Does any one know of a tutorial illustrating the proper technique to merge two photos using Photoshop? I believe you use the channel function?

For example I want to merge these two photos. Use the photo where the furniture is exposed properly, and merge it with the other photo where outside the windows are exposed properly.

 

Your best bet would be to use a program called Photomatix to do the HDR blend. However, the exposure difference between the two images above is too extreme for a natural looking blend. For this type of shot I would take about 5 exposures spaced 1 stop apart. Something like +1, 0, -1, -2, -3 would work well here.

 

to what Dan said.

How I merge photos is just open both, then layer one over the other. Cut the Opacity on the top layer down and erase what you don't need. I gave yours a quick shot at work, but this one is hard because of the drastic exposure changes inside the house. You would have to take a little more time and adjust everything up front then merge the photos. The very tops of the glass in the windows need some work on mine.

 

^ looking 1000x better already! The shine in the bottom right is distracting, though... any way you can bring back the detail from the darker photo?

 

If you're going the way of merging via layers, you're better off using layer masks. When you do this, you're merely hiding or revealing what you want and not actually removing any image data from your layers like you are when you erase.

As Dan and Bdog have said though, you'd want to use HDR tools and techniques for merging a shot like this. There are some situations though where merging via layers can be more efficient. Think of a sunset landscape shot with a well-defined horizon. You could shoot one exposure for the sky and one for the ground.

 

Little better?

 

Yeah, that's more like it! It might still need some tweaking to get it to that reddish-brown color of the wood (color balance to add more magenta/red, maybe?).

I'm really an amateur at this stuff though, so it looks great to me already.

 

Bdog, you use Photomatix to do that?

 

Thank you for all the help. I'll have to reshoot the inside of the house again and give it a whirl.

First of all I'm a beginner in the photography world. I understand the basics but I feel that my learning curve is evolving nicely. I just purchased the Sony a100 a couple of weeks ago and I have A LOT to learn.

You all have made me a true believer of the HDR technique. I just downloaded the demo version of Photomatix. I took this of my Vizsla pup to test the technique out and I'm amazed. I'll have to get the full expedition of Photomatix to optimize its full potential.


Top using HDR / Bottom single exposure

 

I haven't read yet, but you may want to.

http://stuckincustoms.com/?p=548

 

the part about doing HDR from a single RAW file is rather stimulating... :P

 

Photoshop CS2 for this, I need to get into HDR and look into the Photomatix plugin and try it.