Today’s Question: I used to be able to open and merge photos to HDR [high dynamic range] in Camera Raw, but either I’ve forgotten how or something has changed. Can you advise me?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can assemble high dynamic range (HDR) images in Camera Raw by opening multiple photos, selecting them on the filmstrip, and then right-clicking and choosing “Merge to HDR” from the popup menu.
More Detail: I’ve found that many photographers have overlooked the fact that you can assemble HDR images in Camera Raw (as well as Lightroom and Lightroom Classic). This can be an important detail, because in my experience you can expect better HDR results using Camera Raw as compared to the related feature within Photoshop.
I recommend initiating the process of assembling an HDR image from Adobe Bridge, to make it easier to select the multiple bracketed exposures and open them in Camera Raw. After selecting the images, you can simply double-click one of the selected thumbnails to open them all in Camera Raw.
If the filmstrip isn’t displayed automatically in Camera Raw, you can toggle its visibility by clicking on the filmstrip button to the right of the zoom setting popup ate the bottom-left of the Camera Raw interface. Select all the photos on the filmstrip (such as by pressing Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Macintosh), then right-click on one of the thumbnails and choose “Merge to HDR” from the popup menu.
This will bring up the HDR Merge Preview dialog, where you can adjust the settings for the image processing. Then click the Merge button, and the HDR image will be created. You’ll be prompted to save the image, and the result will open in Camera Raw so you can refine the adjustment settings before opening the final result.
