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Trey Ratcliff
Luke Lakatosh
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TOP 10 MISTAKES
IN HDR PROCESSING
First Edition 2010 StuckInCustoms.com/ebook
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Ive already made every mistake in the book. I think detailing my old mistakes will help you!
Hello! I am Trey Ratcliff. It's nice to meet you! Perhaps you are a regular reader of StuckInCustoms.com or are familiar with my various tutorials. I really get a kick out of teaching people new ways to approach their digital art. This is the latest in that ongoing effort. I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to your feedback.
This is ugly
I have processed and seen more HDR than almost anyone in the world. I am not necessarily proud of this... its just the way it is. I often do critiques of HDR photos for large groups of people, and I know what rings true. By the end of this eBook, you should have a good grasp of my general sensibilities on the matter.
Many good remedies for the most common HDR woes reside within the following pages.
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IF I CAN SAVE A FEW BAD HDR PHOTOS FROM BEING UPLOADED TO THE SWEET INTERNET, ILL FEEL LIKE IVE DONE SOMETHING RIGHT IN THIS LIFE.
A PERSONAL JOURNEY
So instead, I decided to use my very own photos from a long time ago! I started HDR many many years ago, and, slowly, over time I have self-corrected all of the top mistakes. I wish Id had this guide 5 years ago! I went through many years of photos and found ten of my old photos that have all the same problems that I still see nowadays. I hope that by critiquing my own work, that it becomes a source of ideas and a-has for you.
INSPIRATIONAL TIMELINE
When I began thinking about this eBook, I was quite ummoxed! My rst impulse was to jump on Flickr and comb through thousands of photos until I could nd 10 horrible HDRs that t each of my 10 points. I then started worrying a bit about it. Even if I chose Creative Common photos, I didnt really relish the thought of tearing each of them apart in text. Even though my critique would be honest (and probably spot-on), it could be interpreted as downright mean. Now, on one hand, I dont really care what other people think... but on the other hand, I dont do things out of spite or malice... I did not want that to be the interpretation.
I believe any one can get better by analyzing mistakes, forgiving the mistakes, and then moving on to create more, different, and better mistakes in the future.
Ive often considered removing my old work from Flickr and the blog. I really HATE the old stuff and cant stand looking at it. I had the occasional winner, but most were embarrassingly bad. However, I hope this helps prove the case that anyone, including you, can improve and make great strides over time just by sticking with it.
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My HDR Software of choice http://www.stuckincustoms.com/links/Photomatix Use coupon code STUCKINCUSTOMS to save money
PHOTOMATIX PRO
Great sharpening software to help the photos pop http://www.stuckincustoms.com/links/get_Topaz Use coupon code STUCKINCUSTOMS to save money
TOPAZ ADJUST
I only review software that I actually use... so go here for the latest! http://www.stuckincustoms.com/reviews/
MORE REVIEWS
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MISTAKE #2: DIRTY WHITES (PAGE 32) MISTAKE #3: BLACK CLOUDS IN DAYTIME WHITES (PAGE 29) MISTAKE #6: LOSING ALL SENSE OF COLOR (PAGE 20)
MISTAKE #10: TOO MANY COLORS (PAGE 8) MISTAKE #5: EARLY PROCESSING (PAGE 25)
Stuck In Customs | A unique collection of digital eBooks | StuckInCustoms.com/ebook
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COLOR SOLUTION
Have you noticed that your greens in HDR processing look a little fake? You may have the sense of foodcoloring-green. To x this in photoshop, open up the Hue/Saturation dialog, choose Yellow from the dropdown, and decrease the saturation. Note this is counter-intuitive. What appears to be too green is actually too yellow. You will see this problem more in daytime greens because the biomass is actually somewhat translucent, and the sunlight is giving it a yellowish color.
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HDR ALGORITHM
The algorithm does its best to make many photos within photos. That is, as the algorithm
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You can see how the darker mountain looks acceptable in front of the lighter mountain. There is none of the halo problem. This was achieved by remixing the HDR result with one of the original photos. You will note that the photo below also has no blue sky halo, which is the #1 Most Common Mistake you will come to at the end of this eBook. In this case, I xed that by remixing the -1 exposure because I thought the blue tones looked best.
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SELECTIVE MASKING
In my HDR Tutorial and in the HDR DVD, I always recommend masking. This is a process in which you can remix the result of the HDR with the original photo.
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HDR threatened to darken and discolor these white-pink cherry blossoms. It required remixing with the original image to keep things clean and pure in color and tone.
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The Saturation slider in HDR programs can sometimes over-color the clouds. Dont let that happen. Remember, I recommend using programs like Photomatix to make 70% of the photo look good, and then go do any corrections (including cloud color correction) by remixing with one of the original photos. The photo below threatened to make the clouds too blue in the processing, so I needed to make them their original white to keep it realistic.
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I processed the photo below a very long time after I actually left Paris. I picked up a lot of processing tricks in the meantime, and it helped me to make this one look much better than it would have if I had processed it immediately. For example, here I used the Wow Landscape lter from Nik Software. Use the coupon code STUCKINCUSTOMS to save money if you want to try it. You can grab it from the website below. http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php
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The photo below has everything in HDR except for the skin tones of the Indian boy. It helps to bring out the rich texture of the environs without making his face and skin look mottled or strange. If you want more help to see exactly how I do masking to remix the HDR result and the original image, I have an HDR DVD that will be of great service to you! http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-dvd/
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ITS IMPOSSIBLE
I think youll agree with me that it is just not possible to have sunny skies, blue skies, and black-dark clouds out at the same time. These sorts of scenes are immediately rejected by the viewer as impossible.
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In the initial processing of this photo below, the sun came out that dirty color that one comes to expect with the HDR process. There is no good slider situation where you can get it to look okay inside the HDR program. So, I recommend xing that bit by remixing with the original sun.
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The photo below is a good example of how to face the perpetual problem of the blue sky halo. There are two main structures here. The one on the left is not a problem because of the particolored skies and clouds beyond. The HDR algorithm is busy there with all the various tones and shades, but on the right, there is just plain blue sky. To x this bit, I had to softly remix the original photo that had the same sorts of blues that blended in with the left side of the photo.
I hope you enjoyed this eBook. Not only do they take a long time to make, but they have taken me many years of toil and expertise (and hundreds of mistakes!) to make this possible. Many Bothans died to bring you this information. Visit StuckInCustoms.com/ebook to see the latest offerings, and I would LOVE to hear your feedback!