Samples of "fake" HDR Photos

I decided to take some old sunset photos I really like and see what would happen if I created "fake" HDR versions of them using the Photomatix plug-in for Aperture. I opened each photo in Aperture, created two additional versions, and then adjusted one of the versions to have a -2 exposure and the other to have a +2 exposure. After that I used the Photomatix plug-in to create the HDR image.

As you will see, some quality is lost in the HDR versions, but they still have more vibrant colors. There are several reasons for the loss of quality (or "noise"). First, I was shooting with an ISO of 400, which isn't ideal for obtaining the best results. Though you typically want a higher ISO for low-light situations, it can compromise the integrity of the photo when shooting for HDR and create more noise. (So your best bet when shooting for HDR is to set your ISO to 100.) Second, I wasn't shooting with HDR in mind, so the one frame I took was geared to getting the best sky images (not the foreground). Finally, and I've mentioned this before, using one JPEG to create an HDR image isn't ideal.

That said, here are the results:

Adjustment Layers in Photoshop

Newer versions of Photoshop have what's called "adjustment layers." It's a feature that automatically creates a layer for each general adjustment you make to the photo. You can find it in the palettes on the right side of the screen when you open Photoshop. This is different from adjusting hue/saturation and that sort of thing from the Photoshop menu bar, because it doesn't permanently alter the pixels. What's great about adjustments layers is that you can change each layer individually to affect the overall photo. For example, you can create a black and white adjustment layer and then adjust its opacity to 50% to get muted colors. Then if you want a certain part of the photo to stand out in color, you can brush in the full-color layer underneath. This technique is somewhat difficult to explain, but let me show you what I mean. Below you'll see an original photo and then two versions I created using adjustment layers:

And here is a photo I really played with using adjustment layers:

As you can see, you can go as conservative or crazy as you want. The fun is playing around with layering the adjustments, changing their opacity, and brushing in (or out) color.

(You can do similar things with Aperture, so I'm going to need to play with these same photos in Aperture to find out the difference. The main difference that stands out immediately is that you can see and adjust each layer in Photoshop, whereas in Aperture what's done is done unless you choose to completely undo the adjustments. Aperture doesn't work in layers.)

Playing with Portland Pictures

My husband and I recently took a week-long trip to Portland, Oregon. As I always do, I brought my camera to record the scenery. However, this time around, I had HDR in the back of my mind. Needless to say, I took most of my photos in threes (+2, 0, -2 exposure). Though you can technically create a fake HDR photo using one RAW exposure, I've tested and compared the two techniques, and taking three differently-exposed shots from the camera itself (even if they're jpeg and not RAW) provides more detail and clarity in the photo. What did me in was not using the tripod each time. Though the software can align photos to an extent, mine still came out slightly blurry due to my unsteady hand. But to me, taking the time to set up the tripod each time, especially in areas without flat surfaces on which to balance it, wasn't worth it. [Note to self: invest in a better tripod when you get a full-time job.]

Let's get to it though. Here are a few before and after HDR photos:

As you can see, using three exposures to create a photo with more light/detail in both the foreground and background can have its advantages. What's also cool is you can create somewhat crazy pictures with it as well - pictures that may not look quite true-to-life.

And finally, I took some of my pictures (mostly HDR images) and played around with the tilt-shift technique:

You can find all of my photos from the trip, both manipulated and not, at my photography overflow album. Photos are sorted by date, so you'll find my newest stuff at the top.

Aperture with Photomatix Plug-in

Yesterday I decided to take some of my pictures from San Francisco area and see what I could do with them as far as enhancing the colors and lighting. I used Aperture to create copies of the original, then took the copies and changed the exposure to -2 and +2, respectively. Then I used the Photomatix plug-in to combine all three into an HDR photo and tone mapped them. The results are pretty interesting. Some photos are greatly improved, while others just look a little cartoonish. There's definitely a lot of flexibility with this software, depending on the kind of look you're going for (realistic versus cool). Again, I'll show you the before and after photos:

HDR in Aperture

Photomatix Pro is the software I've been playing with to create HDR photos. It's available standalone and as a plug-in for Aperture, Photoshop, and Lightroom. Since I have Aperture and like using it for post-processing, I decided to download the plug-in version of Photomatix. I like this even better! Not only do I have one-stop shopping for creating HDR photos and then manipulating them further if I choose, but I can also easily take one RAW photo and create two other versions with the different exposures and merge them into an HDR photo. Below is one result:

Now here's another before and after. For this picture I took the original RAW image (I only took one with my camera), created two more versions with the lower and higher exposure, and then created the HDR photo:

Before:

After:

More Tilt-shift and HDR

I've spent a little more time playing around with my photos. This past weekend, we drove to Salem, and I took some pictures with the different software in mind.

First, I took some photos of the town from the top of a parking garage and edited them in Photoshop using the tilt-shift method, as well as enhancing the color saturation:

Then I took photos with HDR (high dynamic range) editing in mind. The best way to do this is to find interesting subject matter and take at least three photos in different exposures. The point is to highlight different parts of the photos using the different exposures and then combine the photos so it appears more true-to-life. For more explanation on HDR photography, check out this guy's page. He goes into a lot more detail. My camera has auto-bracketing, which means I can make the camera do all the work. It's a setting that enables the camera to take three photos in quick succession, using the three different exposures (-2, 0, +2). Ideally, you want to use a tripod so there's no movement between the photos. I didn't have one but was able to align the photos using the HDR software. I'll admit I wasn't too pleased with the results. I think it's because the subject matter of my photos wasn't ideal for this kind of manipulation. Based on photos I've seen on HDR sites, you get better results with clouds, water, sun, and interesting buildings all in the same shot. If you visit the above link, you'll see what I mean. Or just click here for images on Google.

Below is what I was able to get. Mind you, I've just started playing with the software and have yet to find more suitable subject matter:

Since I didn't post the originals, you can't see the difference. So let me show you a few before and after photos I created using RAW photos from my San Francisco trip:

Notice how the colors are brighter and more pronounced? The HDR photos actually look more like what I saw in real life than the originals.  I'm still working on getting photos that can get cool results like in some of the links I showed you. Unfortunately, I don't often travel to Europe!

Here is a photo I edited using both HDR and tilt-photography methods:

And here is a photo I edited using HDR to enhance the colors in image and then Aperture to gray out the background:

More to come, once I can take more pictures and get better acquainted with Photomatix Pro. It doesn't help that the trial leaves a watermark on all the HDR photos, which I then have to manually remove in Photoshop. *sigh* Maybe once I get a full-time job I can afford Photomatix!