Chapter 4 Assignments
Download the latest version of Lightroom
Lightroom 6/CC is the latest and greatest. It’s no longer necessary to send your images to Photoshop to create panoramas and blend images into HDR. Lightroom 6/CC now incorporates Merge to HDR and Merge to Panorama all within Lightroom! Take a trip to www.adobe.com to upgrade your older version of Lightroom. Another option is to join Creative Cloud (CC), where, at the time of this writing, you can subscribe to Photoshop and Lightroom for $9.99 a month.
Download Photomatix Pro
While I love Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, their Merge to HDR functions aren’t flawless. I still use Photomatix Pro (www.hdrsoft.com) about 75 percent of the time. Its default settings are much more to my liking, and the deghosting feature is the best I’ve used. Use my name as a coupon code upon checkout for 15 percent off the retail price: TimCooper (all one word; capital T and capital C).
Practice editing your images
A large part of creating beautiful imagery revolves around using Lightroom’s Develop module either before or after processing your HDR images. Familiarize yourself with the tonal and color adjustments the program offers. Visit the Adobe website for free tutorials and lessons on how to use the Develop module to its full capacity. Other locations for training include the following:
Share your results with the book’s Flickr group!
Join the group here: www.flickr.com/groups/hdr_fromsnapshotstogreatshots/