Real High Dynamic Range vs Lightroom4 Faux HDR

Many hobby and professional photographers are intrigued by HDR, including myself. Some are fascinated by the surreal images that can be created while others, like me, prefer the effect to be subtle enough that a viewer questions whether it has been HDR processed from bracketed photos or not.

When preparing my 30 photos for the class final, I decided to do some in HDR so I downloaded a trial version of Photomatix, the most popular of the HDR softwares. I processed a number of photos in this program.

I also learned in my research, that people are doing faux HDR in both LR3 and LR4. (PhotoWalkPro) There are a couple of somewhat different approaches to the adjustments used in the development panel but they both involve boosting contrast, reducing both the highlight and white sliders and increasing the shadow and black controls.

All this "messing around" with the photo introduces some noise so noise reduction is addressed by increasing the luminance control near the bottom of the panel.

One of the popular tutorials uses slight tone curve adjustments. Exposure and temperature are adjusted as needed. Of course, HSL and sharpening adjustments can be used also.

Below are a few photos I did using both methods - HDR in Photomatix and faux HDR in LR4.

Sculpted Boulder - Photomatix HDR

Sculpted Boulder - Using single image faux HDR techniques in LR4.

Tumbling Waters - Photomatix HDR

Tumbling Waters - Using single image faux HDR techniques in LR4

 Yellowstone Valley Overlook - Photomatix HDR

 Yellowstone Valley Overlook - Using single image faux HDR techniques in LR4

Seeing how amazingly similar the images are from one of the top-selling HDR software programs and what can be done in LR makes one question why you would buy a dedicated, stand-alone HDR app. It would seem wisest to invest in LR4 only, which has such amazing capabilities, and do your occasional HDR in it. BTW, for those that want over-the-top HDR, that can be done in LR, I just prefer a subtle version. 

When I carefully analyzed these photos side-by-side, I found I preferred the LR4 faux HDR over the Photomatix so, in most cases, it is what I have used for my final photos.

Another HDR app killer may be caused by the fact that a number of manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, and more) are now making built in HDR capabilities in their cameras. The camera takes a number of bracketed photos (just as you would do for later process in an HDR program) and does the processing in-camera and you instantly have an HDR to review on your camera screen.

Some pro photo bloggers have questioned whether in-camera HDR is a fad or a wave of the future. My research shows it will be more common to see this capability in future cameras, especially since Canon seems to be in the forefront of perfecting this feature and now you can even choose the degree of HDR effect you wish before the camera does the final processing. 

It appears that cameras are rapidly closing in on the ability to produce photos that come closer and closer to replicating what the human eye discerns. 

Here's to the HDR of the future that I believe, will be truly impressive.