HDR Basics

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HDR Photography Basics What is it… how do you shoot for it… and how do you process it.

Transcript of HDR Basics

HDR Photography Basics

What is it…how do you shoot for it… and how do you process it.

What is “Dynamic Range” The Dynamic Range of an image is the “ratio between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.”

An exampleof a lowdynamic range.

Photos by Trey Ratcliff (http://www.stuckincustoms.com)

What is HDR Photography? “HDR is an acronym for High Dynamic Range. It is a post-processing task of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed.”(from Trey Ratcliff, http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr/)

What is HDR Photography? Humans eyes can see a much wider dynamic range than a single DSLR image can capture. HDR photography combines the “highs” and “lows” of multiple exposures into a single image.

For me, it is a way to create a photograph that better captures the highlights (bright whites) and shadows (the dark blacks) that might get lost when taking a photo.

How to shoot for it…1. Mount your camera on a tripod2. Use manual or Aperture Priority mode. Take at

least three exposures: good exposure, under-exposed, and over-exposed. Number of exposures varies based on how wide the dynamic range of your scene is.

“I recommend using a camera that has autobracketing. Autobracketing is the ability for your camera to take at least 3 pictures right after one another, each at different exposures. Sometimes it’s called “Exposure Bracketing”. If you have a DSLR camera, then you probably already have this ability.”(www.stuckincustoms.com)

How to process it…

Use “HDR” software such as:• Photomatix Pro• Nik HDR Efex Pro• Photoshop 5

A GREAT tutorial can be found at:http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

David’s example Now I will demonstrate how to use Photomatix Pro with three exposures…