Saturday, December 17, 2011

Practical HDR Using Gimp

This tutorial will help you learn how to use gimp to make HDR images in a practical way.  

What You'll Need:
A RAW-Shooting Camera. Check out my list of Affordable RAW-Shooting Cameras. 
  UFRaw gimp addon  

More Information:
Related lesson - Layer Masks Using Gimp
The Benefits of Shooting in Raw  

Original Image:
Final Image:
Gimp Video Tutorial:

8 comments:

  1. Good stuff, Alex, thanks for posting this. I had just responded to your email when I saw this. I've used GIMP in a very similar fashion to this, but sometimes the area I need selected is far more intricate than I can do with a simple free select and brush. I'd like to be able to select some areas by a specific brightness level, then apply the mask to that selected area. Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks again for this great tutorial and for the work you're doing here.

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  2. Thanks Rick,
    This is a basic overview of this process - but what you're trying to do consists of more advanced layer masks. Simply put, it's the same process, but a more complicated layer mask.

    If you are wanting to make a layer mask based on how bright or dark parts of your image is, all you have to do is initialize the layer mask to "grayscale copy of layer" and then make some exposure adjustments until you're happy with the result. Often times you'll have to further adjust the layer mask manually to really get what you're looking for.

    Hope that makes sense. Thanks for droppIng by and leaving a comment!

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  3. Good tutorial! I appreciate the link to the list of affordable raw cameras. You don't strictly need RAW output if your camera can do automatic exposure bracketing, right?

    I think when demonstrating working with layers, it helps to occasionally turn off the background layer momentarily to remind the viewer that you're working on a layer, and how exactly the mask works. (Maybe next time.)

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  4. You're right - a camera that will automatically take a photo and give you multiple brackets of that photo could produce a similar result. The only disadvantage of this is the lack of simplistic control you get when editing a raw image.

    Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep that in mind.

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  5. The video tutorial is professional .

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  6. Practical HDR using gimp Video is more important to me .

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  7. Background removal tool is one the most useful photographer tools. I personally spent months to find the one that would fit me most. I have found this background remover at the web site for myself, my be you could check it out too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fantastic tutorial again. I am really so benefited. Thanks. And keep posting more tutorial in future. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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In my Gimp Tutorials, I frequently use Wacom Tablets. Here is an awesome wacom tablet I recommend using.
A Wacom tablet will enhance your GIMP photo editing experience by offering a pressure-sensitive touch that translates to varying transparency when making brush strokes in GIMP.

Gimp Reference Manual

I highly recommend getting this Gimp book to use as a reference manual in conjunction with my tutorials. This book will explain how the tools I use work. My tutorials will give you practical applications for the tools shown in this book.