How to Blend 3 Bracketed Exposures for Greater Dynamic Range

Want to learn how to blend 3 bracketed exposures of the same scene to create a single photo with greater dynamic range? Here’s a great 17-minute video tutorial by travel photographer and educator Jimmy McIntyre on how to do so in Photoshop CC.

“In this example we use 3 exposures because the difference between the brightest exposure (also the base exposure) and the darkest exposure is too much,” McIntyre says. “So we bridge the gap by using a middle exposure.”

His technique is a clean, 100% non-destructive workflow. While he shows how easily the job can be done using his own Photoshop plugin, Raya Pro, McIntyre also demonstrates how you can do the same things using ordinary Photoshop.

Things you’ll learn in the tutorial include precision masking and working with smart objects imported directly from Adobe Camera Raw.