Tropical Penguin on Post Processing Part 3 : Post HDR manipulation

Sometimes after you do auto bracketing and you combined your different exposed images through a program like photomatix, you might find that your images itsn't to your liking.

This tutorial will be dedicated to Catbyte aka Li Hui.

So here are the steps to give you a more dramatic image. I don't call this a photograph, it is more like a digital art.

Step 1:


We start off with this under exposed image.

Step 2:


Go to image>adjustments> shadows and highlights and brighten up the dark areas.

Step 3:


Click on the gradient tool, ensure that it is linear and it is from foreground to transparent. Choose a colour, in this case, i choose pink.

Step 4:


Drag a line from the top of the image to around the horizon. This will give the sky a pinkish tint.

Step 5:


Click image>adjustments>auto levels

Step 6:


go to layers>duplicate layers

Step 7:


Select the burn tool, ensure the shadows tab is selected.



Darken the darker parts of the clouds. This is to creat a more dramatic cloud formation.

Step 8:


Adjust the opacity of the duplicated layer to blend the burnt parts.

Press control E or Layers> flatten image. Save your work. This will be your final image.