HDR

Nowadays, digital photography and HDR's enable us to take photos with this range of tones without having to use combination printing methods. However, you could argue that with HDR (high definition range) photos you often need to take several photos to gather all the data for the range of tones.

These are two photos I have taken and turned in to HDR photos using Photoshop...




To take these photos I used my digital SLR which was set to shutter speed priority - this is because I needed to shoot the Sam subject several times and did not want to change the aperture as this could change the appearance of the photo. I placed my camera onto a tripod and set up for taking the photos. I used ISO 800 as this gives soft tones without any grain. Once the camera is set up I take the first photo with a normall exposure composition, I then take a further 4 photos with varying exposure compositions (5 photos - Exposure comp. -2, -1, 0, +1, +2) , leaving me with 5 photos with a range of light and dark tones.

By merging together the images in Photoshop's 'HDR pro', the images are automatically merged together showing us both the highest tones and the lowest tones. This creates a great contrast resulting in a very striking and dramatic image. To really make the picture striking, I adjusted the exposure, shadows and highlights to create further contrast, giving the image great depth and something for the viewer to visually grasp. What really makes HDR photos stand out is the detail adjustment. This setting brings out the detail in tones making the picture look very dynamic. However, an over-use of this tool can make your picture look fake and/or graphical.

(Print screen from Photoshop 'HDR pro'. Before and after)

The human mind works well with right angles, they are something our minds can easily distinguish. I chose to shoot the image above while tilting the camera to make it more visually exciting. Because the horizon seperating the sea and the sky is vertical rather than horizontal, the sky and sea are seen more as one rather than two seperat aspects of the image. It also allows the viewer to more easily see the range of tones in the sea and sky.

The two photos above are single photos I have taken and edited in photoshop to look like HDRs. To do this I adjusted the levels and curves to change the lighting, giving it more depth and contrast much like an HDR. I also adjusted the exposure composition, viberance and saturation to bring out the colour and depth of tone.

The one main difference I notice when comparing the real HDRs and the photos made to look like HDRs is the loss of detail in some areas - in this case mainly the sea. This is because the light reflecting off the sea is too bright causing some over exposure and loss of detail. You don't get this in the real HDRs because you have several exposures with different exposure values, covering a large tonal range.