Easily Enhance Your Photos With HDR Toning in Photoshop

HDR (High Dinamic Range) images are created using multiple photographs, each captured at a different exposure. It may happen you didn’t have the chance of shooting more than one image.. don’t worry, even if you haven’t got what’s needed to create a real HDR image, you can fake it.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to enhance your images faking an HDR effect using the new HDR Toning command in Photoshop CS5. We’ll apply this effect to different images so you can see how this would work with different type of landscape shots.

Download and open the first image from Stock.xchng (requires free subscription to download). The image is quite big, you may leave it that way or simply reduce the size to something more easy to handle.

Go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning.

Start with a Default Preset and make sure Method is set to Local Adaptation.

On the HDR Toning window enter the following values:

Edge Glow: set Radius to 12 px and Strength to 1.40

Tone and Detail: set Gamma to 1.10 and Detail to +97%

Color: set Vibrance to +30% and Saturation to +20%

Click OK and that’s it. An extremely fast and easy way to enhance your images with a subtle HDR look.

Click on the image below to view it at full size.

Two More Examples

Open the second image and go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning

Start with a Default Preset and make sure Method is set to Local Adaptation.

On the HDR Toning window enter the following values:

Edge Glow: set Radius to 17 px and Strenghth to 0.51

Tone and Detail: set Gamma to 1.60, Exposure to -1.00, Detail to +175%, Shadow to +27% and Highlights to +23%

Color: set Vibrance to +70% and Saturation to +20%

Click OK. Your image should look like the one below.

Click on the image below to view it at full size.

Open the third image and go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning

Start with a Default Preset and make sure Method is set to Local Adaptation.

On the HDR Toning window enter the following values:

Edge Glow: set Radius to 40 px and Strength to 1.00

Tone and Detail: set Gamma to 1.10, Detail to +175%, Shadow to +30% and Highlights to -5%

Color: set Vibrance to +50% and Saturation to +20%

Click OK. Your image should look like this:

Click on the image below to view it at full size.

Get tutorials & freebies delivered to you.

Subscribe to the Photoshop Roadmap newsletter, a weekly roundup of new tutorials, insights and quality downloads, trusted by 6500+ readers.

Create an Old Masters Painting Effect from a Studio Portrait in Photoshop

Old Masters paintings capture drama and character through rich textures, dramatic lighting, and warm color palettes. By combining strategic dodging and burning with selective color adjustments and composite backgrounds, you can transform a simple studio portrait into a classical painterly masterpiece. This technique focuses on enhancing natural textures rather than...

How to Use AI Depth Masking in Photoshop for Targeted Subject and Background Editing

AI depth masking revolutionizes how you select and edit specific areas of your photos by analyzing three-dimensional space rather than shapes or colors. This powerful feature uses artificial intelligence to calculate depth layers, allowing you to brighten subjects while darkening backgrounds or apply targeted adjustments based on distance from the...

9 Lazy Photoshop Habits You Need to Break Right Now

Photoshop has added incredible AI features and smarter workflows over the last few years to save you time. Yet, you might still be stuck using clunky, manual workarounds you learned years ago. If you are constantly repeating tedious tasks, you are losing time and actively limiting the quality of your...

Professional Portrait Retouching with the B.S.T. Method in Photoshop

Professional portrait retouching requires artistic choices that automated tools can't make. The B.S.T. method breaks retouching into three focused steps: removing blemishes with precision, smoothing skin while preserving natural texture, and equalizing skin tones throughout the image. This systematic approach gives you complete control over every...

Create Motion Blur Light Effects in Photoshop

Transform ordinary portraits into dynamic, cinematic images by combining path blur effects with creative background textures. This technique creates the illusion of camera movement while maintaining focus on key elements like the subject's eyes, resulting in professional-looking motion blur effects that add energy and visual interest to static...

How to Paint Realistic Jewelry on Portraits in Photoshop

Adding painted jewelry to portraits transforms ordinary photos into fantasy portraits with ornate accessories that never existed. This digital painting technique uses careful layering, proper lighting, and realistic shadows to create convincing rings, earrings, and decorative headpieces. The method combines basic brush work with advanced blending techniques to build up...