HDR Photomerge

This short video shows you how to create a single image with a full range of tones from several bracketed exposures using Paint Shop Pro Photo X2’s HDR Photo Merge feature. If a single exposure results in an image with blown (pure white) highlights, or dense black shadows, then your subject will almost certainly benefit from the HDR process.

Here, it proved impossible to capture detail inside this building at the same time as retaining detail outside the windows. As this restaurant has a stunning interior as well as being in a fabulous beach location it was important to capture both. With the camera mounted on a tripod I made a series of bracketed exposures. It’s important to use the same aperture for bracketed HDR shots - otherwise the depth of field changes from shot to shot, which can make them difficult to merge. I made five exposures at f8 a stop apart starting at 1/8th of a second and ending at 1/125th.

If, having watched the tutorial you feel like having a try yourself, you can download these images here under Chapter 4.