parts of the photograph that just aren’t right. Normally it’s something to do with movement – either in the camera, or in your scene. It could be people moving, plants waving in the wind or waves on a sea.
One way you can correct this is by using Photoshop (in this tutorial CS3) to align different versions of the same scene, then easily use masks to reveal (or hide) the parts of the scene that you want to use (or correct).
In the above photo, I’ve used three images. Two tone-mapped HDR’s (processed differently in Photomatix), and one of the original exposures. Lets see why.
In my first HDR, tone mapped in Photomatix, I liked the sky and greenery on the beach, but the boundary between land and sea had become blurred (I’ve zoomed in a little to try to show this):
I changed the settings in Photomatix, and although the join between land and sea was better, the people, and greenery, were worse. (Again, I’ve zoomed in a little):
So, I know that I’ve got something OK here, but it’s spread across two images, and that I’ll been needing one of the original images to make the people to look ok. Time for Photoshop!
I open all three images in Photoshop, then copy them all into the same document, “Edit”, “Select All”, “Copy”, then “Paste”, so they’re stacked above each over in layers:
The next bit is where we get Photoshop to line up the layers. It’s a bit tricky to see in the image, but first control-click each layer in the layers pallet so they’re all selected, then go over to “Edit”, “Auto-Align Layers”, choose “Auto”, then see what happens.
What Adobe Photoshop CS3 has done is to examine the contents of the different layers, then shuffle them about a bit so they line up almost perfectly. If you click on the eye’s on the layer’s palette to turn each layer on or off, you should be able to see how well they match up. Brilliant!
Next up I’m going to work on the people in the bottom right-hand corner. In my image, the top layer in the stack is a “normal” exposure, and it’s the only one where the walking couple look ok.
I’m going to click on the top layer in the layer palette, so Photoshop knows that’s the one I want to work on. Then I’m going to click on the little square with a circle in it (at the bottom of the layers palette) to add a mask:
Masks are an incredibly useful tool in photoshop. They allow you to hide, or show, different areas of an image by simply painting on the mask with the brush tool. If we started to paint in black on the mask, parts of the photo would disappear, and the image on the lower layer would show through. However, with this shot, all I want to do is have the people from this top layer, so instead of painting out everything else apart from the people, we actually do the reverse!
If I click on the layer mask in the layers palette, then press ctrl-I on the keyboard, the mask will invert and turn to black, hiding the layer, revealing the photo underneath. I now select the brush tool from the tools palette, and make sure my foreground colour is white.
I zoom in (ctrl and +), then carefully start painting on the dodgy people, and you’ll see the “good” people from the top image start to appear. If I make a mistake, I’ll just change my brush to white and paint over the mistake:
I’m happy with the people, but the transition between the land and sea is still all blurred:
So what I’ll do this time is click on the middle layer to select it, then click the mask icon at the bottom on the layers palette.
I’ll leave the mask white, select the brush tool, make sure my colour is black, zoom in, then start painting along the dodgy boundary:
Once the sea / land boundary is sorted, the image is ready for final editing – curves / levels / b&w etc – it can be helpful to click in the top right of the layers palette (not the cross!) and “flatten image”.
We’ve used Photoshops superb “Auto-Align Layers” and masks tools to fix a HDR, but you can use it for all sorts of other images. You could use your auto-bracketed shots to create your own HDR, or how about this – use it to make people or moving objects disappear from a scene – I’ll let you think about that one.
Here’s a black and white version of the HDR:
Cheers, Rob.
11September2008
How To Create HDR Images With Photoshop (At Last!)
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: the course; tutorials.
I like using HDR to create dynamic images, but one subject I haven’t covered in the blog is how to do it with Photoshop cs3!
It’s easy to dismiss doing HDR in Photoshop – Photomatix is the brand leader, and I have to admit that Adobe haven’t exactly made it easy and obvious to do, but it can produce very nice results….
9August2008
Creating Basic HDR Images With Photomatix Pro 3 (For Peggy)
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: hdr; software; the course; tutorials.
Ah yes – HDR. It’s taking the photography world by storm, so here’s a short tutorial showing you the basics about capturing the photos you’ll need to make a HDR image.
Then we’ll be processing it in Photomatix to create something we can then work on in Photoshop, Elements, or any other editing software.
