The "Joel Grimes Method".

[William Walker]

What size is where you can see the difference with three shots?

...from A2 upwards you notice the smoothness in the sky - remember, all this time I have always only spoke of this in terms of Black & White photography - I have not looked colour.

[JRSmit]

Interesting thread, must say however that 32bit files are not handled  correctly in Lightroom. Colors are not shown correctly on screen and in print. This must have an effect on black and white as grey’s are just part of the colorspace.

[Garnick]

To Alan,

Even though I've never checked this fellows videos it only took about a minute to download this one so I can view it at my own leisure.  Therefore I might check more than the one mentioned here and decide if they are worth the time.

Gary

[mtakeda]

Yes Slo: I take 3 photos -2EV, 0.0EV, +2EV. From Lightroom I go to "Merge to HDR Pro in PS". In HDR Pro I set it to 32-bit and uncheck "Tone In ACR". It ends up in PS as a 32-bit TIFF. Save. It appears in Lightroom as a TIFF.
In Library Mode, I go to "Library" in the menu bar and select Convert to DNG. It converts it to a DNG. Check 32-bit as per Screenshot.

You now go ahead and process the image as you normally would. (In Lightroom! The moment you send it back to PS it becomes 16-bit.)

All I did in the above pics of the church was as described in the process above then I selected the 0.0EV photograph and synced the adjustments (with the 32-bit DNG) and ended up with the two examples I posted.

Simple!
[/quotei tried to go from LR to merge to HDR pro in Ps but under pull down of tools I do not find it. Am I looking at the wrong placeL

[mcbroomf]

i tried to go from LR to merge to HDR pro in Ps but under pull down of tools I do not find it. Am I looking at the wrong placeL

It's not in the Tools tab/pulldown.

Go to the Photo tab, then Edit In in the pulldown
You'll see the Merge to HDR Pro in PS option there.
Note that if you only select 1 image you'll see it but it will be greyed out

You can also right click on any one of your selected images and find the Edit In option listed

Mike

[mtakeda]

I was able to make headway thanks to your advice. I am facing another problem but I will first strive to overcome then I may come back to ask for your help.

[mtakeda]

Those were my findings too.

I have altered my workflow from his based on another similar video: I take the three images into "Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop", set it to 32-bit, but uncheck the Camera Raw box. It ends up as a 32-bit Tiff in PS. Save that back to Lightroom and in the Library Module go to "Library" at the top and take the option to "Convert to DNG". The Tiff file is converted into a 32-bit DNG. Carry on with your usual workflow.

Another naive question, if I may. What is the reason to covert the file to dng? What is the advantage? Thank you.

[mtakeda]

I made several trial with reasonable success and felt this method open new and exciting avenue for my pursuit of better black and white photos. The slight trouble was the resultant dng files show the image on too much side of underexposed frame. I can correct this by adjusting exposure but wonder if anyone here can give some advice. Thank you.

[mcbroomf]

I made several trial with reasonable success and felt this method open new and exciting avenue for my pursuit of better black and white photos. The slight trouble was the resultant dng files show the image on too much side of underexposed frame. I can correct this by adjusting exposure but wonder if anyone here can give some advice. Thank you.

This may be due to the balance of luminosities from the files you chose to blend.  By this I mean (for example) if you blended 5 files but the "average" was the 2nd brightest then you'd have 3 files darker than "average" and only one brighter.  And by "average" here I mean the final luminosity you'd expect from the scene.

You can test this easily by stepping out the door and taking a set of 9 bracketed images and using this method on several sets of 3 or 5 images, moving the middle image +/- 1 ev from the center exposure.

Hope that's clear.

[mtakeda]

Thank you. My road for improvement continues. I will do another attempt with the center of bracket increased by one 1ev.

[mtakeda]

My third trial with the center of exposure up by 1EV hit the nail and extremely pleased with smooth tone. Thank you everyone. I am excited for the real b and w shoot.

[mtakeda]

As I am so pleased with the results of 32bit process of b and w images especially with such nice and smooth tone and dynamic range, I am curious how the experts of this site interpret the merit on color photo. If it is so good for b and w it should be good for the color photo as well. What do you think?

[mdijb]

I do not have samples but I have tried it on color images and have been pleased.  Better details and smooth gradations.  The differences have been subtle but visible.  Give a try. 

[William Walker]

Another naive question, if I may. What is the reason to covert the file to dng? What is the advantage? Thank you.

It remains in 32-bit...

[kers]

HelloWilliam,

i have not tried it yet for myself, but

i just was looking to the files you presented and i do not like the flowers in 32 bit... they seem posterized.

[William Walker]

HelloWilliam,

i have not tried it yet for myself, but

i just was looking to the files you presented and i do not like the flowers in 32 bit... they seem posterized.

Hi Pieter, unfortunately I don't have the original files anymore so I can't have a close look at them to check properly.
As I said, those are 200% enlargements and I am not sure how noticeable what you are seeing would be at print size ....

Later: Pieter, I went back and re-took some pictures and it would seem that I "overworked" the editing (on the original) - what you see there is not because of the process!!

[kers]

Hi Pieter, unfortunately I don't have the original files anymore so I can't have a close look at them to check properly.
As I said, those are 200% enlargements and I am not sure how noticeable what you are seeing would be at print size ....

Later: Pieter, I went back and re-took some pictures and it would seem that I "overworked" the editing (on the original) - what you see there is not because of the process!!

Ah yes, like with everything; you need to find the right balance...
i work a lot with photoshop and it is always a fight in preserving data...

[govindvkumar]

Many Thanks for sharing this video. it is really useful

[William Walker]

Those were my findings too.

I have altered my workflow from his based on another similar video: I take the three images into "Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop", set it to 32-bit, but uncheck the Camera Raw box. It ends up as a 32-bit Tiff in PS. Save that back to Lightroom and in the Library Module go to "Library" at the top and take the option to "Convert to DNG". The Tiff file is converted into a 32-bit DNG. Carry on with your usual workflow.

I had that part wrong! After going through Jeff Schewe's "The Digital Negative" (Page 244-245) I found that, once you have the image back in PS, you go to "Save As" - Save as a Tiff, and then it gives you the option to save as "32-Bit (Float). You then import that file into Lightroom as a 32-Bit file.