Happy Holidays everyone! This is Bill. Linda is under the weather today with a bad cold and probably the flu. She asked me to share the holiday card I made for our friends and coworkers. Since she's the paper artist and I'm the photographer, there was no paper crafting involved, although some of her famous glitter might look good on the car fenders. :)
This is an HDR photo of an old car and some buildings in an old mining town named Marysville, Montana.
HDR stand for High Dynamic Range photo. A normal daytime photo is typically very bright in some parts and very dark in others. Sunny areas may look washed out, dark areas may be almost black. This is overcome by combining different exposures of the same view to create one photo with all the best parts of each photo.
HDR photos frequently have an other-worldly appearance because they contain so much detail in all areas of the photo.
First, you need at least three photos: one over exposed by two stops, one under exposed by two stop and a normally exposed one.
Here's an under exposed one. Notice the paint on the car and buildings are very dark and don't have much color.
Here's the over exposed one. The paint has turned to neon colors and the bushes are washed out. I actually kind of like the artsy look of this one.
To combine the photos, I used Photoshop CS6, which has a built-in HDR function. You can also use Adobe Lightroom, which is much more budget friendly and basically does many of the same functions. I like the artistic effects that HDR generates. The colors in the snow and bright colors really make a bland photo pop.
There are tons of tutorials on the web. I used a tutorial from Photoshop Cafe for this photo. You can also do HDR with a cell phone. Here is a tutorial for the iPhone.
Click here for a tutorial for a free program called GIMP. You can download GIMP for free here.
Thanks for reading this and Happy Holidays! Linda will be back soon with more amazing projects.
11 comments:
Wow, that was fantastic! I love the final product.
What a great photo! Thanks for the info on HDR. I hope Linda is feeling better soon!
I love the photo! Great effects. Lovely! Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful photos. I always enjoy your pictures and sceneries. Thanks for the info. Ana
Great card, Bill! Love that shot! Please tell Linda that I hope she feels better soon! Not a good time to get the flu!
Wow, Bill! That's a stunning photo! Wish I could take some photography lessons from you. And Photoshop lessons. I really struggle with my card photos, trying to make them look good, especially when there are glittery or shiny areas on them. I'm so sorry to hear that Linda is ill. Please tell her I'm thinking of her and wishing her a very speedy recovery.
Bill, I love the final photo. I think the overexposed one is pretty cool too. Linda, hope you feel better soon. Pat S
What a beautiful setting on your card. Hope Linda feels better soon! :)
Thank you so much for the information. I have been wondering what the HDR was on my iphone and never took the time to find out. Now I will use it.
I love your picture.
Get well soon Linda. The holidays are upon us.
This is a gorgeous card and thanks for sharing. Hope Linda is feeling better soon.
Linda D.
Great skills! Generally in photoshop (or there are some hdr soft http://aurorahdr.com) with Clarity you can easily achieve HDR effect or making people look like rolled up in plastic mannequins, so proceed with care.
When changing Clarity is necessary not to forget to compensate the exposure in toddlers as edge detection brightens the photo.
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