Make A Fake HDR Image

Doing High Dynamic Range images has gotten really popular.  I blogged about HDR several times in the past. This process involves shooting three or more versions of the same image at different exposures, then combining them to capture all the detail across the whole range of highlights, midtones and shadows in the photograph.

There are quite a few programs available to do this. Some versions of Photoshop have the ability to do HDR, but my favorite is Photomatix.   Yes, that is Photomatix, not Photomatrix.

Here is a way to make a fake HDR using the High Pass filter and a few other steps in Photoshop. Start out with an image that has good lighting and obvious highlights. I selected an image from the Peach Festival of a kid covered in bubbles.  The original is below.

So, lets get started.


Duplicate the Layer, then go Filter > Other > High Pass.
Set the Radius to 4.0 and then set the Blending Mode to Vivid Light.

Flatten the image, then duplicate the layer. go Filter > Other > High Pass.
Set the Radius to 6.9 and then set the Blending Mode to Color and the Opacity to 40%

Flatten the image, then duplicate the layer. Add a Gaussian Blur. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the pixels to 9.4

Add some noise to the image. Filter > Noise > Add Noise, set the amount to 3%. Now add a mask to the layer. From the top menu, select Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All. Set the foreground color to white and background color to black, then use a soft brush at 30% opacity and start brushing over the entire image, except the eyes.

Flatten the image again, then go Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask and use the following settings.

Amount: 100%
Radius: 20.00 (This value may be different , depending on how much detail you need)
Threshold: 0

Now add some curves to the image to bring out a little more details and highlights. Go Image > Adjustments > Curves.

 Pretty simple.

You can use the High Pass filter to add detail to an image as well.