HDR Exposers Through Lightroom

[chrisburke]

Ok, so I posted last week about how I'm trying to learn HDR stuff, and it's been going great and thank you all for your help.

What I have been doing is, going out, setting up my tripod, and taking 3 pictures of the subject (at 3 different exposures) some of the images turn out good, others, not so great.

Last night, I was messing around with my shots from New Orleans, in Lightroom, and I noticed the exposure button... so for the helluvit I decided to give it a whirl.. I took my orignal image (which is of a student praying in front of a home that was rendered "unlivable" because of Katrina... I made a few tweaks to the orignal, then exported that image... then I brought the exposure down to -3.0 exported that, and then brought it up to +3.0 exported that. I then took the 3 images into to Photomatix, generated the HDR did some tone mapping, and this is what I came up with

Now this is by far the best HDR image I've done (and I've tried LOTS this week) my question is... is it ok to go about doing HDR this way (just changing the exposures in Lightroom, instead of taking the multiple shots???

 

[Drake]

I am not a pro but I find it enough in many cases. An image combined of three differently adjusted images from one RAW file will have far greater dynamic range than a single tone mapped JPEG. Of course there are situations when 3 different exposures from a camera are a must, especially when there's sunny sky involved.

But hey, it's just my opinion, there are people who think a true HDR can be only achieved with in-camera exposure bracketing. I don't do a lot of HDRs, and If I do, I prefer to use layer masking in Photoshop rather than Photomatix. I just hate the cartoonish feel of the outcomes.

 

[Arch]

... is it ok to go about doing HDR this way (just changing the exposures in Lightroom, instead of taking the multiple shots???

Your not really creating a HDR image but rather increasing the dynamic range of the shot. This can be done a number of ways anyway without the use of photomatix. However it is easier and more convenient for some to tone map thier images this way.

Its not a 'bad thing' to do this method tho if you like it... i sometimes use this on my images, but when i want to create a true HDR, you can't beat multiple exposures shot from the camera.