Around the end of last year I switched the main way I combine my photos from HDR to manual blending. And from that time I got a log of questions on how I do it. So here you will find a tutorial on how I do it. I will cover here only how I combine the photos, as all other issues, from shooting to getting your desired look can be find in the HDR tutorial.

This tutorial is split into three parts:

1. Photoshop masks – I explain and show how the masks work in Photoshop. This is mostly for beginners and if you already know how masks work, you can skip this.
2. Luminance masks – I show what are and how you get a specific Luminance mask. The knowledge of Photoshop masks is required here.
3. How to blend images using the Luminance masks – I show how you can use what you learn in the two other parts to blend your images

For now the first part is up, and I’m working on the other two.

And here are few blended images, so this page is a little more interesting :)

Another tuesday, another process post. Today I chosen a photo from budapest, where I managed to keep a nice realistic feel to it.

So lets get to it. To get this final shot, I did the following:

I merged all the files in Oloneo Photoengine, where I only changed the strength.

From there I loaded the HDR result with the original brackets into Photoshop and I did the following edits (numbered from bottom up):
1. The result from Oloneo Photoengine
2. +2EV exposure to brighten few parts of the bridge
3. -1EV to bring donw the brightness of the water a little
4. -2EV to darkend the sky a little
5. Color efex Pro contrst, to get more detail in the photo (and only on 60% visibility)
6+7. Added glow to the photo (view my glow tutorial) but I removed it from the darkest areas, as it made them too dark
8. added even more brightenss to the darkest areas
9. added contrast to the basic midtones
10. removed the blue color cast from the ships
11. darkened the sky a little

and thats all. I tryed to put all the stages into a gif, but it looks a little boring, but still maybe some of you will find it intersting. And here is the Photoshop screenshot.

Please continue to the full post to see the Oloneo Photoengine result and the original 0EV exposure from the camera.

I really wanted a photo without a bridge today, but when my head hurts I just cant create anything usable. And as I’ve been sick for the last week, it hurts like hell today. After three hours of trying to create something, I just gave up. So instead, here is one I already had finished few days ago.

This is a HDR created in Oloneo photoengine and finished in Photoshop.

For today I went back through my older photos and chosen this one from Prague. It was taken in early 2012, during one very foggy day. Actually last time I was there, this spot was fenced off, so you can’t get there anymore. Too bad, as it was one of the best views of the Charles bridge.

This is a HDR created from 7 shots in Oloneo Photoengine and finished in Photoshop.

Of course when I saw a nice bridge I had to go under it to get a photo. Not even the not so accessible side of the river stopped me. Good that I always have good trekking boots on, because without them, I would probably end in the water right away :)

This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine and finished in Photoshop. Photo taken by the Main bridge in Maribor, Slovenia.