I've all but given up on HDR... help me Obe Won Kenobi

Here's the deal... I have PS7.0 but before you say "buy this, buy that" my budget is currently $0 (major house remodel in progress, quarterly bonus up in the air), so I need to make due with what I have. From everything I've read (I've searched this forum and Googled like crazy), it is possible to pull off something like HDR using PS7.0, but I can't find a dumbed-down enough tutorial for a PS newb like me . I usually get completely lost or the tutorials are too vague.

I'd really, really like to experiment with this style, but I'm getting stuck before I even get started.

So, my question is does anyone have a link to a really fool-proof tutorial or would they be so kind as to write one up for us lowly PS7.0 users. Yah, I know, eventually I should just pony up for CS3...

... and one more quick question. Is there a plugin available for PS7.0 to open RAW images? I've been using DPP to open the RAWs and do editing like white balance, curves, tones, contrast, sharpness and color saturation, then I convert to JPEG to finish them off in PS7.0 (usually just crop, any blemish corrections, etc.).

Thanks in advance!!!!

why dont u try one of the HDR programs out there. Photomatix looks pretty good to me.

Hmm, $99 which is exactly $99 more than my budget at the moment. I've looked at that program, it looks sweet!

Also, if anyone really thinks I'm completely wasting my time trying to do this in 7.0, please tell me. It's not like I *need* to do HDRs right this second...

Layers perhaps? I don't know PS very well.


Sidenote: You can crop and do blemish removal in DPP

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danpass wrote in post #3674092
Sidenote: You can crop and do blemish removal in DPP

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Huh, sure enough! Thanks for the tip!

Photomatix has a free basic version that makes HDR from 2 images. One 2 stops under and one 2 stops over. It will also merge several exposures for what it calls an average? Cant go wrong with free?

$99? wow didnt know it was that much, i was just using the "free" part lol.

You might want to take a look at a freeware HDR program called "qtpfsgui"
http://www.flickr.com/​groups/qtpfsgui
This is something you can cut your HDR "teeth" on before investing $$ in other commercial applications.

Its been awhile since ive used photoshop 7 but i was curious to know if it has "layer masks" you will probably need to duplicate the exposures on multiple layers and change the blend modes to achieve something similar to an HDR program um but i believe you can create HDR images in ps7 by using layer masks and blend modes.

Thanks for all the tips so far. At the moment I'm exploring the free version of Photomatix. I tried to use some on hand photos, but realized I need to snap a few to really experiment. I'm going to give that qtpfsgui a shot as well.

This has been really helpful, folks, thanks again. I'll be sure to post any HDR pictures I come up with.

You may also try CombineZM. It's free and will let you stack an unlimited number of pictures differentiated either by exposure (for HDR) or by focus (to achieve great depth of field in closeups and macro shots). It's not the most user friendly program though.

http://www.hadleyweb.p​wp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ​M/combinezm.htm

BTW, my workflow is similar to yours, only I prefer to convert into TIFF so as not to have the lossy JPG compression applied twice (first from the RAW converter and again from the editor). When the final JPG is created in the editor, I delete the intermediate TIFF file.

mrludecrs wrote in post #3674055
Hmm, $99 which is exactly $99 more than my budget at the moment. I've looked at that program, it looks sweet!

Also, if anyone really thinks I'm completely wasting my time trying to do this in 7.0, please tell me. It's not like I *need* to do HDRs right this second...

you can download it and use a free trial of it (just leaves a watermark on final image until you purchase it)

also, if you or someone you know is a student/educator (has a .edu email address) then you can get it for something like $30...a LOT cheaper then the original $99

mrludecrs wrote in post #3673852
Here's the deal... I have PS7.0 but before you say "buy this, buy that" my budget is currently $0 (major house remodel in progress, quarterly bonus up in the air), so I need to make due with what I have. From everything I've read (I've searched this forum and Googled like crazy), it is possible to pull off something like HDR using PS7.0, but I can't find a dumbed-down enough tutorial for a PS newb like me . I usually get completely lost or the tutorials are too vague.

Layer masks are the answer. I was going to draw up a list of steps myself until I saw this short tutorial has done a much better job than I would.

No opportunities to shoot yet, but I'll be sure to post. In terms of my workflow, I'm actually not going to be using PS7.0 much anymore now that I know I can crop and do basic blemish touch-up in DPP. Also, I usually save the off-the-camera RAW file in a folder so I can also go back to the original. Saving the original RAW, edited RAW and final JPEG is probably a little overkill given that I rarely do extreme edits.

The Extended version of Photoshop CS3 supports HDR, but not the regular version because Photoshop requires 32 bpc for HDR. One of the programs that is specifically designed for creating HDR images sounds like your best bet. Layering is not really the same thing as HDR, but you could use it as a poor man's substitute for the real thing. Of course, in the end, you must convert the resolution to 8 bpc for viewing on a regular computer monitor or for printing on an ink jet printer. The real benefit is that for the intermediate stages of processing, you are able to work with the finer details of HDR while merging pictures with different exposure levels.