- Bonjour Madame's et Monsieur's!
In this episode, I want to show you
how to make some cool HDR in 2017.
(upbeat rock music)
Bonjour, Madame's et Monsieur's.
My name is Serge Ramelli.
I'm a French photographer living in Los Angeles,
and I just came back from Yosemite.
Also, great news, Aurora HDR is coming out for Windows.
Yes, believe it or not.
If you want to be the first one to be notified
and get the best deal, there is a link below this video
where you can just put your email
and you will be the first one to know about it.
Alright, this is really good news.
So many people have been writing me
for Aurora HDR in a Windows version.
Well guys, they've heard you and it's coming out.
So, I want to show you two ways of making HDR.
Plus, I'm coming out with new posts called HDR Quickstart.
I'm gonna show you all this right now.
Alright guys, I want to show you a cool trick.
I just came back from Yosemite and the tunnel view,
and I got a great shot.
The problem with the tunnel view
is it's a very classic shot of Yosemite
and the problem with it is that it's facing East
so you never have a sunset.
But I got lucky that day because,
you can't really see it on the raw file,
but there was a little bit of pink coming from the sunset.
So, you know this is an iconic shot.
When I do such a shot, first of all,
I always bracket the shot, I take three photos.
And then I try two things.
The first thing that I do is I'm going to take all three,
I'm gonna right click "Export" into Aurora HDR 2017
and I'm gonna use the "Open Original Image" option,
which is gonna open the raw file.
It opens this window and I'm just gonna click on "Alignment"
and click on "Create HDR."
Alright, so here I am in Aurora HDR
and I like to work fast in Aurora HDR
and I use my own presets which are in the software.
So, all you have to do is click here.
You got all the basic presets
and you jump into "Serge Ramelli" preset.
It's in the software.
In this one, you know I'm crazy about magenta
so I want to give it as a basic look,
I want to the "Photoserge Sunset Look."
So, I'm gonna click one time
and that's gonna do a lot of processing for it
and give it like a magenta look that that I love.
On this one, I think I want to put up
a little bit of shadow.
I think it's, maybe not that much
because it's a very powerful slider,
and when I go for the HDR look with Aurora,
I go for the HDR look with Aurora.
So what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna add a layer,
adjustment layer, and on this one I'm gonna click here,
on "Photoserge Local Details."
Now "Photoserge Local Details,"
is gonna give details everywhere.
Crazy, I don't want that.
So, I'm gonna take a brush and on that layer
I'm just gonna brush a little bit of details
just on El Capitan and on the Bridalveil Fall.
Just a little bit of details here, okay.
So, check it out.
Here's a layer and on that layer all we had
was "Photoserge Local Details."
I'm gonna turn it off, and I'm gonna turn it on.
You see how it brings a lot of details there?
Okay, the next thing I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna add another layer here
and I want to make the sky more diffused.
So, I'm gonna go to the "Photoserge Clouds" effect,
and that's gonna diffuse the entire photo
but I only want the effect on the sky.
So, I got my brush and I'm just gonna brush in.
You understand why I love Aurora HDR
because you can really tone map your photo layers by layers.
Check it out, that's the before, and that's the after.
It's already pretty crazy but it's not over yet.
I'm gonna apply this and it's gonna return the photo
back into Lightroom.
Back in Lightroom and here is the photo, that's the HDR.
I mean it's already a lot different from the original
and you know, it's not supernatural, it's not crazy HDR,
but you know, you can tell some effect
has been done unto it.
So, but I'm not finished.
I'm gonna make it even more crazy.
I'm gonna open up some shadows a little bit,
bring down the blacks, you know,
I go very light at this point
because it's already been processed,
maybe add a bit of contrast.
I think I want to make the sky a little darker,
I'm gonna go to exposure.
I always do a little bit of a double of Lightroom,
I want drama, I want this to be dramatic.
Okay, maybe boost a little bit the exposure and voila!
So that's one look and I love it,
I mean I love it.
Now I'm gonna go for a lot more natural look
using the HDR option in Lightroom.
So, I'm gonna take the same three raw file.
This time, I'm gonna select all three.
I'm gonna right click "Photo Merge HDR."
And usually what I do is, I always click "Auto Align,"
and I always make sure that the ghosting amount is on high,
and to "Show Deghosting Overlay."
What that is, is basically when you have a bit of wind,
and you're taking three shots, one photo to the other,
the leaves are gonna be not exactly at the same place
and it can make like what we call a ghosting effect.
So when you do a deghosting effect
what the software is gonna do is
take the faster shutter speed,
where the leaves are the most sharp,
which is usually an underexposed photo.
And if there is any pixel which is different,
from one photo to the other,
it's gonna pick this one.
Now, you can see on this one there was not much wind
because "Show Deghost Overlay," should show in red
any deghosting and it's not showing anything.
So, when it's like this I go to "None,"
because it's you know not needed,
and I'm gonna click on "Merge,"
and that's gonna create a raw file that's in HDR.
Okay, now at this point usually what I do for speed
is I use some of my preset retouched photo,
which is my natural preset,
so the photo is here, that's the HDR version.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to go
into my signature preset and I'm gonna go in,
and you have link to the signature preset below this video
if you want to purchase it,
and there is also a video where you can get
some of it for free.
This is a sunset one so I guess I'm gonna go to just
"Sunset Linear Circle," I think that's good enough.
Or maybe this one, "Sunset Linear Circle Light."
Like you can see up here the preview,
but I have to be on the mouse.
I'm gonna click on this one
and it's gonna do all the basic retouching for me.
Just give it a second, boom.
This one is way too magenta.
If you know my signature preset,
you know that I use radial circles so I have one here,
this one I'm just gonna erase, I don't need extra magenta.
So, overall the preset is gonna give
a much more organic, natural look than the HDR.
Let me show them to you compare.
So switch to HDR and press "C" to compare them.
And "Shift Up," to go full screen.
So on my left you have the HDR from Lightroom,
and on my right you have the HDR from Aurora.
You can even zoom in on a compare mode to see, you know,
how much detail there is between the two.
Because I used Aurora details, the Aurora version
has got a lot more detail.
This one, on the other hand, is a lot more natural looking.
And I'll tell you a story, if you showed the left one,
the HDR natural one to photographer,
and if you showed these two photos to like ten photographer,
80% of the professional photographer will prefer
the left one 'cause they don't like the HDR look.
They don't like it because it's too easy, okay.
but if you show the same two photos to non-photographers
they will pick the right one, the one from Aurora.
And if I post on social media both of these photos,
the one that will work the best will be the Aurora version.
I know it's not natural looking,
but that's just the way life is.
You know people love that look.
So choose your weapon, you've got two ways to do HDR.
I'm giving you the three raw files if you cannot fly to
Yosemite to tunnel view, the night of a nice sunset,
well you're in luck
because if you subscribe to my website,
I'm giving you this raw file so you can play around with it.
I love this place, if you've never been to Yosemite
you should check it out.
Now if you liked this, I just came out with a new course
called HDR Quickstart and what it is, is let me show you.
First we're gonna take the three photos
from Zion National Park,
and using Aurora HDR and going much more detail
in the software gonna get this result.
Then we're gonna do a crazy HDR panorama
by first taking this photo, this photo, and this photo,
which is a bracketing of Big Sur,
and then the right side, another bracketing of Big Sur,
and then we're gonna go into Lightroom,
and Lightroom only, and do a panorama HDR.
Check this out, only using Lightroom, okay.
But let's say you don't have Aurora HDR, it's Mac only,
but just so you know, it's coming out for Windows
in like a couple of weeks, I think mid-September,
and I'm gonna show you how you canuse HDR FX pro
to take the three photos and turn it into this
with a little bit of Photoshop.
HDR FX Pro is a free HDR software from Google.
Okay, but let's say you want to do this in Photoshop.
Well, I'm gonna take these three exposures
and I'm going to show you digital planning,
where I'm gonna take, you see that overexposed photo,
the bottom of that photo, the top of that photo,
to get this photo as a result
using Photoshop and Photoshop only.
And, I'm also gonna show you how to use Aurora HDR
to take this photo, and turn it into this photo,
with only one photo.
It's a one photo HDR so it's my HDR Quickstart,
check out the link is below this video.
Madame's et Monsieur's, hope you enjoyed this.
Alright, Madame's et Monsieur's,
I hope you're gonna check out my HDR Quickstart course
and sign up to get the first one to get notified
about the Aurora HDR for Windows, if you're a Window's user.
And if you're not a Window's user, check it out.
You can buy it and purchase it with the link on this video.
You will love Aurora and you will love also doing
natural HDR with Lightroom, check out both.
It's good to have all these weapons with you
to get the best out of your photography.
Happy shooting and I'll see you in another episode.
Madame's et Monsieur's, au revoir.
And don't forget to like this video and if you do,
and don't forget to subscribe if you have not subscribed.
It just takes a second and you get a notification
every time I come out with a free tutorial.
It's amazing!
See you in the next video.