Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

                                                                   Flex your image processing muscles with HDR exercise

HDR.... ???
Highlight Detail Recovery  AKA High Dynamic Range

Seems like everything nowadays has initials; ADD, COPD, JPG, NEF, CR2, ED, IBS, STD.. etc

 HDR is out there in Qimage Ultimate, now in it's upgraded form, and seems to be very mysterious to many.

In simple terms, HDR explains itself. You need to make an image lighter because of some dark and deep shadows, and in doing so, you lose detail in highlights. (Wedding dress with lace detail. Clouds that were dramatic and part of the image are now just white blobs.)
I could go on and on... but simply put, we add fill light to open the blocked shadow areas, and add HDR to taste to recover anything we lost in the bright areas while adding Fill light.
Here's an exercise to give some practice doing a really tough one.
Try this out on some images that might improve using this exercise.
Enjoy,

https://youtu.be/W5BlqxfLc7s

Fred

I also posted this in the Version 127 announcement thread.

Thanks for the video Fred. It inspired me to make one too on an afternoon too damp to clear autumn leaves in the garden.
Here is mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNhUd1nAFQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNhUd1nAFQ)
It's a longer video using 3 different images, each requiring a slightly different approach.

Please Note: I used a magenta rectangle in 2 of the images and a blue one in the other to initially recover some highlights. This will not always be necessary so always try without a recovery rectangle first and resort to that if recovery required cannot be achieved using the HDR slider. Remember to use the shift key to check for over exposed areas, as in my video.

I hope some of you find this helpful.
Terry

Thank you Fred and Terry for your videos showing how to use Fill, HDR2, and SC.  I have a better understanding of the relationship of Fill and HDR.

Vlady

Thanks for the feedback Vlady.
You will find v127 and HDR2 will give better overall contrast and definition of fine details.
Also it's much less likely additional work in the editor will be required.
If you go back to older images it would be wise to re-visit refine as a tweak is likely to improve the result.
Terry

Thanks, Vlady

That was the point of the exercise, to make use of a really sophisticated tool that Mike spruced up for us.
Terry took the advanced class, and I took the basic class, hoping to get more people to appreciate and use HDR when needed.
Just remember, HDR means Highlight Detail Recovery. If you didn't do anything to lose detail, then there's nothing yet to recover.

Enjoy,
Fred

I too really appreciate Fred and Terry taking the time they do providing tips, tricks, and examples.  I don't get to spend near the time I'd like to working with my pictures but when I do it's nice to be able to refer to these examples to get me started in the right direction.

Thank you!!

Dave