HDR in Photoshop - Tues 1/10/13

In class today we have discussed digital RAW images and it's uses/advantages.  Digital RAW images are the equivalent to negatives in film photography and consequently can be used to alter our images in greater depth than JPEG's.
In order to create a HDR image in Photoshop, I have begun by altering the exposure of one of my own images that I felt would benefit from altering the foreground and sky exposures.  Using Photoshop to merge images is a much subtler way of creating HDR images than specific programmes such as Photomatix and allows us to maintain a greater degree of control over the final image.
We also discussed the 'Dodge and Burn' tools in Photoshop and how they can be used to selectively lighten and darken areas of an image.  'Dodge and Burn' are also referred to as digital darkroom tools as they don't actually manipulate an image but are very useful for changing specific areas of exposure.

This is the original image and I feel that the area under what remains of the old market and the foreground is too dark but I don't wish to increase the exposure in the sky area.

This is the image increased to +2.60 which effectively lightens the area under the canopy but also blows the sky out.

 
This image is a screenshot of the RAW file opened in Photoshop ready to alter the exposure

Saving the altered RAW file as a JPEG.  This was repeated twice, once for the mid tones and another for the highlights.

Both of the JPEG's are opened in Photoshop and merged by selecting the move tool then dragging and dropping one of the images on top of the other.  A mask was then added to the highlights layer allowing me to use the graduation tool to lighten the foreground whilst keeping the detail in the sky.

 

Although I managed to lighten the area I had chosen successfully, I wanted to bring some more detail back into the sky.  This was achieved by selecting the Burn tool and using it with a fairly large paintbrush size and mid opacity.

Final Image following merging