More HDR: Before & After
Photograph by Robert Lachman ? 2010 – Newport Beach, California
It seems like I am getting into the “I need to find a sunset, time for 3-exposures, what’s my next HDR photo mode?” Could it be an addiction? It’s not a surprise when you see the results. Lets face it, one single image just doesn’t reflect what your eyes see. When you take a close you look at this image of the Doryman’s Inn in Newport Beach (above) at sunset, the ability to meld three different image exposures into one starts to close that gap. Of course, you need a tripod, so it really isn’t going to work for your kid’s soccer or party photographs.
It’s pretty much the same settings from my last HDR (High Dynamic Range) post, which included combining three image exposures taken with my Canon G10 camera and a tripod. The photo was first processed with Photomatix software. Next, I imported the photograph into Photoshop to make a few levels adjustments and then moved on to the FocalPoint plug-in by onOne Software to add a dark vignette and soften the focus around the hotel.
FocalPoint is on my short list of favorite Photoshop plug-ins and is on sale at onOne software website until April 30, 2010. The price is down to $100. You can read my review of the software by clicking here. A great resource for learning HDR is photographer Trey Ratcliff’s website Stuck in Customs.
Below is a photograph from a single correct exposure of the scene without any adjustments. Let me know what you think. -RL
(BEFORE) A single correct exposure of the scene without any adjustments.
