HDR Tutorials

This alphabetical list contains HDR tutorials from experienced HDR photographers. Most of the tutorials have been existing for quite some time and proved to be useful. The order is alphabetical and does not imply any ranking.

Note: The HDR Resource List is living – it evolves and changes in the same way as the community changes. Therefore, this list is certainly incomplete and may not reflect the view of all visitor. If you feel that there is an important tutorial is missing here, please contribute to the list (how to contribute). If your contribution is added to the index, I will add you to the list of contributors.

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Advanced Masking Techniques

(goodlight.us/writing/tutorials.html)
by Tony Kuyper

Description:
In this set of Photoshop tutorials, Tony Kuyper explains luminosity masking and similar techniques that can be used in HDR post-processing and when you decide to manually blend the different source exposures to increase the dynamic range of your photos. Tony gives very detailed explanations about these techniques.

Level: advanced
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-31

Beginners Guide to HDR Photography

(www.digital-photography-school.com/setting-up-your-digital-camera-for-hdr-shooting)
by James Brandon

Description:
This is a 3-part tutorial series for beginners that covers camera setups, shooting techniques and post-processing.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-21

Dual Processing HDR Images

(everydayhdr.com/hdr-tutorialdual-processing-hdr-images/)
by Blake Rudis

Description:
In this video tutorial, Blake Rudis the host of everydayhdr.com explains how you can create two different tone-mapped versions of the same image and blend them into each other to save blown out highlights without touching the other parts of the image. The video also gives a few useful tips about selective editing.

Level: beginners, advanced
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-02-23

Fotofreq's HDR Post-Processing Workflow

(www.jacquesgude.com)
by Jacques Gude

Description:
In this 40 minute video tutorial, Jacques Gude shows his HDR workflow involving Lightroom, Photomatix, Photoshop and Nik Software. The tutorial URL is http://vimeo.com/15709645.

Level: beginners
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-01-27

HDR Best Practices Guide

(brianmatiash.com/resources/hdr-best-practices-guide)
by Brian Matiash

Description:
Brian Matiash's 'HDR Best Practices Guide' is a collection of tips structured into three distinct chapters (In the Field, Image Management, Post Processing). Brian explains the basics and gives valuable advice for novice HDR photographers.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-21

HDR Cookbook

(farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook)
by Klaus Herrmann

Description:
The HDR Cookbook mainly explains post-processing techniques that are applied after the tone-mapping step is completed. It contains give in-depth tutorials on how you can make your HDR images really eye-popping once they drop out of your HDR software.

Level: advanced, experts
Type of content: text, video
Added on: 2012-01-21

HDR How to Guide

(captainkimo.com/hdr-how-to-guide)
by Kim Seng (Captain Kimo)

Description:
Captain Kimo's HDR How to Guide is a collection of basic tutorials to get people started with HDR photography. It contains information on the basic of HDR, the usage of Photomatix, HDR shooting and basic post-processing steps.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-21

HDR Photography Made Easy

("HDR Photography Made Easy" on YouTube)
by Tony Sweet

Description:
This is a series of video tutorials that in which Tony Sweet explains different aspects of HDR photography from shooting a scene all the way to post-processing the images.

Level: beginners
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-01-21

HDR Photography With Photoshop CS5

(psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/hdr-photography)
by Martin Perhiniak

Description:
In this 14-minute video, Martin Perhiniak explains the basics of creating and tone-mapping HDR images in Photoshop CS5. He explains the settings and how they should be used for different effects. This is a very nice overview video for those people who are just starting with Photoshop.

Level: beginners
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-02-23

HDR Processing Techniques

(robhanson.wordpress.com/tutorials)
by Rob Hanson

Description:
"A comprehensive, High-Def, hour-long video created as Rob processed a friend’s HDR image, starting from initial analysis of the brackets, using Photomatix Pro to create multiple tonemaps, blending tonemap files in Photoshop CS5, layer masking, image cleanup, Nik Color Efex Pro filters, and final finishing." [source: robhanson.wordpress.com]

Level: beginners, advanced
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-01-27

HDR Tutorials @ beforethecoffee.com

(beforethecoffee.com)
by Ferrell McCollough

Description:
On his website (beforethecoffee.com), Ferrell McCollough provides a number of very useful HDR tutorials. Especially if you need guidance for buying a camera for HDR, his section on 'DSLR Cameras for HDR' is very helpful.

Level: beginners, advanced
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-25

HDR Tutorials @ blamethemonkey.com

(blamethemonkey.com/hdr-tutorials)
by Elia Locardi

Description:
Elia Locardi offers a set of free HDR-related tutorials on his website. One of the highlights are his slide-over before-and-after presentations.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-24

Quick Tutorial of Photomatix Pro

(www.hdrsoft.com/resources/tutorial_basic/index.html)
by HDRsoft

Description:
This is a quick tutorial by HDRsoft (the software company that created Photomatix) that explains the major steps from taking the source images to processing them in Photomatix.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-21

Stuck in Customs HDR Tutorial

(stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial)
by Trey Ratcliff

Description:
Trey Ratcliff's HDR tutorial is certainly the one most widely used on the web. Trey is an immensely popular HDR photographer and this tutorial has been around for a long time. The tutorial addresses beginners and explains the basics of HDR, the necessary tools and the basic steps involved in creating an HDR image.

Level: beginners
Type of content: text, video
Added on: 2012-01-21

The making of HDR panoramas

(realitydream.hu/index.php?page=Tutorial)
by Zsolt Zsigmond

Description:
In this tutorial, Zsolt Zsigmond explains how to create HDR panoramas using Lightroom, Hugin and Photomatix.

Level: beginners, advanced, expert
Type of content: text
Added on: 2012-01-27

Two-part High Dynamic Range (HDR) Video

(whereisben.com/whereisben/2008/08/two-part-high-dynamic-range-hdr-video.html)
by Ben Willmore

Description:
In his Two-part video tutorial, Ben Willmore explaines the basics of HDR processing and post-processing based on an example image. Especially HDR beginners will get a good overview of the workflow.Even though this video is some years old and the software versions used are a bit dusted, it still gives a nice overview of a number of steps and techniques.

Level: beginners
Type of content: video
Added on: 2012-01-31