How To: HDR Look From JPG Using Lightroom 2.1

Alright, here comes my first try at writing lightroom tutorial. I discovered this technique by accident while editing my shots from Sydney last year. I’ll post the gallery sometime later. In order to do this editing, you need to have at least lightroom v2.0 and download the 300 preset by mikelao. Alright, lets get going.

First of all, this is the plain looking JPG.

1/160 f8.0 ISO 200 at 18mm

1/160 f8.0 ISO 200 at 18mm

Then we crop so the ship follow rule of third

press 'R' inside lightroom to crop

press 'R' inside lightroom to crop

Then we apply the 300v2 preset to get this effect

Awesome effect! but the lower right corner is too dark, and the land is very underexposed!

Awesome effect! but the lower right corner is too dark, and the land is very underexposed!

Just up the exposure to around +0.85 to lighten the mood.

Next we will apply a graduated filter to darken the sky. change it to exposure mode and put -0.80 on the value.

Awesome sky, well lit water, only one problem left, guess which one is it?

Awesome sky, well lit water, only one problem left, guess which one is it?

Ok, now we will make use of the Adjustment Brush (K) to make the land brigther. Set the size of the brush a little bit smaller than the land, and set the feather around 70.

Paint it carefully, do not let your brush hit the ship, its gonna over expose. Just play around with the exposure to suit your need.

Now the final picture should look like this

Not too shabby huh!

Not too shabby huh!

Alright, hope you enjoy the tutorial. This proves that simple JPG is not to be underestimated.

If you like this post, you might also like:

  1. Lightroom Develop Preset for Smoothing Skin
  2. How To: Fantastic Mysterious Effect Using Lightroom “300″ Preset
  3. 7 Reason to Use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2
  4. [Lightroom Tutorial] Cropping while breaking aspect ratio
  5. Difficulty of Using Adobe Lightroom, or Lack Thereof

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  • Nice one! I didn't know that my 300 presets can be used to get the HDR effect. Thanks for making the tutorial!

    - Mike
  • nie
    ini poto yang kemaren? bagus bagus bagus bagus. potonya bagus maksudna, soale tutorialnya gue ga ngerti. wkwkwkw.
  • Great tutorial! You did mention in your article that you were going to brighten up the lower right corner of the photo. I think you were correct in saying that it needed brightening. Did you forget to do this step? Or were you happy with the end result as is? I know, I know, it's always a matter of personal taste.

    Great job though for a first tutorial. Keep 'em coming.

    Cheers, Markus
  • Ah Thx Dud!!!! this What I need X) hahahahahahahaha Thx a lot X) thumbs up. never learned about lightroom. always use adobephotoshop i think i'll try this asap!!
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