Scott Prokop gave a presentation on September 11th of his workflow using Lightroom and Nik Software to create his signature look with his HDR images. Here is a quick overview of his workflow.
Step 1: You have to shoot at least 3 images bracketed in your camera. Every camera is different so look into your manual. Look for AEB or Exposure bracket in your menus. Set your bracket to -2, even, +2, lowest ISO, turn off image stabilizer and use a tripod.
Step 2: Import you photos into your favorite program. Scott uses Lightroom. He uses stacking to group the HDR photos to better organize them.
Step 3: Process your HDR photos. Scott uses Nik Software HDR Efex Pro 2 for the majority of his processing. Use the presets on the left to get you 90% there and then do the further refinements with the sliders on the right.
Step 4: Now that you have a great HDR image, there usually is some noise in the photo. This is quite visible if you zoom into a blue sky. Clean up the photo with Nik’s Dfine.
Step 5: Further enhance the sharpness of the photo by using Nik’s Color Efex Pro with the Tonal Contrast preset.
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Scott uses the Nik Software Complete Collection which includes Dfine (noise reduction), Viveza (correct photos using U Point technology), HDR Efex Pro (create vivid HDR images), Color Efex Pro (many, many enhancement filters), Silver Efex Pro (create amazing black & white photos) and Sharpener Pro (sharpening solution).
