HDR or not can you tell?

[jake_bryant]

<p>I have been looking at www.robertjwilson.com work recently and wondered if he is using HDR to get the dramatic effect in his pictures. Any idea's on how his images are retouched if it is not HDR?</p>

[ann_clancy6]

<p>some of it looks like he is using lucisart, but with a light touch.<br>

and perhaps a few may be with hdr, but again not a heavy hand with tone mapping.<br>

certainly knows how to use great lighting.</p>

[beartooth1]

<p>You can achieve that "gritty" kinda look in ACR then some further processing in PS.....</p>

[bill_fouche]

<p>I think of true "HDR" as involving multiple exposures at different EVs merged together in software. That would be very difficult with a portrait because people move, ever so slightly. :)<br>

The "dramatic effect" you are referring to can be approximated in Lightroom or ACR by starting with the following settings and then experimenting by "backing off" the sliders until the photo is "just right." These numbers are surprising at first, but you wil find that they come pretty close.<br>

- Increase "recovery" to 100.<br>

- Increase "fill" to 100<br>

- Increase "blacks" to 75<br>

- Increase "clarity" to 100<br>

- Increase "vibrance" to 100<br>

- Decrease "saturation" to -90<br>

- Increase "sharpness" to 100 or more.<br>

- Adjust any and all settings to taste ...<br>

I'm tired of the look, myself. But some people go nuts over it.</p>

[bruce_margolis]

<p>Jake, anyone can take a wild guess about his technique but the easiest way to find out is to simply email him.</p>

 

[jake_bryant]

<p>Bruce, I met him and asked but he didn't tell me really how it is done. He just said that they are edited and he increases the blacks etc. He didn't know what dragonizing was etc..........so I assumed he outsourced the processing to a retoucher....but I like his work.</p>

[jake_bryant]

<p>Bill thanks for the info...</p>

[jake_bryant]

<p>Can I get ACR plugin for Aperture 2?</p>

[mwaks]

<p>His portraits look as if they were done with the Bleach Bypass Filter by NIK Color Efex 3.0 <br>

The landscapes look like they were possibly done with Topaz Labs software.</p>

[jake_bryant]

<p>Michael, thanks that must be it......</p>

[oskar_ojala]

<p>I checked his building pictures. Some could be just contrast adjustments in raw conversion and layering. Some seemed to have the telltale halos and contrasts of heavy HDR.</p>

[jake_bryant]

<p>The building pictures don't do much for me, there are a million of them on flickr similar.......HDR done well can look great......I'm checkng out the Nik Color Efex,....and its fun. </p>