Monday, August 9, 2010

PhotoShop SIG 8-9-10

In this month's SIG we talked about HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. HDR allows the photographer to capture all the tonal range in a scene that the eye can see but image sensors can't capture in a single exposure. This is done by making multiple exposures by using the bracketing feature or the exposure adjust feature in a digital camera. The multiple exposures are combined into a single image that displays the entire tonal range of a scene.

Software that can do this is found in Photoshop CS3 and later with CS5's HDR Plus being a significant improvement over previous Photoshop versions.

Photomatix, current version is 3.2, is an excellent program for HDR. The web site for Photomatix is from HDSoft, http://www.hdrsoft.com/

We also looked at a new product, HDR Expose from Unified Color. HDR Expose is unique as it provides tooks for editing all of the photograph in 32 bit HDR mode before outputting it to an 8 or 16 bit image. The Web site is http://www.unifiedcolor.com/

Also discussed were various tools and plugins for creating a pseudo HDR from a single exposure. RAW files work the best. In Photoshop CS5 go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning.
Photomatix has a Plugin that can be purchased with Photomatix as a bundle for an additional $20 that gives excellent results. I only works of 16 bit images.

At the SIG I showed how the Topaz Labs Adjust 4 plugin also can give an excellent HDR look. A good place to start is the Spicify preset is a good place to start. The web site for Topaz Labs is http://www.topazlabs.com/

At the SIG it was planned to also show some new Plug-ins of interest.

Exposure 3 from AlienSkin, https://www.alienskin.com/ is great for giving a look to an image that emulates a film looks. There are many choices.

ToonIt from Digital Anarchy, http://www.digitalanarchy.com/ is a fun plugin for creating a cartoon look to a photograph. It has many Presets to use to get started.

Portraiture from Imagenomic, http://www.imagenomic.com/, is an excellent plugin for doing portrait retouching.