articles/Nature/nikhdrpro-page2

Nik HDR Pro - part 2 of 1 2 3 4

by Tom Lee Published

TOP: The original three images for multiple composition

ABOVE: The final, worked image from: Using 'Realistic (subtle)' preset, Tone Compression and Exposure sliders. The result is an image with increased depth, colour, contrast and detail throughout the highlight and shadow regions.

A pop-up window will appear in Photoshop (Aperture, etc) asking if you want the three images selected to be processed. Before clicking OK, check the small box at the bottom of the window in Merging Options - 'Ghost Reduction Method'. This filters out any small shift in movement caused by trees blowing in the wind or camera shake if the images were taken hand held in quick succession such as our example image.

After a short period of processing, the fine-tune panel allows you to adjust your image. For those of you who already own Nik software the interface will look familiar and intuitive. On the left-hand side, the single click presets are arranged and for many will be the only place you need to visit. The presets are arranged in categories that are pretty much self explanatory. The Realistic group is probably the best starting point; beyond that you may start experimenting with the fine tuning controls on the right-hand side of the interface.

The three images that we have selected in Bridge are now combined into a single representation in the central part of the interface, but all the information from the under- and over-exposed elements of the camera capture are still present. Select a preset from the left-hand side of the panel from the Realistic settings as our starting point. On the top right-hand side of the fine-tuning panel is a slider called 'Tone Compression', and is probably one of the most used controls in my HDR workflow. Moving the slider left will open up the tonal range of the image to include more highlights from the under-exposed image and shadows from the over-exposed image, leaving a weak composition, with little mid-tone range. This is better used on some of the more extreme presets in the HDR collection. Moving the slider right opens up shadow areas and darkens highlights to produce ultimate detail throughout the image. The more images used in the composition allows for finer control over the amount of dynamic range available.

Below the Tone Compression slider is the Global Adjustment area. As the name suggests, we can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, etc; throughout the entire image, however, we generally only need to fine tune small areas of the image that cannot be corrected by a carte blanche global adjustment.

• Nik HDR Pro page 1
  
• Nik HDR Pro page 2
  
• Nik HDR Pro page 3
  
• Nik HDR Pro page 4
  

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