HDR Processing - Tutorial
To be able to follow this guide, you will need to download the trial version of Zoner Photo Studio 12.
Go right ahead—it's FREE.
The source RAW* picture: Zoner Photo Studio - HDR demo.CR2
*RAW Overview
Zoner Photo Studio 12 Professional can view and convert RAW files from a wide range of digital cameras.
When you first open a RAW file in Zoner Photo Studio, you'll discover that only a preview is opened by default, even in the Editor. But this doesn't mean that Zoner Photo Studio cannot load the image in full resolution. In fact, there are two different ways to do so:
- use the Reload at Full Resolution command in the Editor, or
- turn off this
"previewing" behavior. Use Settings, then Preferences, and then go to
the RAW Format section. Now RAW images will be displayed much more
slowly, but at full resolution.
Because Zoner Photo Studio attempts to load available preview (for
performance reasons), rendering of a RAW file can change when an image
is reloaded at full resolution. Factors affecting rendering are file
format and the presence of the WIC codec. If the file is in DNG format,
it is always rendered using Zoner’s own code and does not take into
account XMP-based rendering info (contained in e.g. Adobe Camera Raw).
If the image is in any other RAW format, the WIC codec is prefered as
the data source. If no WIC codec is present, dcraw is used for raw data decoding.
In
Zoner Photo Studio, RAW files cannot be modified; they are always
treated as read-only. Only text descriptions may be added to RAW files.
These are saved to a sidecar XMP file.
Zoner
Photo Studio can both display and "develop" RAW files. That is, an
image can be converted (developed) from RAW into a bitmap format via
the Acquire from DNG/RAW window,
accessible from both the Browser and the Editor. When you arrive there
from the Browser (Acquire | Acquire from DNG/RAW), it can work on
multiple files.
If you have a
RAW file in a format that can be displayed in Zoner Photo Studio, but
cannot be developed, you can help ZPS develop it by downloading and
installing Adobe DNG Converter, as long as the Converter supports your
RAW file. Once you set the path to the converter under Settings,
Preferences, RAW Format, then Zoner Photo Studio will be able to use it
for conversion to a temporary DNG file, which it will then convert onwards into output in a typical bitmap format. All of this behaviour will be transparent—from your standpoint you will simply gain the ability to develop your photos using Acquire from DNG RAW.
HDR from single RAW picture
The HDR (High Dynamic Range) function assembles multiple photos with varying exposure ranges into a single picture. This is sometimes called sandwiching. HDR helps solve the problem of camera sensors' limited dynamic range.
HDR pictures are usually composed from three shots, however sometimes you can get by with
just two, that is, either normal + underexposed (to capture lights),
normal + overexposed (to capture shadows), or under/overexposed.
Zoner
Photo Studio offers two basic ways to create a HDR image. To achieve
the best quality, it is recommended to take three (or two) pictures
from a tripod. However this is not possible for a dynamic scene. Therefore Zoner Photo Studio allows to you to create an HDR image from a single RAW file.
Enter the RAW conversion window Acquire from DNG/RAW...
At its bottom right, there is an HDR... button. Clicking it opens another window, where you can adjust the overexposure and underexposure settings.
The screenshot below shows three such automatically generated pictures. They are now ready for HDR processing. Click the Next button.
Your finalized HDR picture is now ready. You can save it to a file or open it in a new window for further editing.
