hd arrrrrhhhhhhhhhh

[nickanderson]

Can anyone tell me why my attempt to create a HDR is being such a pain

I am using CS4 starting from Bridge - tools - photoshop - merg to HDR

the process starts and it seems as though its working and the progress bar reads Align Selected Layers Based On Content but when it seems to have completed the task.......nothing. No image, dialog, error message, just a blank work space.
I have produced images in this way before without any problems. I tried to perform the task from within photoshop but the same thing happened. I have purged my cache, restarted CS but still nothing - I am trying it again now from within Photoshop, with the attemp to align box unchecked but if anyone has any ideas then feel free to suggest a solution.

Cheers all

[KeithT]

I might be wrong, but when I tried this in CS2 (I now use CS4 too) I got the same problem. I used three images processed from the same raw file at different exposure levels and therein lies the problem I think. This is because no matter how much you alter the exposure in ACR, Photoshop will still read the same information from your single image file, because that doesn't change during alteration. What I am saying is there are no differences in written data to work with unless you offer the same shot made at different exposure levels in-camera. As I say, I could be wrong about this. What I now do in this situation is to blend the three different exposure levels from one file by hand. It works, but without auto tone mapping. The best method is to use three separate shots (or more) and the Photomatix software for this purpose, although there is some free HDR software stuff on the market that does a pretty good job as I understand it. For free HDR software take a look here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...r-software.htm At least it gives the opportunity to try software out before spending any money on Photomatix.