Dreary days are perfect for HDR transformations. Even though I prefer to keep my High Dynamic Range images as realistic as possible, the weather sometimes gets in the way and I will take a flat image and try to liven it up. I’ll do this by taking it a little beyond reality.

With all of the tools available, it’s pretty easy to develop a few quick methods to transform an image into a unique work of art. Just look up HDR in an internet search and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, not everything that is called HDR is the real thing. Some photogs just apply a few extreme tone mapping processes to single images and call it HDR.

Processing: This image is the result of a blending of five exposures in Nik HDR Efex Pro for realistic tone mapping, then using HDR Toning in Adobe Photoshop CS6 (see below), and finally applying Shadows/Highlights in Photoshop to take it to the beyond reality stage (image above).

 So, sometimes a lifeless shot can be enhanced with just a little bit of artistic enhancement.

What do you think?

Just for fun, and since I haven’t posted a monochrome for awhile, I decided to convert this image to a pseudo Kodak P3200 TMAX Pro version using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. I thought the gritty graininess would work with the gritty subject matter. Even though the Nik software has a preset for this type of film, I decided to apply the # 24 Full Contrast & Structure preset and then add some grain.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, f/1.8, 800 ISO.