If you have been anywhere near the photography world in the past couple years, I am sure you have heard of HDR by now as there have been countless tutorials floating around on how to create HDR images using 3 bracketed exposures in programs like Photomatix and Photoshop. However what if you don’t have your tripod or if you are shooting a scene with moving subjects, yet you still want to create an HDR type shot? Well, good news, it is possible.
This tutorial will teach you how correct and produce a single RAW image into an HDR-like masterpiece using only Lightroom! That’s right, Photoshop skills are not even needed for this tutorial.

Creating an HDR-like Image From a Single RAW File in Lightroom

There have been questions posted as comments recently asking about the role of Lightroom in a photographer’s workflow. Many posters who are not currently using Lightroom aren’t sure whether Lightroom it is an alternative to Photoshop or where it fits if you have Photoshop too. I thought it was a good time to look at where Lightroom fits in the Adobe line up and to explain why Lightroom isn’t a Photoshop alternative.

Lightroom: What is it and When Should You Consider it?

There have been questions posted as comments recently asking about the role of Lightroom in a photographer’s workflow. Many posters who are not currently using Lightroom aren’t sure whether Lightroom it is an alternative to Photoshop or where it fits if you have Photoshop too. I thought it was a good time to look at where Lightroom fits in the Adobe line up and to explain why Lightroom isn’t a Photoshop alternative.

Lightroom: What is it and When Should You Consider it?

Whether it’s a photograph of mom that you’re sending to her or an image that you’re preparing to print, most photos can use some fixing before they’re ready to be shared or used.

Here’s a quick and easy Lightroom workflow that I apply to most every day images before sending them to family and friends, posting them to Flickr or my blog or printing them for a paper based photography project.

If you’re new to photo editing or to Lightroom, this step by step process should get you on the way to fixing your images.

As I’m out on the road teaching I always pick up on areas in Lightroom that people are having a hard time with. One area I realized was saving JPEGs. Why, when, how, and what settings to used are some common questions.

Being a user of both Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 with Adobe Bridge, I often get asked what the differences are, if any, between the two programs and why one may be better than the other. If you are trying to make the decision between Lightroom 2 or Photoshop CS4, there are few differences between the actual capabilities of these suites, however, those differences may be a big factor in the decision on which software to go with.

If you’re just starting out with Lightroom, there are a few CRUCIAL bits of information which will save you hours of headaches and untangling. They’re the kind of thing that just make you say “I’d wish I’d known that before….” These are my top ten gotchas, direct from the forums.

The new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7.0; and Premiere Elements 7.0.

Downloads are available here.

Why I gave up Photoshop – Inside Lightroom