Dark Style HDR Photography - adding the effects

HDR Start Image
You will now need to fire up PhotoShop and load your image.

3. Levels
Check levels and make sure you have the full tonal range.

This is done by making sure that the black pointer on the left of the histogram
is tight up to the left most peaks of the histogram.

Then move the White Pointer on the right of the histogram to the start of the
range at the right of the histogram, then click ok.




4. Curves & Contrast
Now we need to tweak the curves to boost the images contrast.
This is done by selecting the [ Linear Contrast (RGB) ] option from
the Preset menu. Then click ok to proceed.





5. Add Black & White + Bleach bypass filter
Now we need to fire up the Tiffen Dfx Plug-in.
This will be found under the [Filter] menu item in PhotoShop.
(you will need to have installed the plug-in before it will be available!)





5. (a)
Once Tiffen has loaded, Select the [IMAGE] tab at the bottom Filter screen,
then click on the "Black and White" image in the film strip (shown highlighted in light grey below, far left).

5. (b)
Now we need to "Add Layer" so that we can add the next filter.
This is done by clicking on the following icon below the cog icon, top left.




5. (c)
Now we can add the Bleach bypass.
Select the [FILM LAB] tab at the bottom Filter screen,
then click on the "Bleach bypass" image in the film strip (shown highlighted in light grey below, far left).

You can now select the various strengths of Bleach Bypass, by clicking on the various
Presets, on the right hand side of the screen.

You can play about with other settings and vary the strength of the effects until you are happy with your image.
(I have just shown the basic's so have a play and see what you come up with).

5. (d)
Now we can compare the start image with the new image by clicking on the button at the top middle of the screen.

5. (e)
Once your happy with your image just click on the cog icon top left under the word "FILE" and
the image can be saved.

After this it will be shown in the Photoshop screen.


5. (f)
You may wish to add even more contrast to the image by repeating Step 4. (curves).


5. (g)
When you have finished tweaking your image you will need to save it back to an 8bit image
as the HDR image created by Photomatix will be 16bit. ( This will now allow you to save the
file as JPG etc.).

5. (h).
Now here is your final Dark Style HDR image.

Copyright MRD Photography - Mark Dunn