Firey skies

Firey skies, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Very low tide this morning. Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm. HDR [-2,0,+2]

To answer any post processing questions, here's what I do. I've gathered this workflow after reading what other do and trying some things of my own.

1 - Open one of the three bracketed exposures in Canon DPP and adjust for white balance. I usually bring the contrast right down as well, sharpen and apply the landscape preset.

2 - Copy that 'recipe' then apply it to the other two bracketed images then run a batch process to output three TIFF files.

3 - Open these TIFF files in Dynamic Photo HDR and play around with the settings to get something I like. On this one I used the 'eyecatching' preset and fiddled around with the options a bit there. Be careful to avoid the 'haloing' effect common to HDR (unless you are aiming for that) by being easy on the radius/light strength options. Save to a TIFF file.

4 - Open the new TIFF file in Photohsop. I'm using CS2 at the moment. I apply an s-curve layer set to 'multiply', 'soft' or 'hard' and then I adjust the opacity till I get something I like. Flatten image.

5 - If parts of the image are still not dark or light or saturated enough I open another layer and adjust the levels accordingly then apply a layer mask to reveal the adjusted sections. Flatten image.

6 - Noise Ninja if necessary. Sharpen. Save to JPEG.

I'm no Photoshop expert. There may be redundant steps. This is what works for me at my stage of learning.

Cheers

-Dave-