Sep 07 2009
Creating HDR Images Directly in Lightroom – Video Tutorial
Here I was just doing my daily Web surfing when I came across a Youtube video by Michael James. In this video, he compares various ways of creating HDR images. The one that caught my attention was Lightroom plugin Enfuse. The reason it caught my attention was the fact that I could create an HDR image directly in Lightroom without ever leaving Lightroom! I’m all about workflow efficiency and this option sounded great. If you missed my Photoshop tutorial on HDR, you can also check it out.
The best news of all is that it does work really well. In this Lightroom tutorial, I’ll show you how to install, configure and use the Enfuse plugin. But before we get to the video, here’s what you need to do first.
1- Download and install the Enfuse application. You need to have the application installed for the plugin to work.
2- Download the Enfuse Lightroom plugin HERE (top right). It’s donationware. You can still use it without a donation but your images will be saved at 500px.
3- Unzip and put the LREnfuse.lrplugin folder in your desired location.
The rest of the steps are shown in the video, so let’s get right to it!
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Hello YAnik
Tahnks for this info . When I click on save 2- Download the Enfuse Lightroom plugin HERE (top right)I get only a PC ( not Mac) option
Will you have a mac version?
Regards
Ricardo Baez
@ Ricardo
Check out the instructions here: http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrenfuse.php?sec=install
they explain how to install for Mac.
great plugin and tutorial Yanik,
as what I can understand from other HDR softwares incl CS4, you often use 3 exposures at -2, 0, +2 stops. Here it seems you get a great result using 2 images. What are your recommendations of settings, -0.7 and +0.7 stops? Have a Sony a300 and bracketing aren’t the best, limited to the 0.7 stops.
Pls advice your recommendations.
Are you able to manage the tone mapping ín Lightroom/enfuse?
Dear Yanik
Thank you for introducing Enfuse to me. It is a wonderful HDR tool within Lightroom and it is so simple to use, producing very natural looking HDR results. My first successful HDR photo is a process of 5 virtual clips with different exposures plus the original, all done within Lightroom. I recommend to contribute to the software developer to get the license for the full version which will render the HDR to a much higher quality image. My HDR resolution is 4460 x 2974 and at 16,904 KB, the print out is stunning. I am delighted with this tool. Thank you.
Great work! You have shared with us a well written and very informative tutorial. Thank you. I will try to do it on my own and see what will happen.
Hi Yanik. Thanks for the great post – Do you have an alternative download for the application? Seems the install file’s been removed…
I have watched your video on Enfuse in Lightroom. When I installed Enfuse, it did not create a an Enblend-Enfuse folder with a bin folder underneath. How are those created?
I don’t think this is a good result. Look at the muddy dark grey halos on the walls surrounding your window. This should be brighter, from the light coming through the window.
Is this product ready for Lightroom 3 Beta?
I have to agree with Justin on this one, the halos are very bad..
Justin and Tom, if you watch the video again you’ll notice that everything shown here was done in the LIBRARY module. I would remind you that this is prior to going into the Develop module. This plugin is typically run BEFORE your work on exposure, color balance, contrast, saturation, etc. where your objections are addressed in a typical workflow.