# Working with HDR in Lightroom



## willdoak (Jul 2, 2012)

Sorry if this has been asked and answered. I read somewhere that color mapping of HDR images can now be done in Lightroom, as opposed to using the odd controls in Ps HDR Pro. When/how is this done? Just save the HDR file and open in Lr? Or is there some intermediate step in the creation of the HDR file that Lr can come into play?

Cheers,

Will


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## johnbeardy (Jul 2, 2012)

You go via Photoshop:



Selecting all the frames in Library, I chose the menu command Edit In > Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop.
Over in Photoshop’s HDR Pro dialog, I then set it to 32 bit output
I placed the white point on the very brightest part of the clouds, and clicked OK
I didn’t do anything else in Photoshop except saving the file as a 32 bit TIF
Back in Lightroom, the 32 bit TIF was catalogued automatically and I adjusted it in Develop.

 From here

John


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## Tony Jay (Jul 2, 2012)

The workflow outlined by John works as described.

Using the LR4 develop module controls to edit a 32-bit file is an absolute revelation - the control available is just breathtaking as are the results.
No need to settle for wierd garish results.

I highly recommend giving this workflow a go.

Regards

Tony Jay


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## Chris_M (Jul 3, 2012)

johnbeardy said:


> ...
> I placed the white point on the very brightest part of the clouds, and clicked OK
> ...


John, uhm I must have missed something in trying to learn HDR, how did you do the above step?
If I set PS CS5.1to 32-bit, the only thing I get is a single slider, no dropper or anything...


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## johnbeardy (Jul 3, 2012)

By moving the slider to the white point in the histogram . You may be able to skip this step as Lightroom can set the white point.


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## Chris_M (Jul 3, 2012)

Ah, ok thanks, I thought perhaps I missed something more complicated than moving the slider to the right end of the histogram.


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## johnbeardy (Jul 3, 2012)

I've played with a few examples today and I'm not sure there's any need for that white point step.

John


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 3, 2012)

As far as I know, the white point step only affects the preview, not the image data itself.


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## donoreo (Jul 5, 2012)

So it only works with PS HDRs?  What if you use another HDR program?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 5, 2012)

If other HDR programs generate 32-bit floating point TIFF's, then they should work.  That said, I know some people were having issues with the Photomechnic files to start with, and I don't know whether that's solved yet.


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