Greg Benz Photography » Minneapolis Wedding and Portrait Photographer

It is important to plan your shoot to save yourself editing time later or unusable images.

• Use a tripod and remote shutter release to get images which are essentially already aligned (this minimizes alignment error, and gives you the maximum image size once all frames are aligned). Note that I have successfully shot hand held, but this is not preferred. Additionally, since many images involve small apertures (for depth of field) and long exposures (for the over-exposed images), it usually isn’t practical to get blur free shots handheld.
• Use a bubble level if desired to get straight images
• Use the lowest ISO possible to minimize noise
• Use mirror lock up to minimize blur due to mirror slap
• Use manual or aperture priority to set the aperture constant for all images (so that all images have the same depth of field)
• If long shutter times go beyond 30 seconds, you may need to use the bulb setting and a stopwatch (autobracket typically won’t handle more than 30 seconds – Nikon, here’s an opportunity for a good firmware update!)
• Watch out for any moving objects (clouds, birds, people, etc) because they will cause problems when merging the images

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After you capture the images, there are some steps you should take to prepare the individual exposures before merging them into an HDR:

• Set the white balance on all images the same (don’t use auto, make sure white balance is same across all images)
• Correct any chromatic aberration (this shows us as red/green color fringing at the interface of buildings / sky, etc)
• If you want to control noise in the final image, now is the time to do it (reducing noise in the tone mapped image produces strange artifacts)
  • Export the images to 16 bit TIFF files (I recommend exporting an as shot plus a -1 exposure for your darkest exposure, plus an as shot plus a +1 exposure for your brighest exposure.  This is done because the TIFF file has less tonal range than the RAW image).
  • Use a program like Neat Image (my preferred tool), Noise Ninja, or DxO to reduce noise in the image

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Once you have prepared the RAW or TIFF images, you need to merge them to create the HDR. This is the point at which images are aligned, and the bit depth is increased by combining the separate exposures.
In Photomax, I use the following workflow:

• Select HDR, generate
• Click on “browse” and select all the images you want to combine
• If prompted, entire the exposure levels
• I always choose to align, as I don’t get perfect alignment even on a tripod
• If you have movement, experiment with the “remove ghost” option on and off. With it on, you must be careful to check for strange artifacts, but it can sometimes really help an image
• Save in the HDR format

In Photoshop, I use the following workflow:

• File menu, automate, merge to HDR
• Select the files to merge
• I typically choose auto
• Save the HDR format

By saving either output to the HDR (Radiance) format, you now how the option to use the other program to due the tone-mapping. I sometimes find that one program excels in one function, while the other program does a better job of completing the task.

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I use the following workflow in Photomatix

• Select HDR, Tone Mapper, select the “details enhancer”
• Set output to 16 bit, and preview to 1024 (note that preview in details enhancer is not accurate)
• Use Luminosity and Gamma to get desired image brightness
• Set strength to get desired effect
• Use light smoothing middle to very high
• Set white point and black point to maximum levels without compromising bright / light areas (Watch the histogram)
• Color sub-menu: set temperature to get desired warmth
• Set color saturation to get desired coloration (note that desaturating the image to black and white alters tonal brightness and may require gamma/white/black adjustment. Personally, I prefer to convert a color image to Black and White in Lightroom instead)
• Micro sub-menu: set microcontrast to control contrast / brightness, set micro smoothing high enough to minimize noise in the sky and other areas
• Things to watch for:
• Be careful if you choose a strength level too high or micro-smoothing too low, as this can cause a lot of noise in the image (especially in continuous tone areas, like a blue sky)
• Be careful of halos if you choose a strength level too high (watch for halos especially where the sky meets buildings or the horizon)

I use the following workflow in Photoshop

• Convert to 16 bit (this prompts the tone mapping interface)
• Select local adaptation
• Set radius / threshold
• Bring in the black and white point on the curve as desired
• Edit the curve shape to achieve desired contrast

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