Before I begin any HDR Illustration I browse my library and look for an image or images I think might make an interesting illustration. I always have some preconcieved idea as to how I want the final piece to look. For this demostration, I will be combining two photographs to create my illustration. Keep in mind, in most HDR merges we have little idea as to what exactly the final will look like as many cool and sometimes not so cool things happen in the process of creating your HDR image.

Step 4: You won't see here, but I still had some yellow in the image after bringing it back into Photoshop, therefore, I needed to take the yellow out in Photoshop. I did this with Hue / Saturation. Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation. I used the pulldown menu and went to yellow and pulled the saturation slider to the negative side until I removed most of the yellow. I then went to curves Image > Adjustments > Curves and put a slight curve to the image giving it more contrast therefore intensifying the blue walkway and glow at the doorway.

Step 5: It's now time to remove the pink building in the background and open my doorway for my drop in image.

(From this point on I suggest you duplicate every layer you create, this will allow you to go back if you mess up).

I duplicated my background layer. I took the pen tool and outlined the doorway. Once I had the door outlined with the pen tool and went to Paths > Make Selection, (If Paths isn't work space, go to the Windows drop down menu and check Paths). I used a 1 pixel feather on the selection. Once the marching ants appear I hit the delete button on my keyboard and everything within the selection disappears. Keep in mind you duplicated the background layer, therefore the background layer is showing through and you won't see any difference until you click the eye icon on the background layer, this will remove the visible background layer. Once the eye icon is switched off you will see a white background through the door.

Now it's time to drag our second image into our illustration. Lets's move on to step 6 on the next page.

Step 1: Open first image into Photoshop, the image must be a 16 bit image for this project (32 bit will also work)
(In Photoshop go to Image > Mode > 16 bit) If needed go ahead and put a slight curve on image. The image doesn't need to be perfect at this point. I don't worry about the histogram as this will dramatically change once it is run through Photomatix.

Filter > Photomatix > Tonemapping.

This will bring up a window looking much as the image on the left. We have the option of showing the image in three different sizes 512, 768 or 1024. I prefer the

larger setting at 1024.

To the left of the image you see a series of sliders, Strength, Color Saturation, Light Smoothing, Luminosity, White Point, Black Point and Gamma. If you put your curser over each slider a box will show up describing what that slider does. At this point I start with Strength and make adjustments and work my way down to each of the other sliders. As you will

notice my sliders on the first try were set towards the higher end with the exception of Light Smoothing and White Point.

We can back track to make changes to the previous sliders if needed. I can't give you any numbers because you will need to adjust to your liking . You may get the result you want on the first try but don't fret if you don't. I ran my illustration through Photomatix three times, the first try is shown on the left. You will need to make your own determination as to how many times you run your photo through Photomatix.

Notice the blue and yellow glow I'm starting to get, this changes with the Color Saturation slider.

When I'm (your) happy with the result, hit OK. The image will open back up in Photoshop.

Filter > Photomatix > Tonemapping

This brings the same window open as before. Go ahead and enlarge the window to 1024.

Now start playing with the sliders once again. You will notice my sliders are moving towards the minus side with the exception of Light Smoothing and White Point. Yours may or may not depending on what you like while playing. My guess, you'll find yourself working with the sliders moving towards the minus (left) as well. The plus side turns the image very dark.

The blue and yellow glow become more pronounced this time around. I am really liking the affect. I decided to go ahead and open back up in Photoshop.

Once your happy with the effects you've created go ahead and hit OK and your image once again will open back up in Photoshop.