AV News 187 - February 2012
Now select the centre layer i.e. the normal exposed layer. Gently brush away
any overly dark areas allowing the bottom layer containing detail in the
shadows to show through. When satisfied with this part of the process ensure
all layers are selected then flatten the image to produce just one single layer.
You may now use the 'Levels' tool to make minor adjustments, remember
too little adjustment is better than too much.
You should now
have one image layer
containing highlights
from one layer, midtones from another
and shadow detail
from another. Your
image should show a
much larger range of
tones than would
ever be possible from
just
one
single
exposure, where you
would
need
to
sacrifice either shadow or highlight detail.
In our first example of the flattened layers the church interior appears
slightly cold in colour. This is now the time to make another small adjustment
to warm up the image. Open up Photoshop colour palette using the
keystroke shortcut of Control+B and add a small amount of red (or whatever
is most applicable to your own image). When satisfied with the colour
balance crop the image to suit your final requirements.
You may note that I
started out with an
image of 3:2 ratio but
cropped this image
to 4:3 ratio to suit an
AV sequence (1024
x 768). Finally you
may then sharpen
slightly if necessary
using the 'Unsharp
Mask' facility before
saving.
Remember
too
little is better than too
much.
You've now produce a pseudo HDR image without any HDR plug-ins, and
this can be achieved in any version of Photoshop.
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