Professional HDR Photography: Achieve Brilliant Detail and Color by Mastering High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Postproduction Techniques

I was eager to receive my copy of this book to enhance my knowledge base. Then life got weird and I withdrew from my art and just about anything associated with it. What once was anticipation, became a task I burdened with guilt for not absorbing what I knew would be useful knowledge. Nor was I reciprocating the generosity by providing a review. I finally forced myself to start reading it today and I didn't set it down until I finished it.Let's start with that oft-heard, quasi-purist phrase, "I just don't like that unnatural look." You've heard some variant on that no matter which side of the street you are on. But let's quickly surmise why that is...could it be that in the majority of examples, a powerful tool was used to poor effect? Was an eager hand too heavy on the sliders? (a fate that has befallen a number of my own images with other tools) Was the artist unaware of a default setting that needed attention, or worse yet, a setting which shouldn't be handled? The point being that it has not been learned well enough by enough artists to actually create a popular belief in the benefits of HDR. And if you are paying attention, he'll warn you about the limits of HDR. In some aspects, he gives you possible work-arounds and in others, he just says 'stay away.'HDR has been developed over many years, as the author points out. But he doesn't get into the history, he sticks to what's important to know. At first, I thought he was being rigid in describing the process, but by the end, I realized he was setting the stage for very dynamic descriptions that not only included how-to, but why. Included are robust flow charts which give you the visual description of the process, a unique feature I had not seen at this level of detail. The language was polished for an ear that is eager to learn and hear "fun" at the same time. I expect that teaching college students finer points as well as coaching fellow artists has lent to the seeming ease with which he conveyed the process. Hey, there can be a lot of acronyms jammed together in a paragraph, but with alert reading, those acronyms flow seamlessly.There is obviously an expectation of the reader being familiar with PhotoShop. He is unapologetic in claiming that PhotoShop is the tool of choice in this moment. But I don't think that locks out the user of other editing software such as GIMP. The settings won't be the same, but the steps are described well enough that the process could be adapted, to some extent at least, to enhance the HDR image. I actually transferred my initial experience learned in GIMP into PhotoShop, so I expect the same can be done in reverse.Does he tell you how to 'fakeDR?' Nope. But if you consume the material here, you might come up with ideas of your own.I expected to get the ins-and-outs on a process that didn't really excite me, but that just might teach me something. I wound up very much appreciating that Mark sets out to teach not only how to create the HDR look, but to guide one through the quality creating steps to make the image you want. Flexibility and your artistic flair still remain very much intact!There are going to be different use cases for HDR and landscape photographers are going to beat the drum the loudest because this starts to seem like it's needed to capture beautiful skies and gorgeous details. But even the portrait photographer can find value by learning how to preserve natural colors on models. The food photographer can now capture both detail and color!I can't imagine him saying otherwise, since he seems so wise about PhotoShop, but I definitely appreciated that he asserted the non-destructive process of using adjustment layers and masks. He also conveyed fine logic about where in the workflow certain steps should be. For example, I prefer to create my grayscales while still in Camera Raw, but now I would not do so before creating a color HDR image. I can then, non-destructively, create a smart object where many filters can be used globally (with or w/out a mask) to achieve the intended effect.I am an impressionist, in that I like grain and vignettes and colorizing and 'stuff,' but I have suffered many a frustration as I tried to do my 'color thing' when the underlying image has either lacked the exposure or the detail I wanted. Now I am anxious to work HDR into my image creation process. I am not going to be happy with my early results because if it was easy, Mark wouldn't have written this book. But I will be encouraged as I tease out the effects I want. I don't have to show anything off until I like the results.Having read this book, I gained guidance that was not at all obvious and that I think anybody who's ever opened an image editor to remove more than red-eye can benefit from.

Whether you are a novice or an experienced professional photographer, you will find the information and techniques in this book helpful and invaluable. The writer covers all the essentials to creating impressive HDR images in easy to understand increments. If you think all HDR photos look artificial or "overbaked", think and look again. This book delivers unique and practical techniques on how to make your images "sing". Whether you use Adobe Paintshop or another photo editing platform, you'll find this book useful, enlightening and, easy to follow and comprehend.

I used to dislike HDR images' artificial and over-processed look, until I browsed the examples in Mark Chen's new title on this topic. He has created a system of methods to turn HDR into a versatile technique for all kind of "looks"! Unlike many other HDR titles which seem to focus on showing off author's images, this one is a true how-to book with step-by-step examples and practice files. I am having a good time reading and practicing.