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08/14/2012 11:26:38 AM · #1 |
I recently ran across a video describing how to use available LR4 presets for interesting effects. The author goes through several photos and applies the different presets to create fairly impressive changes. Ho hum photos become much better just because of the application of these presets. I have long suspected that the photos I take would do much better in challenges if I just had a better eye for which sliders to slide in post processing, and since it is only $20 for the bundle, I may just get these presets to play with no matter what. A few of the presets simulate HDR effects, but he recommends Photomatix Pro for true HDR processing. (He offers a 15% off coupon code for those who want to buy at HDRSoft.com).
So my questions are these:
1) Have you bought any LR presets, and if so, were you satisfied with them?
2) For HDR, anyone have an opinion or recommendation on Software? Is Photomatix Pro the way to go? I already have LR5 and PSE10.
Link to LR4 Presets
Link to Photomatix Review |
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08/14/2012 12:38:24 PM · #2 |
I watched that same video. Trey's photography (and editing skills) are very inspiring. I downloaded the photomatix trial and am loving it. I plan on purchasing as soon as i can afford it.
My first dpc entry using the software. It didn't do as well as i had hoped but better than it would have without the software.
//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=1028671
Message edited by author 2012-08-14 12:38:53. |
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08/14/2012 01:02:25 PM · #3 |
I love that photo! Is that true HDR or did you just use the LR presets? |
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08/14/2012 02:05:09 PM · #4 |
Check out HDR Effex Pro 2 by Nik Software.
Link. |
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08/14/2012 02:10:53 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by JiaBob:
I love that photo! Is that true HDR or did you just use the LR presets? |
Thanks :) I followed Trey's tutorial almost to the letter. That was done using Photomatix Pro. (Technically it's a standalone software not a lightroom preset per se.)
I used LR to make 5 copies of a single image, -2 exposure, -1, 0, +1, +2. Then exported all five to Photomatix. The rest was just playing with the sliders to my heart's content.
So not technically a "true" HDR since it was a single image and not multiple exposures. (correct me if I misunderstood 'true HDR')
Message edited by author 2012-08-14 14:11:58. |
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08/14/2012 02:40:07 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:
Check out HDR Effex Pro 2 by Nik Software.
Link. |
Thank you for the link. I will take a look. |
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08/14/2012 02:44:50 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by jadin:
Thanks :) I followed Trey's tutorial almost to the letter. That was done using Photomatix Pro. (Technically it's a standalone software not a lightroom preset per se.)
I used LR to make 5 copies of a single image, -2 exposure, -1, 0, +1, +2. Then exported all five to Photomatix. The rest was just playing with the sliders to my heart's content.
So not technically a "true" HDR since it was a single image and not multiple exposures. (correct me if I misunderstood 'true HDR') |
Your definition of HDR and mine agree. Trey appears to work with three levels of HDR:
1) Presets in LR on a single exposure to create the illusion of HDR. (These are the presets he is selling for $20.)
2) Created copies of a single exposure to add +/- exposure and then run an HDR-like process on those tweaked versions.
3) A true HDR from multiple exposures.
As far as I can tell, #2 and #3 require additional software outside of LR while #1 is an add-on to LR.
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09/06/2012 10:13:40 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by JiaBob:
I recently ran across a video describing how to use available LR4 presets for interesting effects. The author goes through several photos and applies the different presets to create fairly impressive changes. Ho hum photos become much better just because of the application of these presets. I have long suspected that the photos I take would do much better in challenges if I just had a better eye for which sliders to slide in post processing, and since it is only $20 for the bundle, I may just get these presets to play with no matter what. A few of the presets simulate HDR effects, but he recommends Photomatix Pro for true HDR processing. (He offers a 15% off coupon code for those who want to buy at HDRSoft.com).
So my questions are these:
1) Have you bought any LR presets, and if so, were you satisfied with them?
2) For HDR, anyone have an opinion or recommendation on Software? Is Photomatix Pro the way to go? I already have LR5 and PSE10.
Link to LR4 Presets
Link to Photomatix Review |
So did you get the presets? I'm curious about them as well. |
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09/07/2012 12:05:54 AM · #9 |
I haven't tried those presets for LR, they might be nice but for the most part I haven't found presets all that useful for me in the way I work. Maybe for a group of images all similar they could save me some real time, but for individual competition images I really prefer to take my time doing a little of this and a little of that based on the unique content of the image I am working on. But hey, if some presets were good enough I could think differently on the matter.
I really like Nik's HDR Efex Pro for doing HDR. I will try some of the many presets featured with it, but basically just to get an idea of which of the various "development engines" employed by that plug-in might fit the particular image best- and then I'll adjust things further from there. And I do have several of my own custom presets I use with it, but it's amazing how even my own presets often don't work right for a new image I thought was similar to the the one I created the custom preset for- every image is very unique.
Despite my praise for the Nik HDR software, I will say that my recent Train Tracks entry I had shot and processed as a three image HDR and it looked pretty good. Out of curiosity I took just the single middle exposure of the three and played with it in LR4 just to see how far I could get it. I really didn't think I could touch the dynamic range my HDR image had as the sky was pretty darn bright. But I recovered all I wanted to from the sky, and my entry ended up being that single exposure image (too bad I posted the wrong version with halos!). I'm really quite blown away with how much better the Adobe RAW engine has gotten with LR4- well worth the upgrade even from LR3.
I did also recently learn a new thing for doing HDR with CS6. The Nik HDR plug-in does have a setting where you can try to freeze any motion to one particular frame, but it's pretty hit and miss. What you can do is take the multiple exposures into the built-in CS6 HDR Pro, and there you can pick exactly which frame you want the motion to be set in place from. It's pretty trippy to switch the motion to different frames and watch objects move around yet the exposure remains virtually the same- try it with a waterfall! Anyway, you can get your motion set nicely to the frame you want in CS6, set your white point where highlights aren't blown is what I do (the image still looks wonky), save it as a 32-bit image, and then take it into a dedicated HDR plug-in such as Nik's where adjusting is much easier than in CS6, and the 32-bit file has all the dynamic range the plug-in will need. Pretty cool :) |
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09/07/2012 02:45:48 AM · #10 |
| I was playing last night with 3 to 10 shot hdrs using niks HDR efex pro 3 I think and then remembered I have photomatix as well so I fired it up and the presets are no were near as subtle as niks, I closed it down and carried on using niks HDR package. |
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