Batch HDR Deghosting

[jamesawhitehead]

Good Morning-

When leveraging the Batch HDR Merge functionality in LR Classic there doesn't seem to be a pop-up to set the deghost level before Lightroom kicks off the batch HDR merge process.

Does LRC apply the last known deghost setting to the batch merge functionality (i.e. is the deghost setting "sticky")?

I hesitate to use the batch merge functionality because this isn't well documented and I don't want to have to re-merge everything.

Thanks!

[GoldingD]

I assume that you are creating stacks, selecting multiple stacks, then merging as in the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gubyw-Bq59A

And it appears that the answer is you need to have the Merge HDR set up before accomplishing the batch merge as the last settings will be applied, including Auto Align, Auto Settings, DeGhoast,, and Stacking.

[jamesawhitehead]

Thanks for the input.

You are correct. The thing with Real Estate Photography is that it's normally tripod based so you have zero ghosting worries. Very consistent captures at the same height and camera stability / no moving subjects. This is why I have trust issues without documentation on the HDR settings actually being sticky.

Are you aware of any documentation or confirmation from Adobe that the settings are sticky?

[GoldingD]

Are you aware of any documentation or confirmation from Adobe that the settings are sticky?

Not off the top of my head, and searching the web on that mostly leads to tutorials, and community replies. Note that this behavior is very much as if you selected just one bracket for a Photo Merge HDR, and used the keyboard shortcut of SHIFT+CTRL+H, a merge would start without the dialog. Also, you can run a few non batch Photo Merges in the normal way, with the dialog, and notice that the dialog will come up set as it was on a previous merge, and if you change a setting, merge, then start a new merge, you shoyuld see the settings just as that last previopus mege.

Many dialogs in LrC behave that way, the settings in the Import screen, for example, Last destination appear, any presets appear, naming changes, etc.

[jamesawhitehead]

That's been my problem is that everything I've found via Google search, forum search, reddit search, YT tutorials, etc. glosses over this hole in the documentation.

IIRC when this feature first launched I had some issues with ghosting on bulk HDR merge.

I would love some clairty from Adobe themselves.

Appreciate your continued input.

[johnrellis]

"I would love some clairty from Adobe themselves."

As you've observed, batch application of Photo > Photo Merge isn't documented in helpx.adobe.com, though there have been references to it here in the forums by Adobe employees over the years.  

There are many things undocumented in the Lightroom Classic help pages, and but in the past many years I've pretty much stopped posting bug reports about it -- I only report things that are incorrect, and only some of those get fixed.

However, the Lightroom Classic: The Missing FAQ fully documents batch application of Photo Merge (and everything else about Lightroom).  It's my go-to reference for Lightroom Classic.

[jamesawhitehead]

I ran 25 HDR images off with batch HDR while I was at lunch and just did a single HDR on another image and it *seems* like the file output is the same. I'm going to review some more to see. Hoping someone from Adobe can chime in.

[Noel Orridge]

Hi @jamesawhitehead! Thanks for reaching out! We're here to help! 

Could you please send us a screen recording or a series of chronological screenshots of your workflow? This will help us narrow down the issue further and provide you with the best possible assistance. You can share via Google Drive, WeTransfer, or another public file-sharing platform with your response.

Thanks a lot!

[jamesawhitehead]

Hi Noel-

The video is currently uploading here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_HKM7t1imsWfRO8zET38OzZZMxuzXjNp

Thanks!

[jamesawhitehead]

Video is live. Thanks!

[Noel Orridge]

Hi @jamesawhitehead,

Thank you for sharing the video of your workflow! I appreciate it. Yes, the settings are indeed sticky, as Lightroom retains the selection you applied previously.

[jamesawhitehead]

Wonderful! Thank you.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I've verified the behavior with the Classic team, and we are looking at updating the documentation to include the 'stickiness' of settings behavior in Batch and Headless mode.  I've also responded to your similar Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lightroom/comments/1ki9zfw/bulk_hdr_deghosf/ 

[jamesawhitehead]

Thank you! Appreciate it.