Robert's Ramblings

The problem with HDR is how to manage it!

This image taken here at West Beach, a clump of rotten seaweed is actually 3 images taken 2 stops apart. The role and legitimacy that HDR processing has in photography is beyond the scope of this post but once a digital image maker has chosen this path there is a very big workflow challenge immediately faced.

We now have very good image processing workflow tools such as Aperture and Lightroom which model workflow on non-destructive additive steps. Put simply, we start with our original and each step of process such as tonal, colour, sharpness or touch up is laid out in steps which define how the final image will look without ever changing the original.

With HDR we are in trouble unless care is taken to integrate your HDR tool such as Photoshop or Photomatix into your particular workflow such that the integrity and repeatability of the process can be managed from originals to final rendering.

A good process will achieve the following points:

1. The process should preserve all original images and clearly link them back to the final rendered HDR image.
2. The process should minimise any intermediate images that need to be kept. Preferably there should be none but mostly one intermediate can't be avoided.
3. The HDR process settings should be kept as in-image metadata if possible otherwise a setting file needs to be kept independently for each final.

So why does this matter? With the size of digital raw files now coming from recent 20-40 megapixel cameras it is quite easy to take up to 500MB or more per image in a HDR project. Any process which creates or needs multiple copies will not only burn your hard drive but also make managing your HDR project messy and unwieldy. The second issue is that more often than not you will want to come back to your originals and make a little tweak here or there or produce new rendered final images of different quality or sizes. A well constructed and disciplined workflow will make this easy and not the nightmare it otherwise could become.

Have a play with HDR for a little fun and something new but if you get the bug then get your workflow sorted out quickly or you risk being buried!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 127 - Rotting Colour'. 0.5+2+8 sec at 17mm f/22, ISO 100 hdr