Unlock a controlled, natural-looking HDR effect in Photoshop with this powerful, non-destructive workflow.
Who This Is For
This tutorial is ideal for landscape photographers, travel photographers, and anyone looking to add subtle detail and texture to their images without creating an artificial HDR look. If you want a fast, non-destructive Photoshop workflow that enhances clarity while preserving natural tonality, this method is for you.
In this tutorial, Andy Cook demonstrates how to use Photoshop's HDR Toning feature as a subtle detail and texture enhancer—without the harsh, artificial look that often comes from heavy HDR processing.
The core of the method is Andy's Copy-Paste-Blend workflow. Before applying HDR Toning, you simply copy the original image to the clipboard. After applying the adjustment—making one important tweak to reduce Highlights to about -20—you immediately paste the original image back in. This stacks the original image over the HDR layer, giving you precise, granular control by adjusting Layer Opacity. The result is beautiful HDR “pop” while maintaining natural tonality and texture.
The video also covers tips for improving contrast using additional adjustment layers, grouping and masking the HDR stack, and applying this technique to single-capture (non-bracketed) images, making it a versatile option for any workflow.
What You'll Learn:
- How to use HDR Toning as a controlled detail and texture booster
- The complete Copy-Paste-Blend method for non-destructive editing
- The critical highlight adjustment that keeps HDR effects from blowing out highlights
- How to blend the HDR layer with opacity for perfect fine-tuning
- Optional enhancements using Overlay blend mode and adjustment layers
- How to apply this workflow even after other image adjustments
- Before/after comparisons to see the difference
Video Timeline
- 0:00 - Introduction to the Controlled HDR Workflow
- 1:09 - Preparing the RAW file
- 2:08 - Copying the source image to the clipboard
- 2:33 - Applying HDR Toning
- 2:55 - The critical Highlight adjustment (-20)
- 3:30 - Pasting the original back in
- 3:50 - Blending with layer opacity
- 4:35 - Improving contrast with adjustment layers + Overlay mode
- 5:35 - Grouping layers and adding a mask
- 6:22 - Before & after
- 6:37 - Using this method with non-bracketed images
- 6:54 - How to use HDR Toning after other adjustments
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