How can a live-performance photo get an HDR-like look without true HDR?
Asked 4/5/2013
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I saw a concert/live-performance image with a strong "HDR" look, but true multi-exposure HDR seems unlikely because the performer would be moving. What editing techniques can create that style from a single photo? Is it likely to be real HDR, fake HDR from one RAW file, or just heavy post-processing such as contrast, curves, local contrast, white balance, and saturation adjustments?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
1
It could be a combination of filters, saturation adjustment, etc. Or it could be a 'fake' HDR in which one raw file is taken, then virtual copies made in something like Lightroom. You pull back the exposure on one, increase the exposure on the other, then send all 3 pictures (with identical image but different exposures) to an app like Photomatix and it processes them as if they were three genuinely separate images... Then depending on the processing in that, the tone mapping applied, and subsequent LR edits after the resulting .tif gets reimported in, could all come up with something like that photo you linked to.
EDIT, upon second viewing of the photo, it may also be just a standard shot but with (amongst other things) the colour temperature dialled back quite a bit, this would explain why the lights and skin appear bluish, but the red of his suit still appears bold, if not quite as vibrant as it might normally do...
Originally by user7566. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7566
13y ago
0
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It was probably not true multi-exposure HDR. With a moving performer, that’s difficult unless the motion is minimal or carefully controlled.
More likely, it’s a single exposure processed to get an HDR-like tone-mapped look. Common ways to do that include:
- local contrast enhancement
- strong curves/contrast adjustments
- using fill light/shadow recovery
- lowering color temperature for a cooler look
- reducing or selectively adjusting saturation
- processing subject and background separately with layers/masks
Another possibility is “fake HDR”: making multiple virtual versions from one RAW file at different exposure settings, then feeding them into HDR software for tone mapping. That can produce the gritty HDR style without needing multiple captures.
So the look is likely from tone mapping or aggressive post-processing, not true HDR capture.
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