19 Tutorials for Creating Beautiful HDR (High Dynamic Range) Imagery

March 25, 2009 - 35 Comments
Graphic Design, Photography, Photoshop, Tutorial

HDR(High Dynamic Range) imaging is the process of taking several exposures and merging them together into one image. First, take a shot with normal exposure, then another with under-exposure and then overexpose a shot to capture the detail from the shadow. Then, merge all the photos together to create your HDR image, you will now see all the highlights that make HDR so unique and beautiful. Download or Buy Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended »

For the most part, to create decent HDR images, it takes a good photographer, and a little knowledge of photo editing software like Photoshop or Photomatix. There are a lot of different techniques and tutorials for creating HDR images and you will find the best of them below.

HDR Photoshop Effect Tutorial

Tut URL : HDR Photoshop Effect Tutorial.
Description : This HDR Photoshop tutorial shows you an easy way to fake HDR photos in Photoshop. You don’t need to shoot into RAW or take multiple photos – one JPEG file is plenty.
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : Roman Flössler.

How to Create Professional HDR Images

Tut URL : How to Create Professional HDR Images.
Description : There are some things in the digital photography world that Photoshop can’t do better than most other programs. HDR turns out to be one of them. Photoshop CS2 has a built-in HDR assembler that, is capable of creating extremely realistic or extremely surreal HDR images.
Image Editor : Photomatix & Photoshop.
Tutorial Author : Ryan McGinnis.

Gritty HDR Photo Effects

Tut URL : Gritty HDR Photo Effects.
Description : Give your photos a grunge look with this popular Photoshop effect. Although this Photoshop effect is commonly referred as HDR photo effect, it is it can be done with regular, non-HDR photos.
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : Denny Tang.

Merging HDR in Photoshop Tutorial

Tut URL : Merging HDR in Photoshop Tutorial.
Description : In this tutorial you will learn the process of taking multiple exposures and merging them together, with Photoshop, into a single 32 bit image. Shoot normal exposure, then under-expose a shot to capture highlights and over-expose a shot to capture shadow detail. Finally, you will merge these photos together to produce a single image with a larger range of tones that can now show all the details in the shadows and highlights.
Image Editor : Photomatix & Photoshop.
Author : Colin Smith.

Post Processing HDR Tutorial

Tut URL : Post Processing HDR Tutorial.
Description : In this tutorial you will learn after you have created your HDR image how to spice it up with some professional photoshop tecniques.
Image Editor : Photomatix & Photoshop.
Author : thinsite.net.

Layered HDR Tone Mapping

Tut URL : Layered HDR Tone Mapping.
Description : This tutorial explains, step by step, how to achieve HDR pictures using layers and layers mask in Photoshop.
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : adidap.com/.

How to easily fake an HDR effect in Photoshop

Tut URL : How to easily fake an HDR effect in Photoshop.
Description : An easy to follow tutorial showing you how to create a HDR photo without the actual (time-taking) HDR process.
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : Kolnedra on Flickr/.

HDR Style Results Using Layers in Photoshop

Tut URL : HDR Style Results Using Layers in Photoshop.
Description : HDR is about collecting a series of shots taken on a tripod at different exposures and allowing photoshop to merge them together to make one perfectly exposed image.
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : Darren Rowse.

Exposure Blending Tutorial

Tut URL : Exposure Blending Tutorial.
Description : This tutorial will walk you through the basics of creating an HDR image by hand. All you need is a camera and photo editing software that supports layer masking (you can follow these steps in Photoshop).
Image Editor : Photoshop.
Author : Darren Rowse.

HDR Tutorial by stuckincustoms.com

Tut URL : HDR Tutorial.
Description : This is probably the most complete and indepth HDR tutorial you will read, it is split into three parts, and certainly worth your time.
Image Editor : Photomatix or Photoshop.
Author : Trey Ratcliff.

HDR Tutorial with Photomatix

Tut URL : HDR Tutorial with Photomatix.
Description : The purpose of HDR photography is to show a higher range of detail than could ever be possible from a single image, this tutorial shows you how to obtain this using Photomatix.
Image Editor : Photomatix.
Author : Dan Norcott.

How to create HDR Photos – HDR/Photomatix tutorial

Tut URL : How to create HDR Photos – HDR/Photomatix tutorial .
Description : The reality, of HDR, is that just about anyone can take and process an HDR photo with most cameras and proper HDR software. In this tutorial you will go through the steps necessary to take your very own HDR photo and process it like a pro.
Image Editor : Photomatix.
Author : Fabio Sasso.

HDR 101.com Tutorial

Tut URL : HDR 101.com Tutorial.
Description : This is a basic, standard, step by step tutorial of how to make an HDR Image.(Note: this tutorial is based on building an HDR image from 7 different shots), with Photomatix (used for Generating HDR and Tone Mapping) and Photoshop CS2 (for retouching only).
Image Editor : Photomatix & Photoshop.
Author : HDR101.com.

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There are 8 Comments › Leave your comment

Dainis Graveris
25 Mar, 2009

Very good article for every photographer or designer – extremely useful! Thanks for completing this one!

Reply
CasinoInWest
26 Mar, 2009

So good, thanks for the article.

Reply
Stephen
8 Apr, 2009

Great list of tutorials here, worth bookmarking for sure!

Reply
chaoskaizer
8 Apr, 2009

I used topaz adjust and nil photo fx (Photoshop actions) for making awesome faux hdr.

thanks for sharing, good resources.

Reply
Arkan
24 Jun, 2009

I don’t mean to spam, but GIMP + Fx-Foundry is a much better (and easier) way to make fake HDR photos.

Reply
mghong
9 Jul, 2009

Bookmarked for future references…

Reply
Sheikh Naveed
19 Aug, 2009

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Tutorial using 1 JPG

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Tutorial using 1 JPG states “how to convert simple images into awesome and inspiring one”. Specially beginners will find this tutorial very useful in passion of increasing their HDR skills (HDR using Adobe Photoshop and Photomatix)

see HDR Tutorial here…
http://sheikhnaveed.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/high-dynamic-range-hdr-tutorial-using-1-jpg/

Reply
T-hong
2 Nov, 2009

Another tutorial for an open source free program that works great. I have used these methods but dont buy expensive software if dont need to. Check it out freehdr.blogspot.com

otherwise great site!

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