HDR/exposure blending

[DanK]

In threads quite a while ago, I posted that I avoid HDR because of color distortions, among other problems, and instead use exposure blending (specifically, the LR Enfuse plugin for Lightroom) when I want to combine two or more differently exposed images without doing it manually. I later posted that I was making an exception for the Merge-to-HDR function in LR because in some tests, it seemed to yield results very similar to exposure blending.

No longer. Yesterday I used the LR function on an an urban night photograph. These tend to be particularly difficult in terms of color because of mixed lighting and the changing color of the sky until full night. The LR HDR version created a slight but clear color cast that I was unable to remove manually. It was more than just a shift on the yellow-blue and magenta-green axes. I then re-did the composite with LR Enfuse, and as expected, the color cast didn't appear. Below is a rough edit of the LR Enfuse composite.

I'll post both below. They aren't identical because I did a little more editing of the Enfuse version. The limestone blocks below the bridge and the concrete sidewalk are two spots that show the slight color cast.

So, I'm back to LR Enfuse when I don't want to do manual blending, which is most of the time.

Enfuse version:




Merge-to-HDR version:

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the update, Dan.

I've never quite forgiven Adobe for putting this functionality into Lightroom / Adpbe Camera Raw instead of into Photoshop, where I can use the blended image as a layer that I can mask can combine with other layers easily. While it can be done, the process is a bit tedious, so I generally stick to hand blending.

[DanK]

Manfred,

I haven't tried this in ACR, but it's actually very simple in LR. Just select the images you want in the filmstrip, including the composite, go to the edit-in menu, and select open as layers in Photoshop.

Dan

[Manfred M]

Manfred,

I haven't tried this in ACR, but it's actually very simple in LR. Just select the images you want in the filmstrip, including the composite, go to the edit-in menu, and select open as layers in Photoshop.

Dan

Thanks - I'll have to try that. ACR and Lightroom should do this pretty well identically.