This plugin is my favorite method of converting a color image into black and white – it simply provides an enormous range of options and precise levels of control, and really lets you achieve, artistically, what you have set out to achieve.
#Hdr efex pro photoshop pro
Then I create a duplicate layer and fire up Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2. I generally then need to boost the contrast a little, and may need to use Content Aware to remove any dust specks that might not have shown up on one shot, but do now after the image has been tonemapped.Īt this point I save the color JPEG. I personally use Topaz’s noise reduction plugin for this, but any method you like should work. In Photoshop I reduce the noise further, as necessary – most tonemapping introduces noise, because you are combining three images and noise is additive. Some people prefer TIFF, for lossless quality, but after many back-to-back trials I personally can’t see any difference between a 100% quality JPEG and a TIFF file, and the JPEGs are much smaller files to work with. Once the image is tonemapped, I save it as a new JPEG. This will take practice and experimentation to get used to, but you can refer to my previous article on “How to See in Black and White” for more on this concept. Essentially, I’m aiming for a color version that will work well in black and white. Oloneo allows for rapid tweaking with immediate feedback at a very detailed level, and I will often tweak whichever preset I chose to get the right look and feel.Īt this point, if I know for sure I want to eventually end up with a black and white shot, I will tweak the tonemapping to enhance the textures, lighting, and depth of shadow. With Oloneo, as with Photomatix and the others, I can create presets that are roughly setup according to my general preference (I like a more natural look to my HDR images, rather than overdone or excessively haloed). I then pull these three JPEGs into Oloneo PhotoEngine, and start the tonemapping process. I then save off JPEGs from each RAW, usually just calling them 1, 2, and 3. I boost the clarity, contrast, sharpness (masked), and reduce noise, but I don’t alter the color, white balance, or exposure at this point. When I have my three RAW files, taken via bracketed exposure (usually +/- 2 or 3 EV), I run each RAW through Photoshop’s Camera RAW, using a preset so each exposure receives identical treatment. This allows me greater latitude and control of adjustments in post, and, when shooting bracketed shots for HDR, if there was too much movement in the frame I can use a single RAW shot to create a pseudo-HDR (by saving three different JPEGs from the same RAW, each with different exposure values – see the addendum at the end of this article for more).
#Hdr efex pro photoshop software
However, the same basic workflow steps apply regardless of which HDR software package you are using, be it HDRSoft’s Photomatix, Nik’s HDR Efex Pro, Photoshop’s own Merge to HDR Pro, or any of the many others.įirst of all, I always shoot RAW. Every example photo in this article was tonemapped using Oloneo PhotoEngine v1.0. I want to emphasize again, before we begin, that this is the workflow I currently use and recommend to others, but it isn’t necessarily the right way, or even the way some experts (including those who develop the HDR products I’ll talk about) recommend.įor this article I’ll be using Oloneo’s new and impressive PhotoEngine v1.0 for all of my HDR rendering. My ‘Recommended’ Way to Create a Black and White HDR Image I encourage you to experiment and discover which method works best for you, artistically, creatively, and economically. With this article I will show you how I do it – my ‘recommended’ way – and also address a few alternative methods. In particular, a lot of photographers were wondering about the “right” way to make a black and white HDR, given that there are, in fact, numerous possible paths you can take through the editing process to achieve the end result. That section of the article received many comments and questions. All of these things lend themselves immediately and powerfully to black and white photographs, making HDR another viable tool in the monochrome photographer’s arsenal. In fact, as I talked about in that previous article, HDR can be extremely useful in bringing out microtexture, enhancing the effect of light and shadow, and in creatively influencing the overall tone of the image. A few months ago, DPS published an article I wrote entitled “How to See in Black and White.” That article had a small bonus section at the end, in which I talked about how useful HDR can be to the monochrome photographer – a fact that is initially somewhat counterintuitive, since HDR is stereotypically held to be all about garish, over-done colors and excessive haloing.