# Faux HDR in Lightroom



## Fangman (Nov 7, 2011)

Single image processed in Lightroom3 to give the "Holiday Postcard" effect







from below


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## mistermonday (Nov 7, 2011)

The after image is way over-saturated for me, making the color unnatural. You have induces a strong halo around the trees on the left side of the image. I see some spots or blotches in the sky (center and lower right) which could be dirt on lens or sensor, or they could be a result of your processing.
Regards, Murray


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## Bynx (Nov 7, 2011)

I find calling that Faux HDR an insult to those trying to give HDR a respectable name. Please learn the difference between HDR and and bad tone mapping. Your original is the superior image.


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## McNugget801 (Nov 7, 2011)

Bynx said:


> I find calling that Faux HDR an insult to those trying to give HDR a respectable name. Please learn the difference between HDR and and bad tone mapping. Your original is the superior image.



Amen to that. 
The edit is horrible compared to the original.


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## Fangman (Nov 7, 2011)

I agree with you - nothing to beat bracketed exposures about 2 stops each way, but I thought I would follow a tutorial on Lightroom to see what it came out like - on a 6x4 print it looked as if it belonged on a seaside rack of tatty postcards.

Shortly after this outing I replaced the CF card in my 40D and blew a motherboard - very expensive!  Now using a 600D with a clean sensor!


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## robertandrewphoto (Nov 9, 2011)

If you want to achieve an effect similar to HDR in lightroom, simply bump up your fill light a decent amount, drop the contrast, bump up the blacks, and then play around with the curves.  

If you do it correctly you can make a very respectable picture.  This picture did not need any extra exposures for an HDR image though, you captured about 90% of the light range in your original image.


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## caveman (Nov 10, 2011)

Agreed, the original is much nicer! Keep trying though


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## EchoingWhisper (Nov 10, 2011)

Try increasing saturation/vibrance then use the Unsharp Mask on a high amount.


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