Hi guys! (and gals!)... I'm looking to expand my HDR techniques and was hoping some of those here who do HDR well can share some of their tricks with everyone else.


If I'm HDR-ing from a single RAW, I import it into Lightroom off the camera, then send it to PS CS4. Then from Photoshop and run the Topaz Adjust 3 filter and pick which one looks best... then I usually run my noise-reduction then (Imagenomic Noise Reduction filter for PS) and then do a levels adjustment. Sometimes I'll change Saturation in the whole image or parts of it using masks... but not always. Afterward, if I notice more noise, I'll run the noise reduction again, but usually once is good. Then I usually sharpen it using the Filter-Sharpen command once or twice, then save it and have it go back to Lightroom where I will export it using whatever dimensions I'd like. Sometimes I sharpen it further from there. Anyone have any tips or tricks?


Oh! if I use a bracketed expsoure, which is USUALLY how I do HDR, then I have 3 RAWs (off a 7D) and run them in Photomatix Pro first, then take the combined image to PS and continue as above from there (usually I don't run Topaz Adjust 3 though as that look is already achieved from Photomatix)





- Jordan Murphy


www.freshphotohawaii.com


Equipment: Canon 7D, 50D, EF 24-105 f/4 L IS USM, EF 100-400 L IS USM, Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Kenko extension tube 3pc set, 2 430EXII Speedlites, Manfrotto monopod and tripod with video pan head.