
HDR Pics to Play With
In this section, I provide source images for you to play with. What does that mean? You can download archives with the source images (straight out of the camera) that I used to create the final HDR image, unpack them and immediately start merging, tone-mapping and post-processing them.
Why would you do this? Because it’s fun!
It can be very tough for a beginner to get everything together in order to produce an appealing HDR image. Taking the source exposures is a challenge on its own, and if you mess that up, the post-processing will not be rewarding either. If you download and use my images, you can concentrate on your post-processing skills, and you know what is possible with those exposures from looking at the results of many other people. This is a much more objective way of learning and verifying your progress.
Even if you are already an advances HDR user, it is still fun to compare with others and see how different peoples’ styles are. For each image, I am starting a thread in the flickr HDR group. If you like, post you results there and see how the others did.
Here’s the deal
You will notice that I do not provide the original RAW files. I don’t do this to maintain my rights. Instead, I am preparing the files in the following way: I develop all the source files into TIFFs in ACR. After that, I align and crop the images if necessary, and I apply a “Pics to play with” watermark (all in Photoshop). Thus, you can directly feed the images into Photomatix (or whichever HDR software you are using). You should turn off image alignment in you HDR software.
What you are allowed to do
You may download, unpack and process these images in whichever way you wish. You may publish the results online wherever you like (see individual photos pages for details) as long as you give credit to me for the source images in the following way:
‘Source images copyright by Klaus Herrmann – farbspiel-photo.com – all rights reserved. Go to farbspiel-photo.com/ppw for details.’
Please include this line in any publication of a image that results from one of my Pics to play with archives. This is the only thing I ask in return for providing these images. I hope, I am not asking too much.
What you are not allowed to do
Commercial use of any type is prohibited. If you wish to use the photos commercially, please contact me directly. You are not allowed to remove the watermark in any way. Any images that you produce and publish from the contained source photos have to contain the entire watermark. Cropping or cloning out the watermark is not allowed.
Enough of this formal stuff! Have fun!
The Pics
One Response to HDR Pics to play with
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
HDR Cookbook
- 21 HDR Photography Myths Busted (NEW!)
- Introduction
- Requirements
- Contents
- The Secrets of Hand-held HDR Shooting
- General HDR Workflow
- Why you need an artistic workflow
- Creating 32-bit HDRs the Right Way
- Correcting Chromatic Aberration
- Structuring a Project
- Complex Selections
- Using Topaz Adjust to Improve Your Images
- Reducing Halos
- Fixing Uneven Luminance
- Noise Reduction
- The Three Rules of Noise Reduction
- Sharpening
- Creating Clarity in Your Images
- Adding a Vignette Effect
- Adding a Frame
- Restoring Exif Data
- HDR Panoramas
- Taking Interior HDR Vertorama Shots
- Taking HDR Vertorama Shots with a Tripod
- 14 Tips for Quick and Effective Travel Photography
Featured Post
21 HDR Photography Myths Busted

A good way of getting things straight concerning a particular topic (in photography or elsewhere) is to bust some myths. Even though HDR photography has been around for a while, there are still a number of misconceptions out there that get picked up by beginners too easily. These HDR photography myths tend to lead into the wrong directions and ultimately get you frustrated. […]
Featured Post

Download the source exposures of this HDR image and test yor processing skills. The story of this photo This image was shot from a cruise ship in the harbor of Izmir, Turkey. On this day, the weather conditions were changing so quickly that we had blue sky in one minute and pouring rain the next. […]
Featured Post
HDR Pics to play with: Chain Bridge
This 'HDR Pics to play with' archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image 'Chain Bridge – Budapest, Hungary (HDR)'. Download Below is the ZIP archive with the images. Make sure you read the information in Read This First. […]
Featured Post
HDR Before and After: New Mosque – Istanbul, Turkey (HDR Vertorama)
This is the HDR before and after comparison of "New Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey (HDR Vertorama)". The final image was created from 4x4 TIFF files (series of 4 autobracketed RAW images, +2, 0, -2EV that were converted to TIFFs using Abobe Camera RAW with the Five TIFFs method creating an additional +4EV image). You can see the 12 source images in the left three columns. […]
Featured Post

The story of this photo: I have been exploring macro photography lately. You probably know me for my HDR work, and don't worry, I will keep on creating HDRs. But I was always fascinated with macro photos. […]
Featured Post
HDR Cookbook – The Secrets of Hand-held HDR Shooting
Most HDR tutorials and books implicitly assume that you are using a tripod for your work. A tripod gives you stability, ensures that images are perfectly aligned straight out of the camera, and allows for long shutter speeds without blur. However, there are also a number of disadvantages, and in many situations you are forced to shoot hand-held. […]
Featured Post
HDR Cookbook – Creating HDR Images the Right Way
You start the process of creating a tone-mapped LDR image by merging all your source images into a single 32-bit HDR image. We all know that. Maybe you have done this already very often, and probably you think that there is not much to think about when you do this. […]
Featured Post
HDR Cookbook – Why you need an artistic workflow
Have you ever uploaded an image to your favorite photo sharing site just to come back the next day and discover that there are certain features in it that you don't like? Maybe the sky is too dark, the colors have too much saturation, or the contrast is too low. The reason for this is not necessarily your technical workflow - it may be your artistic workflow that needs improvement. […]
My Images




nice info