ReDynamix HDR

[curiousgeorge]

http://www.mediachance.com/plugins/redynamix.html

Do any of you use it?

I'd like to know what exactly it does so I can do the actions myself (I don't have CS and I prefer to do it myself as it gives me more control).

Someone edited one of my images with it and I liked the effect, particularly the way it improved the detail in the foreground:

Before:
http://www.georgeandreou.net/storage/IMG_6568a.JPG

After:
http://www.georgeandreou.net/storage/IMG_6568_edit.JPG

[AirBrontosaurus]

Looks like shadows/highlights, boost the contrast via a layer (to avoid blowing out highlights and blacking out shadows).

From the original shot, pulled up shadows and pulled down highlights, then applied general contrast adjustments, upped exposure, sharpened, and upped saturation. Finally, I make a heavy contrast layer, masked it, and revealed the mask with a light gradient to bring out the foreground.

With more grunt work you could pull the details out of the foreground, but this took all of 30 seconds of editing.

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks for this.

The colour tones are not the same though, especially on the sky.

The difference is particularly noticeable on the mountains, I don't know if this is due to the colour tones or the contrast. I do like the contrast in yours though.

Also, I'm surprised that so many people use the shadow/highlight tool so often. I thought of it as an inferior alternative to curves adjustment. Am I wrong?

[AirBrontosaurus]

No problem: I like a challenge ;).

Is this more what you want? I figured I'd ask before I explained everything.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1443/neweditof9.jpg

I love the shadows/highlights toolbar, because it's sort of a simplified curves adjustment. You can do far more with curves than with the S/H, but you can do the stuff with S/H faster.

Also, since S/H is tailored to recovering nearly-lost data, whereas curves are just general adjustments, S/H is easier to get the desired results when working with data.

So, IMO, it's inferior in versatility, but not in ease of use or convenience.

[curiousgeorge]

Wow, you've certainly risen to the challenge! The sky colour and foreground detail are better than the sample.

Yes, please explain how you did it.

And thanks for the explanation on Shadow/Highlights.

[Alexajlex]

AirBrontosaurus - Good stuff man. I'd be interested to see a step by step. I had a go at it with S/H and got close but yours was closer.

I looked at ReDynamix and I thought of Viveza.
They don't do the exact same thing.

They actually allow you do achieve an effect faster without using layer mask and multiple layers. You just work directly on the one image.

[Flagpole]

Here is quick try with gradient masks, S&H, curves and sharpening. All up maybe around 10 mins work.
http://users.tpg.com.au/bfeldman/Temp/IMG_6568aPS.jpg

[AirBrontosaurus]

I like to work with layer masks because they allow a ton of options with implementation.

First I did general work on the picture. This included shadows/highlights to bring back some of the detail, contrast adjustment (the CS3 non-legacy contrast is really good, btw), upping the exposure a tad, and increasing the saturation.

Then, I got to work on the smaller parts.

I started by making a new layer from the background and adding a ton of contrast to it (more than you would want normally). Then, I created a Hide All layer mask on top of that, so the original background showed through. Using a soft, light white brush, I painted over the sky and mountains so that a small percentage of the super-contrast showed through.

I then flattened the image, and made another layer based off of the background. I applied shadow adjustments equal to about 250% (running the S/H box 3 times), hide-all mask, and painted away at the foreground to get as much detail out of it as I could. I usually like to use a 10-20% opacity brush, hardness at 0, and a size of about 50-100px.

Flatten, new layer of just the sky. I made a high-contrast 3rd layer out of a copy of the sky layer, and painted it back onto the second, original sky layer. This got the definition and tonal range I wanted on it. I then lowered the saturation, made another layer, brought down the exposure, and then painted it on at about 20% opacity.

Flattened, made another general contrast layer, masked it, and recovered it with a gradient to have more contrast apply to the foreground ( as I had applied a lot to the sky already).

Flattened, some sharpening (Smart Sharpen, 1px, 100%, then again at .3px, 65%) and that's about it!

[curiousgeorge]

Here is quick try with gradient masks, S&H, curves and sharpening. All up maybe around 10 mins work.


Thanks, I like this as well. WHat work flow did you use, in particular, how did you get the colour as it is?

First I did general work on the picture...
Thanks for the detailed explanation. However, I'd really like to know specifically which of your steps changed the colour tone, particularly noticeable on the sky.

[Flagpole]

There are basically two masks.

1.Duplicate background onto a new layer

2. For the upper third of the picture which includes the sky and mountains I have just adjusted the gamma setting in Levels dialog until I saw what I like. I think I went down around 0.5-0.6. Since I would be adjusted S&H of the bottom part with the rocks it doesn't matter as to what it looks like at this stage. Then I added a 'Hide all' layer mask and used a gradient tool to drag from the bottom edge of the mountains all the way to the bottom edge of the photo. Make sure you have white colour selected and you are applying Foreground (white)--->Background(black) gradient. You should see a mask applied only to the upper part of the photo. Play around with blending modes and opacity. You may have to drop opacity to 60-75% and see if 'Multiply' or other blend modes like 'Overlay', 'Soft/Hard Light' will yield the look you want.

3. Duplicate background again. For bottom part apply S&H with: Amount 50%, Tonal width 30% and Radius 100 px. Add another 'Hide All' mask and just drag the gradient from the middle of the photo water edge upwards. Make sure that S&H layer is below the sky layer as layer positions can affect the final tone.

4. Duplicate the image and flatten. Tweak the curve for final output. A slight S-curve and maybe adjust for any color casts on the ice slab.

5. Apply noise reduction if needed (while protecting the edges) and sharpening of choice.

Thats all I think because I had to recreate all the steps again as I didn't save the psd :oops: Hope it is all clear.

[Collin85]

Guys, I'm a little bit confused with the S&H part. I find for alot of images ran through Redynamix I just need to adjust the midtone contrast slider right and that 'pop' just comes out. I don't really understand where tinkering with the Shadows slider helps here - maybe I'm missing something? :D

Great little plugin, but for alot of situations it adds a tonne of unwanted noise.