Achieve gritty urban HDR tonemapping with enhanced detail in shadows and highlights. This workflow uses exposure blending and tone mapping for dramatic cityscape photography.

Step 1: Bracket Your Exposures

Start with three exposures of the same scene: -2 EV (dark), 0 EV (normal), +2 EV (bright). Open all three in Photoshop and stack as layers.

Step 2: Auto-Align Layers

Select all three layers. Edit > Auto-Align Layers. Choose Auto alignment to compensate for handheld bracketing.

Step 3: Blend Exposures

Use Edit > Auto-Blend Layers with Stack Images and Seamless Tones and Colors checked. Photoshop creates layer masks automatically.

Step 4: HDR Toning

Merge visible to a new layer. Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning. Set Method: Local Adaptation, Radius: 120, Strength: 1.2, Detail: 85%.

Step 5: Urban Grit Treatment

Add a Black & White adjustment layer at 15% opacity for desaturation.

Boost Clarity with a High Pass layer (Overlay, 3px radius) at 40%.

Step 6: Color Grade

Add a Gradient Map: dark teal (#1a3a4a) to warm orange (#d4845c) at 25% opacity.

Boost contrast with Levels: black 10, white 245.

Step 7: Export

Flatten and save. For web, resize to 1200px wide and export JPEG at quality 9.

That's it! You've completed this tutorial. Experiment with the techniques and share your results with the Designstacks community.