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Can you create HDR images in Lightroom? Yes! Well, sort of. Lightroom only works with one photograph at a time, so you can’t blend different exposures of a scene together. But you can handle some high-contrast scenes in Lightroom, without HDR software or Photoshop, by using Lightroom’s tools to exploit your camera’s full dynamic range. I explain how in this latest video.
Like many inventions, this technique was born out of laziness. I wanted to avoid the sometimes tedious process of blending exposures manually in Photoshop, with HDR software, or my favorite plugin, LR/Enfuse. I also try to keep my adjustments flexible by using Lightroom’s non-destructive workflow whenever possible.
This technique only works with Raw images, and scenes where the contrast isn’t extreme, but I keep finding more and more situations where it does work. If you try it, let me know how you make out!
As always, be sure to view this in high definition (720p) to see the tools and sliders clearly.
—Michael Frye
Related Posts: Using Curves in Lightroom and Camera Raw; New Video: White Balance for Landscape Photographs
Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author and photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, plus the eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. He has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Very helpful video! Thanks so much. I find myself using Lightroom more and more these days for a lot of my main editing. Thanks again!
There’s a difference between ‘HDR’ and ‘tonemapping’. While Lightroom will allow you to get the maximum range out of your RAW images, that’s not HDR, which, by definition if for images that have more dynamic range than can be captured in one shot. This might be of interest:
http://www.wolfnowl.com/2011/01/why-use-hdr/
Mike.
Thanks for the great video, very helpful to a beginner with LR. Now I need to get the same quality of photograph to work with in the first place! 😀
Thanks Michael – glad you found this helpful!
Mike, yes, I realize that by definition HDR applies to situations that exceed the dynamic range of one capture. So, as I say in the video, what I’m talking about isn’t really HDR, but a way of getting the most out of one frame without resorting to HDR or a manual exposure blend in Photoshop. The title is just a little tongue in cheek. Nice link though – interesting article.
Andy, thanks very much! Yes, it helps to start with a good original… 🙂
Wow! Thanks for the video Michael! That helped me adjust a photo I was having problems with. The information on this site is really helpful.
Russell, thanks very much for your comment – glad you found this helpful!
Michael, thank you for this helpful video!
You’re welcome Thomas, and thanks!
Very informative video. Thank you for sharing it!
Thanks Michael, and you’re welcome!
Great video Michael. It’s definitely easier to see a demo like this than read the Lightroom manuals, which I have tried a few times.
Now I need to get back to some Valley View images and see if I can replicate that. 🙂
Thanks Chris! I think most people find it easier to learn from a demo like that too. It’s also easier for me to show people how to do something than try to explain it in writing. Good luck with your Valley View images!
Thank you, Michael, for another very practical tutorial. It’s great to see how you put all those techniques into practice. I find many articles on technique a bit frustrating, because I still have no clue how to do any of it. This was very clear, and actually underscores some of the processing I’ve been doing recently. If I can spend less time processing – all the better!
You’re welcome Vivienne, and I’m glad you found this helpful. Yes, less time processing is a good thing. I say that as someone who actually enjoys this aspect of photography, but sometimes the sheer number of photographs I have to process is overwhelming.
Thanks very much for posting this video, and also moving to video for your photo critiques. I’ve just watched both, and found myself picking up a lot of lightroom tips along with the usual excellent tips on exposure and composition. Please keep making the videos!
You’re welcome Foster – I’m glad you found these helpful, and I appreciate your taking the time to say so!
Hi Michael. Thanks for posting this video article. I was interested that you chose to use the Adjustment Brush to recover the highlights on the basis that the Recovery slider can’t be used to target just part of the image (as the Adjustments Brush offers local adjustment capability, whereas the Recovery Slider is a global tool). While I agree with this, is it not fair to say that because the Recovery slider only targets highlights and not shadows, it would effectively have correctly targeted only the top half of the image anyway, and left the lower, shadow, half unaffected? In other words, although the Recovery slider is indeed a global correction tool, since all your blown-out highlight detail is at the top, in this instance, it would indeed have had only the local effect you are looking for. There are normally several ways to achieve the same result, but I was interested that you didn’t reach for the Recovery slider here – that would have been my first thought had I been working with this image. Perhaps you don’t like the highlight compression which the Recovery slider gives? – is it that you find that using the Adjustment Brush to paint in a lower exposure gives more natural-looking highlights, as there is less compression of the highlights, and more of a simple shift in exposure?
>Perhaps you don’t like the highlight compression which the Recovery slider gives? – is it that you find that using the Adjustment Brush to paint in a lower exposure gives more natural-looking highlights, as there is less compression of the highlights, and more of a simple shift in exposure?
Ian, that’s it exactly. Perhaps I should have explained my reasons for not using the Recovery slider in more detail, but I didn’t use it here because it wouldn’t work nearly as well as using the Adjustment Brush with a negative Exposure value. The Recovery tool would compress and flatten out the highlights, while using Exposure on only part of the image kept good contrast in the upper half of the photo. By the same token, using Fill Light would have lightened the bottom half of the image, but compressed and flattened the shadows, so I used Exposure again, this time in conjunction with the Graduated Filter tool.
Try it on one of your own images. If you have a photograph that’s lighter on the top half and darker on the bottom (or vice versa – basically any image with a large lighter section and a larger darker section), try using the technique I describe here, and compare that with just using the Recovery tool.
Thanks for the explanation, Michael. I will do!
Thank you for all your very helpful information. I have a question. In order to save disc space on my drive, is there any reason that I should not delete my RAW images that I bracketed and merged into an HDR.dng file in Lightroom ? My Catalog settings in the Metadata is NOT checked to automatically write changes into XMP (not sure if that matters). Unfortunately I have bracketed too many images since I did not fully grasp when/when not to bracket images – learning day by day :).
I think you should always keep your originals. What if, somewhere down the road, you decide that there’s a problem with one of your merged images – like ghosting, for example – that you didn’t notice before? What if you find a new tool or technique that you like better for merging some of your images?
I HIGHLY recommend that you check the box to automatically write changes to XMP. That doesn’t really relate to your HDR question, but more of a general principle. Writing to XMP gives you an important back to your Lightroom catalog; if the catalog gets corrupted, your Develop settings will also be stored in the XMP file. Check that box, then before you go to bed (since it’ll take awhile), select every photo in your catalog, then select Metadata > Save Metadata to Files so you can save to XMP retroactively.
I will check the box and retroactively add XMP files as you have advised ! Back the the merged HDR photo- many of my photos that were merged into a HDR photo consists of images that are not clipped- if I have 5 of them in the stack that were merged and are not clipped – can I delete 4 of them ? If yes, would it be best to keep the one that is exposed to the right(and not clipped) and delete the other 4 ?
Yes, it would be okay to delete photos that you don’t need because you have another frame or frames that have detail in highlights and shadows. If it’s an image you really care about, be sure that you really do have all the detail you need (making sure the red channel isn’t clipped, for example).
THANK YOU so much for your expertly advise !!!
(yup, did pay attention when you pointed out the red channel -love twilight colors – don’t want to lose them)
Would it be best to keep the photos that are “exposed to the right” and not clipped for processing ?
Yes – again, as long as you’re sure the red channel isn’t clipped, and as long as the photo has shadow detail as well.