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Many HDR images have been criticized because of the tendency of lots of photogs to go over the edge in post-processing. In this “How To Do Stuff” post, I’d like to demonstrate one of my techniques for producing realistic High Dynamic Range images that can be enlarged without losing too much visual detail. This image is a result of a bit of fine tuning with Nik HDR Efex Pro, Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

This is one of those HDR images that looks really nice in color but seems to suffer greatly with a straight monochrome conversion. As you can see, it’s pretty flat and lifeless. Here is where Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 really shines with the many Film Types available.

In this post, I’m going to concentrate on a few of the lower ISO film types to show just how versatile the software is. Although there are an infinite number of possibilities available in the software, sometimes a simple film selection will be all that’s needed. I’ll let you decide. I’ve chosen an especially flat image to show just how the different film types can enhance or in some cases detract

One of the nice things about doing HDR imaging is that a final result, with all the tonal variation can be further enhanced with the use of technology. For this short and simple ”How To Do Stuff” post, I’m working with this image which was produced using five shots with Nik HDR Efex Pro and Adobe Photoshop.

My wife and I are really enjoying our last color punch for the year with these beautiful azaleas. This is a High Dynamic Range(HDR) image of our hybrids that bloom from spring till autumn. And the flowers are about 3 to 4 inches across. . . a little larger than the rest of our azaleas. As you can see, the day was rainy which added even more visual interest to these beautiful blooms.

An HDR image from my “Poppin a few with the Nifty Fifty” photo walk in (Little) Washington, North Carolina this past winter. It seemed like everything on the street was pretty dreary except for the awning at the front of Washington Jewelers, est. 1962. So, here it is in all of it’s colorful beauty.

Photo Art – Texture for Real

This was another exercise in strategic cropping since I was limiting myself to one prime lens. All of the zooming was done by my two legs that day.