Merge bracketed exposures in Lightroom Classic CC

Combine multiple exposures of your scene to create an HDR image

Import your images

To create your HDR image, you’ll need at least three exposures shot a stop apart, and possibly two stops apart. Lightroom is able to extract the best exposure information from each image and combine it all for the best results.

Choose a Deghosting level

If you had moving elements in your landscape, such as clouds, trees or people walking, you might want to choose a low, medium or high Deghosting level. This will essentially prevent ghostly blurs in your image, for a sharper final result.

Refine your shadows

If you find that your shadows have an odd colour cast, you can use the Adjustment Brush to paint over any specific areas that need fixing. We painted over these large stones and made them more purple with the Tint slider, for a more natural finish.

Merge the photos

Go to the Develop Module and select all of the individual images that you want to combine, then go to Photo > Photo Merge > HDR. Depending on the size of your images, it might take a little while to load a preview of what you can expect.

Chromatic aberration

Depending on the quality of your lens, shooting directly into the sun can sometimes result in chromatic aberration. This is unfortunate, but easily fixed by going to the Lens Corrections Panel and ticking Remove Chromatic Aberration.

Add the finishing touches

HDR photographs have a huge amount of information to play with, so experiment with your exposure and colours. We enhanced the blue of the sky and the green of the grass in the HSL/Color panel, boosting Saturation and darkening Luminance.