How to Merge to HDR Pro of Photoshop in Detailed Steps
When you get a series of photos taken by HDR camera, you would like to know the method to make an HDR photo with HDR Pro of Photoshop. HDR Pro is available for Photoshop 5 and above versions. Just learn the detail procedure to use HDR Pro of Photoshop to merge tonal values from multiple exposures of the same scene.
How to use HDR Pro of Photoshop
Just make sure the series of photos are in the same folder before you merge to HDR Pro of Photoshop, and then you can easily upload all the files to Photoshop with ease. After that, you can follow the steps to find the Merge to HDR Pro option as the following steps.
1. Launch Merge to HDR Pro
Photoshop
Choose File > Automate > Merge to HDR Pro.
Bridge
Select the images and choose Tools > Photoshop > Merge to HDR Pro.
It takes a few seconds or minutes to process an HDR photograph. But it is just the beginning of the HDR procedure. You have to combine the best parts of different exposures to merge everything into an awesome HDR with HDR Pro.
2. Load Images to HDR Pro
Click Browse to select a specific image, click App Open Files or choose Use > Folder. And you can also remove a particular image by click Remove from the files list.
In the Merge to HDR Pro dialog, you can find the detail information about images with different exposure and the parameters to adjust tonal range of the HDR photographs with HDR Pro.
3. Attempt to Automatically Align Source Image
It is an optional choice to select Attempt to Automatically Align Source Image if you hold the camera in your hands when you photographed the images.
4. Bit Depth for the Merged Image
Find the Preview in the upper right corner, and then choose a bit depth for the merge image. Only 32 Bit merged image can be stored as entire dynamic range of the HDR with HDR Pro.
5. Adjust the Tonal Range of HDR Pro
There are various parameters of tonal range of HDR Pro, which should be a little difficult to select, you can learn more detail about these parameters as the following information before you use HDR Pro to have a HDR merge.
Parameters of HDR Pro
The parameters for adjusting 32-bit HDR images are different from the 8-bit or 16-bit images. Here are some parameters you can set for 16-bit image with HDR Pro.
Preset: Batch adjustments for a series of similar images, you can save and load presets.
Remove Ghosts: In order to remove the ghosts caused by moving stuff or outdoor images, you can minimize these moving stuff with the optimal result.
Edge Glow: Use the Radius and Strength sliders in combination to increase the perceived sharpness of the image.
Tone and Detail: It should be the most important feature of HDR Pro to adjust the contrast between highlights and shadows. The exposure slider controls the overall lightness or darkness of the image.
Color: Vibrance adjusts the intensity of the subtle colors and minimize clipping of highly saturated colors.
Tone Curve: Add an anchor point or enter numeric value to adjust the tonality of the image.
Tips for Using HDR Pro
1. As for 8-bit and 16-bit images offer the same options, it is not recommended to convert them into 32-bit image in HDR Pro.
2. Changes made in Merge to HDR Pro’s 16-bit mode are finalized. The unused parts of the 32-bit tonal range are discard.
3. If you need a 16-bit copy to share or print, You can save first as 32-bit, adjust, and then use Save As to create the 16-bit copy.
4. When you have any difficult to use HDR Pro, you can use other HDR apps to merge awesome HDR photographs.
Best Alternative of Using HDR Pro of Photoshop
If you find using HDR Pro on Photoshop is a litter complicated, you can consider the WidsMob HDR that is focus on dealing with HDR photographs with easy operation. It is a great HDR maker to merge a set of bracketed images into HDR photographs with advanced tone mapping algorithm, auto alignment and ghost suppression to create stunning high dynamic range photographs.
Simple Steps of Applying HDR via WidsMob HDR
1. Launch WidsMob HDR on your computer and click File > Import to add a set of 3 bracketed images into the program.
2. You can adjust tone length, tone saturation, ghost suppression, brightness, saturation, contrast and effect on your HDR image according to your need.
3. After adjustment, save you HDR photograph to your computer.
You can also check the video tutorial as following:
Conclusion
In this article, we introduce the way to use HDR Pro on Photoshop in details. We also introduce the alternative way of applying high dynamic range in your images with the easy-to-use HDR maker – WidsMob HDR. You can use the either method to merge HDR photo according to your need.