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Making a 32-bit High Dynamic Range Image

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Demystifying HDRI

By Jack Howard

January 8, 2009

Each series of bracketed source images needs to be combined into a single 32-bit High Dynamic Range Image. This 32-bit image can contain much more information than any 8- or 16-bit file type.



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The real-world luminance values captured from each shot in the bracket sequence are preserved in the merged 32-bit file. It's a little confusing at first, but the overexposed shots are used to capture the darkest shadowtones, and the underexposed shots are used to capture the brightest highlights. And in a 32-bit file, there's enough headroom that nothing is clipped to pure blacks or whites.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 and a number of independent programs such as Photomatix Pro, Dynamic Photo HDR, and FDRTools Advanced are able to combine your bracketed images into a single 32-bit file. Each does the process with a different interface, but the end result is always a 32-bit High Dynamic Range file.


Adobe Bridge CS4, which is part of Adobe Photoshop CS4, has a cool new feature under the Stacks menu called Auto-stack Panorama/HDR that analyzes your folder of images and automatically stacks similar shots for panoramic stitching or HDR merging.


Whether you select an Auto-Stack or simply highlight each bracketed image, the next step is the same. Tools>Photoshop>Merge to HDR will combine your multiple shots into a single High Dynamic Range image.


As you can see from these two screen shots, the 32-bit file contains much more visual information than each individual source image. There's no black or white clip—we are just previewing a different exposure value slice of the same file in these two screen shots.

*Practical HDRI includes screenshots and tutorials for Adobe Photoshop CS3, but there is almost no change in functions or operations between versions CS3 and CS4.

 
About The Author

Jack Howard first picked up an SLR camera as a teenager over twenty years ago and has been exploring the photographic process ever since. Starting in the wet darkroom and now exploring cutting-edge digital imaging techniques, he's thoroughly embraced the evolution of the photographic process.

 

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