I'm by far not an expert in Photoshop, and have much to learn yet, but each week there are exciting discoveries for me. When I was in Egypt with American Photo Mentor Series Treks, in January, I shot several scenes of the interior of ruins, each one bracketed by about 1 stop exposure. I had been told about this new function in Photoshop, but didn't have a clue how to use it. Nonetheless, I prepared image files for future use in that process. The idea that you could get 6 or 7 stops of detail in one image was intriguing!
Traveling so much this year, I only tried it once, and was a total failure at it! But I kept making pictures that I thought would benefit from this technique, and finally, after taking a 1-day class with Lewis Kemper, I learned how to use this feature. I'm still not getting is just perfect, but it's coming along.
Chiostro 1.
This led me to think about the overall technique and how it changes our perception of the scene. In the images included here, the two of the Chiostro in Venice would never have been possible without this feature. Yet if not carefully processed, the picture can look artificial. Chiostro 1 looks fake to me, but Chiostro 2 looks more believable.
Chiostro 2.
The image of the church was the best - it looks very real. So partly I have to perfect my technique, but also I need to watch carefully the level of contrast and the range of brightness I'm putting in to my scenes - through HDR - and make sure they look right to the eye.
This church scene would have taken a lot of PS work to bring out the light balance. HDR is a powerful feature, once you know how to make it work for you.
Have a great day everyone!
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