High Dynamic Range (HDR)
Filed Under HDR, Photo Galleries, Photography
Recently, I have been playing around with a new technique (new to me): High Dynamic Range aka HDR. It is a technique that has been around for some time now but only lately have I given it a try. The underlying idea is to take several shots with a range of exposures and merge them together with HDR software. Your end result is a photo that has a much higher dynamic range of luminance and color than a single photo can capture. Over the decades, many have tried a wide range of techniques to take what the human eye can see, and capture it in a photograph. The human eye, being incredibly more advanced than our current image capturing technology, is much more adept at viewing the very dynamic world we live in. With HDR, you are able to produce an image where the shadows are seen in detail and light intensive areas aren’t blown out. Often these images look fake, too vibrant to be real or as if they were somehow painted onto the screen, but I assure you, they are real.
Spending the last few days playing with this technique, here are some photos I have taken.
HDR Photo Gallery
Keep in mind, this is less than 7 days of trying this out. According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, “ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything.” So, it looks like I have some work to do. I have also recently purchased Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography. I am hoping this will give me some insight and ideas for some impressive shots and help me to expand my collection.
There are also many sites boasting the best HDR shots around. Here are a few to see what other have achieved:
1. 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
2. Flickr HDR
3. 24 Stunning HDR Photographs of Abandoned Places
Now you may be wondering, “How the heck could I possibly do this?” Here area few good tutorials to get you started, the first being my favorite, due to its simplicity:
1. Basic HDR Photography Tutorial
2. How to create professional HDR images
3. HDR Tutorial
