This is a 6-exposure HDR image of the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary. Before I went on that trip, I did my usual Internet scouting on the entire city of Budapest, and sure enough, I came across a ton of images of this Parliament building. So, I was prepared! But when I arrived there and set up my tripod just across the river (Danube), something strange happened.
This HDR Pics to play with archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image ‘The Parliament (HDR)’. Download the source photos, test your post-processing skills and share your results here. It’s fun!
You want to try some HDR but you feel that your own source images are not good enough? Use mine! They’re free! Even if you are an advanced HDR user, it can be fun to test your skills on a set of images that are used by many other people in the HDR community. Publish your results and see how others did. Get a feel for what’s possible, and compare your style with others objectively, based on the same image.
This is the Making-of video for ‘The Parliament (HDR)’. Watch how this image evolves through all the post-processing stages and stop at any position to inspect the parameter settings (see remarks below). This video shows the entire post-processing work starting with the HDR merging and the tone-mapping all the way through to the finishing touches. Each major step is indicated by a subtitle. Watch it in full HD mode (1080p) full-screen and pause at any point to inspect the parameters I choose for the different tools involved in the post-processing.
Using Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is sometimes not sufficient or simply not available in your camera. In those cases, you have to take your HDR exposure series manually, but doing so is a daunting task for many photographers. In this tutorial, I describe a manual HDR bracketing technique that helps you get the perfect exposure series for every conceivable scene. It is simple and reliable, and you don’t need any math that goes beyond counting to three.
This is a 12-shot HDR Vertorama taken at the St. Micheal’s Cathedral in Toronto, Canada. See all the processing details and the before-and-after.
This is the HDR before and after comparison of “Light my Way (HDR Vertorama)”. The final image was created from 4×3 TIFF files (4 series of 3 autobracketed RAW images, +2, 0, -2EV that were converted to TIFFs using Abobe Camera RAW). You can see the 12 source images in the left three columns. These images were merged into 4 32-bit HDRs and tone-mapped with Photomatix Pro 4.2 (Details Enhancer option) using the same settings for each image. The resulting 4 16-bit TIF images where then stitched using Photoshop CS5. The result of the stitching, perspective correction, cropping, and retouching can be seen in the middle column. In the right column, you see the final image after a number of post-processing steps executed in Photoshop CS6.
Are you getting halos in your HDR images? Sometimes, you find the perfect setting in your HDR software, but right at that setting, halos start showing up and ruin your image. These ugly bright fringes around high-contrast edges are a well-known and common problem in HDR photography. In this video, I will first go over some tips to avoid halos in the first place. Then I will show you how to get rid of them in Photoshop by darkening those halo regions selectively.
This HDR Pics to play with archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image ‘Big City Lights (HDR)’. Download the source photos, test your post-processing skills and share your results here. It’s fun!
You want to try some HDR but you feel that your own source images are not good enough? Use mine! They’re free! Even if you are an advanced HDR user, it can be fun to test your skills on a set of images that are used by many other people in the HDR community. Publish your results and see how others did. Get a feel for what’s possible, and compare your style with others objectively, based on the same image.
Here is the Making-of video for ‘The Library (HDR Vertorama)‘. Watch how this image evolves through all the post-processing stages and stop at any position to inspect the parameter settings (see remarks below).
This video shows the entire post-processing work starting with the HDR merging [...]
This HDR Pics to play with archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image ‘The Marble Hall’. Download and unpack it to test your HDR processing skills and compare your results with others.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to overcome the limitations of many entry-level and mid-range DSLRs for hand-held HDR shooting. Instead of being stuck with 3 shots in auto exposure bracketing mode, you will be able to virtually take as many as you like with just a little bit of additional setup time and manual switching. With a bit of practice, you won’t notice a difference to series shot with more expensive cameras.
This is a 3-exposure HDR image of the lounge of a big cruise ship. A cruise is the best way of getting to see many places in a short time. At night, as you’re sleeping, you’re being taken to the next stop on your journey. You’re usually getting up really early (sometimes around 5 am) to meet your group and debark for your shore leave. This was taken around that time. At this particular day, we visited Istanbul.
This is the before-and-after comparison of “The Lounge (HDR)”. At the top, you see the three original source images straight out of the camera. This image is based on a 3-shot auto exposure bracketing series with shutter speeds between 1/200s and 1/13s. At the lower left, you see the result of merging those shots into a 32-bit HDR and subsequent tone-mapping using the Details Enhancer option of Photomatix Pro 4.2. And finally, at the lower right, you see the final image after a number of post-processing steps executed in Photoshop CS5.
This is a 6-exposure HDR image from inside the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto, Canada. When I was there in July, I was exploring the city by foot. On that particular day it was like 35+ °C, and I was toast when I arrived at the location. But it turned out to be the perfect day for the visit as there were very few people there. So, photographing the place was relativly easy.
…Going Pro …New Baby …New Content …A Whole New Life
This 3-shot HDR image was taken at the shore of Lake Ontario and it shows the skyline of Toronto, Canada with the CN Tower to the right. I have been there for one week in July.
…Going Pro
This is acually the first shot that I publish from that trip. It has been a crazy few months. So many big things happened, and I have that strange feeling that they ran past me in a mix of time-lapse and fast-forward. My “old” job ended at the end of August.
This is the before-and-after comparison of “Closer to Heaven (HDR)”. On the left, you see the eight original source images straight out of the camera. This image is based on a 8-shot manual exposure series with shutter speeds between 30s and 1/4s. In the middle, you see the result of merging those shots into a 32-bit HDR and subsequent tone-mapping using the detail enhancer option of Photomatix Pro 4.1. And finally, on the right side you see the final image after a number of post-processing steps executed in Photoshop CS5.
The story of this photo
I took this photo at a recent HDR workshop I held. It is a 8-exposure HDR image of Fortress Marienberg in Würzburg, Germany. It was shot across the Main river at the blue hour.
If you take a single shot at the blue hour, you would usually try to shoot right [...]
On Tuesday, July 3rd, I was a guest on TWiT Photo, the weekly photo show on the TWiT network hosted by Catherine Hall and Leo Laporte. In case you forgot to tune in live or if you live in an unfortunate [...]
This HDR Pics to play with archive is containing the source exposures of the HDR image ‘High Five (HDR)‘.
Here is the Making-of video for ‘High Five (HDR)‘. Watch how this image evolves through all the post-processing stages and stop at any position to inspect the parameter settings (see remarks below). This video shows the entire post-processing work starting with the HDR merging and the [...]




Hi! I am Klaus Herrmann. I take photos - I create, write and teach.
Learn advanced photography and image processing techniques with my tutorials and resources like Before-and-After comparisons, Making-of videos and Pics-to-play-with features.
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...that our Before-and-After Comparisons give you a quick insight into the evolution of an image? They present the stages of the post-processing work from the source photos to the finished image in three simple steps.
...that the Making-of section provides HD time-lapse videos that take you on a journey through the complete post-processing work for a given image? You can pause at any point and inspect the tools and the parameters used.
...that our Dynamic Before-and-After feature allows you to make a direct comparison between the photo straight out of the camera and the final image? There is no better way to see the difference.
...that you can download full-resolution source photos of the images on this website in our Pics to Play With section? Test you processing skills and compare your style and abilities with others.
...that you will find hundreds of HDR photography resources in our HDR Resource Index? It contains photographers, communities, tutorials, books and more. Access all there is to know about HDR from a single place!
Study HDR Tutorials, view HDR before and after comparisons, watch HDR making-of videos, and download HDR source images for free. farbspiel-photo.com is your ticket to the world of HDR. Come in and discover this world with me!
About Klaus Herrmann