Going to the Next Level: Learning HDR

I recently started to explore the photographic technique called High Dynamic Range photography or simply HDR. This technique is centered around the post-processing task of combining a series of images, taken at different exposure settings, to create a scene that is, arguably, more realistic, which is not possible with a single camera photo.

There is an excellent description and example HDR photos at Trey Ratcliff’s blog, Stuck In Customs. I highly recommend it.

One acceptable practice of HDR is to use a single RAW image and run it through some HDR software to create a pseudo-HDR image. Since I haven’t been shooting my photographs with HDR in mind, this is what I have to do for now, at least until I take new photos with multiple RAW images using different exposure settings. Nevertheless the results are amazing and very pleasing. I can’t wait to shoot true HDR shots in the near future - like next week!

Here are a couple of shots that I took during a trip Deb and I took to Monument Valley in Arizona. I am pleased with the results and you can get a feel for the power of HDR, despite the fact that these images are just “pseudo-HDR” photos. (Notice how all elements of the scene are perfectly exposed and in focus):