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High-Dynamic-Range or HDR photography has been known and accepted by more and more people, yet there are still lots of us who are not very familiar with this beauty. So if you happen to be one of them, this might be a chance to catch up.
What is HDR?
HDRI (high dynamic range imaging) uses a set of photographs taken without movement in the camera or subject matter. The series of photographs are deliberately taken with a range of exposures values, and these are then 'tone mapped' in order to provide a final image with a wide dynamic range.
Some argue that HDR photo looks somehow 'over-done', or 'cartoon-like' and, in a way, they are right. Because of the greater dynamic range HDR images offer, the result is often very different from an ordinary photo and even what we are capable of seeing in our everyday lives. HDR photos might look 'unrealistic' at first, but that is also exactly where the beauty lies. Don't you want your photos to look outstanding once in a while? To me, HDR is all about 'looking dramatic'.
What do you need?
We can break the process down into three distinct steps:
Taking the source photos
Generating a tone mapped image using dedicated HDR software
The finishing touches
The first step should be nothing special
Try using a wide-angle lens (it helps with the “looking dramatically” part) to take at least three pictures with: -2EV (underexposed), 0EV and +2EV (overexposed). Naturally, because you will be making a composite of these images, a tripod is essential.
An alternative is to just go ahead and take one RAW picture and generate the under- and overexposed pictures by adjusting the exposure compensation in your RAW converter after capture. This is the way I prefer, because if you only take one picture, you won't be worrying about those moving objects creating the annoying 'Ghost effect'.
Also to be aware of is the noise issue. Later on you will find that how annoying a noisy HDR photo can be. So it's probably a good idea to use a low ISO setting, noise reduction or any other useful method you have available.
Once we've got the source photos ready (three pictures with 2EV spacing between each or five pictures with 1EV spacing between each), then the fun part: tone mapping comes into play. There are many methods to build up an HDR image (including a Merge to HDR function in Photoshop), however, the current best option is the standalone program Photomatix Pro - from HDRsoft - which is available for both Windows and Mac.
To get a free trial version of the HDR software Photomatix, go to www.hdrsoft.com (The latest version is 2.5 Beta1)
HDR processing
First Select HDR --> Generate from the menu bar:
Choose the three pictures with different EVs:
We probably need to set the EV for each picture manually:
I normally leave the settings here as default, but if your pictures happen to have that “ghosting effect”, it might be a good idea to tick the second option box:
The merged picture might look pretty poor now, but that's just because it hasn't been tone mapped yet:
Choose the 'Tone Mapping' option under 'HDR':
Tone mapping is essential to HDR work. Before everything starts here, just make sure you are on the right track (Details Enhancer Method).
Let's take a closer look at the left hand side option panel:
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