Hey,
So, I was looking in the RAW, processing, etc. forum and was reading about HDR images. I looked around a bit and found this awesome video tutorial on it and thought I'd share with everyone (I wasn't sure how many people knew how to do this). I'm posting an example from last weekend's wedding and will write out the instructions for you. I haven't perfected the technique, this was my first try. I'm going to tweak it some and keep practicing.
I shot this image in RAW. The highlights were a little blown, and the shadows were a little dark. Ideally, you'd start with two images, one exposed for highlights, and a separate image exposed for the shadows, but us wedding photographers don't always have the time to do this. Nor do we have time to deal with ND filters, of course.
Make two, 16-bit, RAW files. I first underexposed it to bring out the highlights, then opened it in CS2. Then, I went back to Adobe Bridge and overexposed it a bit to properly expose the shadows, and opened that one in CS2.
(oh yeah, all the key commands are for PC, sorry, but the guy does also say what they Mac commands are, although they're not that different)
-With both images open, select the move tool. Hold the shift key down and drag the image exposed for the highlights (the darker image) onto the one exposed for the shadows (the lighter one). Go ahead and close the darker image.
-to check and make sure they're lined up, which they should be if you used a single RAW file, but if not, then go to Difference mode on the drop down menu in the layers pallette. Then go back to normal after you've checked.
-alt-click on the eye icon of the background image
-ctrl - shift - alt - tilta key which is this: ~
-you'll see the marching ants, or selection
-alt-click on the eye to restore the top layer
-click on the top layer
-go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection
-Turn background layer off just to look at it, then turn it back on
-alt-click on the layer on the top one (not the thumbnail, but the one to the right) and the image will turn temporarily turn B&W
-Apply gaussian blur to layer mask
-Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur (about 3.0 pixles)
-'OK'
-click on layer thumbnail
-You may now use Levels or Curves for an adjustment, the guy on the video used Levels
-click on layer mask to make it active (EDIT)
-Image > Adjustments > Levels
-use the middle slider to adjust: he put it to 3.5, but I've found it varies w/each image
-'OK'
-Flatten Image
-Sharpen
-Now you may do any kind of adjustments you would like:
-Curves
-Brightness & Contrast
-Levels
-Saturation (I've found I needed to do this w/color images)
-whatever else
Here's my example (C&C appreciated, although the bride was 2 mos. pregnant, so needless to say, she was tired, sick, grumpy, etc., so I didn't want to make her do much. Also, it was kind of dark out - not a very sunny day. I'm working on the flatness of it. Hope this is useful to you!
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Here's the link to the tutorial. He does the video, then at the end everything is written out.
http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/videos/BlendedExposures.mov
