RAW & HDR

[abraxas]

I've been shooting RAW lately and have been very happy with it. I've been thinking of trying HDR with the RAW files but don't have much of an idea on the workflow. Would I merge tiff maybe?

 

[Iron Flatline]

You could certainly merge PSDs, this assumes that you have Photoshop though. A real bummer is that you can't process a RAW file two different ways and then merge those. Maybe you could strip the EXIF out of a file by doing "Save for Web" JPGs and then merging those two, not sure.

 

[Arch]

yea i would go for merging the Tiffs.... the best way i found is to open the RAW files in your converter... uncheck the auto correct stuff, then save as a tiff. Do this for each exposure, then either 'merge to HDR' with the Tiffs in PS... or open up Photomatix or whatever your using, and import the tiffs.... job done.

 

[EOS_JD]

You can merge different exposures from from one RAW image to make an extended dynamic range image. In Photoshop I believe you need three seperate RAW/Tiff files though to make an HDR image.

 

[PNA]

I'm a bit confused.....as usual, but it's stated that you cannot process RAW files (3 of them) and have the post processing stick when merging HDR.

Is this correct???

And Arch, you are converting to TIFF before HDR.....are you post processing the shots before HDR?

 

[Arch]

You can merge different exposures from from one RAW image to make an extended dynamic range image. In Photoshop I believe you need three seperate RAW/Tiff files though to make an HDR image.

yea, photoshop needs shots taken at different exposures.... if you try and use the same exif data 3 times it wont work. Its far easier just to merge different exposures of the same RAW file yourself... you dont need the 'merge to HDR' command.

I'm a bit confused.....as usual, but it's stated that you cannot process RAW files (3 of them) and have the post processing stick when merging HDR.

Is this correct???

And Arch, you are converting to TIFF before HDR.....are you post processing the shots before HDR?

im not sure i understand what you mean... if you mean you cannot get photoshop to use 3 exposures of the same RAW file, then that is correct. Photoshop will also not except RAW as a format for directly creating a HDR image... as RAW isnt really a usable format.

Yes, im converting to Tiff before the HDR process as PS needs them in a usable format whether it Tiff, PSD or Jpeg.
I dont do any post processing beofre the HDR conversion as you want the images to be untouched at this point... you will then get a good dynamic range from the different exposures... if you correct the exposures before this process then its kinda missing the point of doing it.
However some people may tweek the exposures first... there's plenty of room for experimenting really... whatever works best for you.

 

[PNA]

im not sure i understand what you mean... if you mean you cannot get photoshop to use 3 exposures of the same RAW file, then that is correct. Photoshop will also not except RAW as a format for directly creating a HDR image... as RAW isnt really a usable format.

Yes, im converting to Tiff before the HDR process as PS needs them in a usable format whether it Tiff, PSD or Jpeg.
I dont do any post processing beofre the HDR conversion as you want the images to be untouched at this point... you will then get a good dynamic range from the different exposures... if you correct the exposures before this process then its kinda missing the point of doing it.
However some people may tweek the exposures first... there's plenty of room for experimenting really... whatever works best for you.

First part....I have 3 RAW images, post process each one then HDR merge,
will the post processing remain intact or.....as you say, it defeats the purpose of merging and do the PS work after the merge, ......which make complete sense.

I think I answered my own question.....

Is there a reason to merge with TIFF instead of RAW.....?

 

[Arch]

yea i just think HDR works best when you have one image underexposed, one exposed correctly and another overexposed.... so if you try and correct the exposure in anyway before the HDR Merge then it kinda takes something away from that.

But as i say, some people may find they prefer the results if they tweek the exposures first... its all about experimenting... even tho experimenting is very time consuming!

 

[PNA]

I just tried using an original Tiff photo underexposing, 2 stops, it and saving it as copy 1.
Overexposed the original 2 stops and saved it as copy 2.

Then used all three, copy 1+copy 2+original to merge.

Message reads ...not enough Dynamic range, etc.......

What did I do wrong......????

 

[gizmo2071]

"yea, photoshop needs shots taken at different exposures.... if you try and use the same exif data 3 times it wont work. Its far easier just to merge different exposures of the same RAW file yourself... you dont need the 'merge to HDR' command." as stated by archy
photoshop reads the exif data and sees that it's the same and says there's not a dynamic range.

 

[abraxas]

Cool. Been trying a few things and this gives me some more things to give a shot. Thanks!

 

[gizmo2071]

photomatix accepts the same file processed for different exposures tho.

 

[rlouis]

Is this Merge to HDR command only in CS2, because I have CS and don't know what it is. What is it used for, please.

 

[zioneffect564]

i have a hdr photo taken from one raw file.

 

[abraxas]

So far, RAW to TIFF to HDR has been working well.

Seems to keep things reasonably in line and retain color information for processing in CS2. I haven't been tweaking the RAW files, removing the auto-adjust that Bridge seems to have. I WAS removing the auto adjustments and saving to TIFF. Today I let the Bridge RAW update and now the auto-adjust boxes disappeared- So I just convert to TIFF as is.

Likewise with Photomatix. I may slightly adjust some of the values, but pretty much let it do its own thing and save the adjustments for later after pulling the hdr.tiff file into cs2.

Examples are #4 & #5 on this thread;

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73039

Much nicer than what I was coming up with in .jpg.

Will probably try the cs2 > hdr after I get this flow down for awhile.

Thanks! :thumbup: