Post by c130 on Oct 5, 2008 15:26:35 GMT
So you've gone out and taken some photos, but you're not entirely happy with them. They're nicely composed, but the colours and contrast don't seem to work, and you've been messing around for ages with the image adjustment tools to no avail. It just doesn't seem possible to get beauties out of these beasts.
BUT WAIT!
There is another option. You could try HDR (high-dynamic range). There are Photoshop plugins available that can simulate HDR using only one source image, and there are standalone programs that do it properly using multiple exposures.
The only problem is that the good ones aren't free.
Even a lot of bad ones aren't free. So I've sifted through Google in search of the most useful HDR programs that come with a free trial.
Protip: click on the small images to see larger versions.
I used this image to test each program:
Photomatix Pro 3
Not Photoshop-specific, but still the most popular software for HDR.
Ideally, you would take a tripod out with you when you go taking your photos, and you'd take three images - one underexposed, one regular exposure, one overexposed.
If you only have one image, you'll need to create at least three different "exposures" by adjusting the brightness of the original image in Photoshop.
You'll need:
1 dark image that shows off the details in the light areas
1 medium image that shows off the middle range of colours
1 bright image that shows off the details in the dark areas.
Save the three images separately, then load them into Photomatix and let it do its thing.
Protip: Don't bother using Photomatix's image editing tools after you've used it to combine the three exposures. Photoshop is better for this. Just combine the images, save the product and load it into PS for tweaking.
Get Photomatix Pro 3 here:
www.hdrsoft.com/download.html
ReDynaMix
It comes with loads of options to tweak your image into eyecatching HDR. You can choose how intense you want the effect to be - you can have it so subtle it's barely noticeable or so vibrant that the image looks like an LSD trip.
It needs only one source photo to do it - no need to shoot or edit a bunch of different exposures.
What's more, it's compatible with every version of Photoshop and PS Elements released in the last decade.
Protip: The evaluation version pastes two massive watermarks on your image; you can evade this by adding a 100px margin at the top and bottom of your canvas before running the plugin. Trim it off once you're finished.
Get ReDynaMix here:
www.mediachance.com/plugins/redynamix.html
Topaz Adjust
This one is stupid-easy to use, but also allows for pretty extreme tweaking and customisation. It's significantly more powerful than ReDynaMix, but produces images of a different flavour - personally I prefer Dyna's style.
Topaz Adjust comes with a bunch of preset modifiers that are very useful on their own. They do basic overhauls of the image, like increasing contrast to bring out details, correcting under/overexposed areas, and increasing the saturation to make pictures more vibrant. You get options like...
Exposure Correction - lightens and darkens localised sections of the image to repair inaccurate exposure and make it look more lifelike
Photo Pop - a more aggressive version of Exposure Correction that makes the image look "HDR"
Detailed - adjusts contrast to intensify subtle details like vegetation, overexposed clouds and hazy mountains
Dramatic - increases the contrast but not so much saturation, to make it... y'know, dramatic, like a scene from a movie
Spicify - like Dramatic with intense saturation
There are also tabs that let you precisely edit the contrast, saturation, exposure, level of detail, noise correction, etc. to get the image just the way you want it.
Get Topaz Adjust here:
www.topazlabs.com/topazlabs/03products/topaz_adjust/
BUT WAIT!
There is another option. You could try HDR (high-dynamic range). There are Photoshop plugins available that can simulate HDR using only one source image, and there are standalone programs that do it properly using multiple exposures.
The only problem is that the good ones aren't free.
Even a lot of bad ones aren't free. So I've sifted through Google in search of the most useful HDR programs that come with a free trial.Protip: click on the small images to see larger versions.
I used this image to test each program:
Photomatix Pro 3
Not Photoshop-specific, but still the most popular software for HDR.
Ideally, you would take a tripod out with you when you go taking your photos, and you'd take three images - one underexposed, one regular exposure, one overexposed.
If you only have one image, you'll need to create at least three different "exposures" by adjusting the brightness of the original image in Photoshop.
You'll need:
1 dark image that shows off the details in the light areas
1 medium image that shows off the middle range of colours
1 bright image that shows off the details in the dark areas.
Save the three images separately, then load them into Photomatix and let it do its thing.
Protip: Don't bother using Photomatix's image editing tools after you've used it to combine the three exposures. Photoshop is better for this. Just combine the images, save the product and load it into PS for tweaking.
Get Photomatix Pro 3 here:
www.hdrsoft.com/download.html
ReDynaMix
It comes with loads of options to tweak your image into eyecatching HDR. You can choose how intense you want the effect to be - you can have it so subtle it's barely noticeable or so vibrant that the image looks like an LSD trip.
It needs only one source photo to do it - no need to shoot or edit a bunch of different exposures.
What's more, it's compatible with every version of Photoshop and PS Elements released in the last decade.
Protip: The evaluation version pastes two massive watermarks on your image; you can evade this by adding a 100px margin at the top and bottom of your canvas before running the plugin. Trim it off once you're finished.
Get ReDynaMix here:
www.mediachance.com/plugins/redynamix.html
Topaz Adjust
This one is stupid-easy to use, but also allows for pretty extreme tweaking and customisation. It's significantly more powerful than ReDynaMix, but produces images of a different flavour - personally I prefer Dyna's style.
Topaz Adjust comes with a bunch of preset modifiers that are very useful on their own. They do basic overhauls of the image, like increasing contrast to bring out details, correcting under/overexposed areas, and increasing the saturation to make pictures more vibrant. You get options like...
Exposure Correction - lightens and darkens localised sections of the image to repair inaccurate exposure and make it look more lifelike
Photo Pop - a more aggressive version of Exposure Correction that makes the image look "HDR"
Detailed - adjusts contrast to intensify subtle details like vegetation, overexposed clouds and hazy mountains
Dramatic - increases the contrast but not so much saturation, to make it... y'know, dramatic, like a scene from a movie
Spicify - like Dramatic with intense saturation
There are also tabs that let you precisely edit the contrast, saturation, exposure, level of detail, noise correction, etc. to get the image just the way you want it.
Get Topaz Adjust here:
www.topazlabs.com/topazlabs/03products/topaz_adjust/
