HDR of a tree

Here's an HDR I took the other day:

This was made in Qtpfsgui.

Qtpfsgui

Qtpfsgui looks like a bunch of random letters, but it's actually the name of a free HDR creation program. I just found out about it today as I was reading the latest popular science magazine. Here's a sample of what can be made with it. For more HDRs made with Qtpfsgui, you can go over to the flickr group.

Makeing a fake HDR in the GIMP part 2

Last time I told you a way to make a HDR (or an image that looks like one) from a single JPEG.
Since then, I've made a few modifications to the process. This tutorial is for those who are very familiar with their image editor (I used the GIMP, but Photoshop works just as well).

1. Decompose HSV
2. Duplicate value layer
3. Invert new layer, then blur (5 to 20 px is good, depending on size of image)
4. Set mode of new layer to soft light, then duplicate it.
5. Merge down the first new layer, then the second (It gets messed up if you do it the other way around)
6. You are now back down to the Value, Hue, and Saturation layers.
   
7. Turn up the contrast of the value layer until it looks bad, then bring it back just until it looks OK.
8. Re-compose the image. You're Done!

Here is an image I used this technique on:
Before:

After:

Making a fake HDR in the GIMP

I just was over at digg and I saw these steps for making a fake HDR (Thanks, Elliuotatar).
By doing this, you can make an HDR from a single JPEG, instead of needing a bunch of files (the quality is not as good, though).
1. Duplicate image to a second layer.
2. Image->Adjustments->Desaturate second layer. (Make it black and white.)
3. Image->Adjustments->Invert second layer. (Make it a negative.)
4. Do a 64 pixel gaussian blur on the second layer. (Low pass filter. Prevents loss of high frequncy contrast on surfaces.) Edit: You can just use regular gaussian blur at about 5 to 15 pixels.
5. Set the second layer to soft light.

This works in Photoshop or The GIMP.
And there you have it. If you want to see some real HDR images, Stuck in Customs from flickr has over one thousand of them.