How To Create High Dynamic Range HDR Photos

Exploring HDR (high dynamic range) photos seems to be gaining momentum in photographic circles, both professional and amateur.

HDR images present overall tone values that match the what the human eye records. Almost all digital and film cameras compromise when it comes to registering the overall tonal range of a particular scene. Until HDR anyone who has ever taken a photo understands that all cameras are limited in how much they can record.

HDR attempts to break those barriers and attempts to present images that look close to how they actually appeared in real life. Yes, it is an emerging artistic format, and yes, as more people begin to experiment with the process it will become easier for the average digital photographer to produce consistent HDR pictures.

Unfortunately, to create an HDR photo requires specialized software, Photoshop, which has a built-in HDR assembler and Photomatix a dedicated HDR software are two popular choices. There are those that believe that Photoshop is the superior HDR engine. One of the reasons is that Photoshop sophisticated tone-mapping capabilities creates more realistic looking images.

HDR Overview – A closer look

HDR imaging, otherwise known as High Dynamic Range imaging, is a technique for developing photographs that show not only what the human eye can see, but also what it cannot see, blends them together and from a single HDR image.

The HDR technique blends three or more photographs taken at different exposures or using different filters together to produce a single photograph or image that blurs the lines of reality by then tone mapping the images.

This technique oftentimes creates stunning images that appear too real to be real, but are. Some people also say that a finished product looks as if animation is coming alive.

When using the HDR photo blending technique, the photographer should use a camera that allows for manual adjustment of the exposure rate, such as one that allows the photographer to shoot in RAW mode, Auto-bracketing or auto-exposure modes.

Any other camera would simply compress all of the information with a lossy compression ratio. This type of ratio would simply “delete” some of the scene’s information, which is why most photographs taken with a cheaper camera never look like what the mind remembers the scene to be.

Using higher end cameras with RAW mode, auto-bracketing or auto-exposure modes allow the photographer to capture the most information in a single photograph, which are later blended together to form the HDR image

The finished HDR product allows the human eye to see everything there is to see from the lowlights and contrast to the highlights and shadows that would normally be invisible to the eye. The easiest way to compose an HDR image is by using Photoshop, which needs only a few simple steps.

However, to achieve the greatest quality HDR image, very specific programs, a lot of processing power is time are required because these images consist of using full size photographs in their raw format, meaning every painstaking detail is present.

To reveal these details in full color requires a very sturdy computer processor and a professional program such as Photomatrix. Users will also need to implement Photoshop. Both Photomatrix and Photoshop are recommended as the base HDR programs; optional HDR programs include Topaz Adjust and Noiseware Professional.

However, the most important thing when creating an HDR photograph or image is the scene, which the user is photographing. The best photographs to use for this HDR technique are those that are taken in extremely low or extremely high lighting conditions, meaning a normal photograph if the scene would be a waste of time because it just would not come out right.

Using the camera with auto-bracketing mode, set it to Aperture Priority, so that the HDR photographs will not contain blur spots in different areas.

Then set it to take shots at different levels of exposure, usually with one point in between. For example, most HDR photographs use -2, -1, 0, +1, and so on. Some HDR photographers also use two points in between exposures, making them -2, 0, and +2 and so on to take no less than three shots.

After taking no less than three photographs at the different exposure settings, import them into Photomatrix by converting the raw image files into .jpeg files, which work better when manually converted. It is less work for Photomatrix and they seem to process the HDR images faster.

Then, merge the images into one using the HDR image merger. Choose to align the images so to take away any shaking of the images resulting from taking the photographs by hand without a trio-pod, which is not recommended.

When Photomatrix is finished this HDR blending step, choose Tone mapping from the menu and move the sliders until the HDR photo appears “real.” Save the image and the finished result is a basic HDR photograph.