Post-processing Wednesday: Blue sunset in Mexico

Time for another post in my Post-processing Wednesday series. For more posts like this one, go here.

Today it will be slightly different as instead of a lot of text and a few images there is a video (a few of you asked me whether it would be possible). In this video I show how to use a few tools (Photomatix Pro 5, Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz plugins and luminosity masks) to create and edit HDR image. I also share a few small tips here and there. As always I'm looking forward to your feedback.

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Ok, without further ado here is the video showing the workflow:

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Tutorial: Add sunset glow

Sometimes sunsets aren't as warm as we would like them to be, they miss this very nice warm glow around the sun... But fortunately adding this glow (or making it more pronounced) is very easy and today I'll show you how to do this in Photoshop.

Written version

If you don't want to watch video tutorial or prefer tutorials in written form, here are the steps I took to create this effect in the video above:

1. Create new empty layer by selecting Layer -> New Layer from main menu and change its name to Sunset glow.
2. Add layer mask to Sunset glow layer.
3. Select newly added layer mask, make sure you have white colour for Foreground and black for Background selected.
4. Select Gradient tool and make sure Radial Gradient is selected.
5. Draw gradient starting from the sun down. This is to limit effect of your sunset glow effect.
6. Select your Background layer and sample it near the sun area using Eyedropper Tool. Basically you should get golden, orange, yellow or other warm tone.
7. Select Sunset glow layer again, select Paint Bucket tool and fill layer with previously selected golden colour.
8. Change blending mode of Sunset glow layer to Overlay or Soft Light and decrease its opacity to around 20 - 40% depending on the effect you want to achieve.
9. Now you're done. However, you might want to adjust layer mask of Sunset glow layer to further limit the range of this effect.

Below you can see sample image to which I applied this easy technique. If you would like to see original image simply move your mouse pointer over the image. Image is much warmer and in my opinion simply looks more pleasant.

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Beginner's HDR photography tutorial. Part 5. Dealing with noise

Today it is time for 5th part of my HDR video tutorial. Last time I was talking about halo artifacts which are one of the most common issues in HDR photos. This time I will give you 5 easy tips to avoid another problem that is often visible in tone-mapped photos - noise.

Unfortunately YouTube compressed this image pretty much making all the noise rather difficult to see :( So I will try to upload full HD uncompressed version somewhere.

Next parts will cover subjects such as creating indoor images, creating night HDR images.

Note 1: if you don't have Photomatix Pro, you can download free trial from here. It never expires but adds watermark to the final image (BTW if you decide to purchase Photomatix Pro, you will be able to get rid of this watermark from already processed images!).

Note 2: before you watch this part, I advise you to take a look at Part 3 in which I showed how to create realistic HDR images. If you're new to Photomatix Pro take a look at Part 2 in which I talk about Photomatix Pro, explain its interface and talk about core features (such as deghosting or alignment). You might be also interested in watching Part 1 in which I talk about HDR photography in general and give some reasons why do we need it.

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Beginner's HDR photography tutorial. Part 4. Dealing with halo artifacts

Today it is time for 4th part of my HDR video tutorial. In today's part I'm talking about nightmare of HDR photographers - halo artifacts. I also show one of the ways of dealing with them.

Next parts will cover subjects such as creating indoor images, creating night HDR images.

Note 1: if you don't have Photomatix Pro, you can download free trial from here. It never expires but adds watermark to the final image (BTW if you decide to purchase Photomatix Pro, you will be able to get rid of this watermark from already processed images!).

Note 2: before you watch this part, I advise you to take a look at Part 3 in which I showed how to create realistic HDR images. If you're new to Photomatix Pro take a look at Part 2 in which I talk about Photomatix Pro, explain its interface and talk about core features (such as deghosting or alignment). You might be also interested in watching Part 1 in which I talk about HDR photography in general and give some reasons why do we need it.

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Beginner's HDR photography tutorial. Part 3. Creating realistic images in Photomatix Pro

Today it is finally time for 3rd part of my HDR video tutorial. In today's part I'm talking about how to get realistic results using Photomatix Pro 5's Details Enhancer and Contrast Optimizer tools which I use almost exclusively in my HDR work.

Next parts will cover subjects such as getting rid of halos, creating indoor images, creating night HDR images. And yeah... next part will be available much earlier than in a few months...

Note: before you watch this part, I advise you to take a look at Part 2 in which I talk about Photomatix Pro, explain its interface and talk about core features (such as deghosting or alignment). You might be also interested in watching Part 1 in which I talk about HDR photography in general and give some reasons why do we need it.

I will be interested in learning what you liked and what you disliked about this tutorial so the next parts can become better.

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Tutorial: Create painterly looking photos

Click on the photo to view it in large size on black background.

There wasn't a single tutorial in a few weeks so today I would like to share with you a video tutorial on creating painterly looking images like the one above or the one here.

The process is very simple and it involves using only Photoshop, Topaz Simplify plug-in and some simple layer masking. What I wanted to achieve is to combine painterly look while retaining some of the detail and textures.

Ok, without further ado, watch the video below to learn exact steps:

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Step-by-step HDR. Episode 3. Golden hour HDR

Click on the photo to view it in large size on black background.

It's been a while since I shared any HDR step-by-step workflow tutorial (you can watch previous episode about post-processing blue hour photo here: http://hdrphotographer.blogspot.com/2013/01/step-by-step-hdr-episode-2-blue-hour-hdr.html).

So today I have one for you. This time I will show you how to process golden hour HDR photo using Adobe Lightroom, Photomatix Pro and Topaz Clarity and Topaz Adjust. Please note it's not my regular workflow but first I need to introduce all filters and techniques I use before showing "real" workflow I use on a daily basis. Next time I hope to start talking about luminosity masks that I use mainly to fine-tune tone-mapped image.

So without further ado here is the video:

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