HDR Photography Fun

So I'm just beginning to learn HDR photography, and I really seem to like it. Because I plan on doing a lot more HDR here on the site, I figured I should take a minute to explain what HDR is for those who are interested.

My Street (In HDR)

Now, this isn't a technical explanation, so don't send me hate mail telling me I've got it all wrong. This is just a little functional explanation of HDR. Basically, when you take a normal photograph, your camera is limited in the range of exposure it can take in all at once. If you over-expose the image, the dark parts will show detail, but anything white or bright will be washed out. If you under-expose, you get the detail hiding in the bright parts, but the shadows are so dark there is no detail. It's a trade off, with the photographer trying to "properly" expose the photo by taking it in the middle of the spectrum.

With HDR, you take a series of photographs of the same subject (usually 3 or 5), taking one as a "proper" exposure, while under-exposing and over-exposing the others. You then use software, such as Photomatrix, to combine the photos, taking the best parts from each one to create an amazing level of detail in your photo.




This can create all sorts of weird results, or can just give you a highly detailed, highly saturated photo. It has a lot of potential.

This House Across the Street Has Been Up for Sale for Well Over a Year (In HDR)

My House! (In HDR)

HDR is still relatively new, so I expect we'll see more and more of it in the future. It's somewhat controversial, with some photographers claiming it's not "real" photography. I disagree however, and think the whole point of photography is to capture memories of people, places and events. If HDR helps capture the memory more closely to how you remembered it, even if that's not how it really looked, then I think it's served its purpose and helped advance your photography.

If you haven't tried out HDR yet, give it a whirl and I think you'll be surprised with what you can do.