Week 2: HDR - First Look

Photo of the Week

Week 2 Assignment: HDR

(High Dynamic Range) First Look

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is the process of taking multiple exposures and combining them into a single image that has more detail in the highlights and shadows, which brings you a step closer to how the human eye sees things. This can be done using software such as Photoshop, which is my current software of choice. Photoshop has a nice automated feature that combines 2 or more images for you. It does a decent job, but usually needs some tweeking afterwards. They say it is best to use 3 to 5 images bracketed by one stop of exposure for each image. So far I seem to get the best combined image with just 2 images, one exposed for the highlights and one exposed for the shadows.

I am new to HDR, so I am still learning how this works. The key seems to be the scene or situation that is chosen to create the HDR image. This can be tough in the grey, overcast, rainy, winter weather of Seattle. Fortunately, the place I see it the most is out on the golf course.

The first photo was exposed for the grass of the fairway, leaving the sky white and completely blown out. The second photo on the right was exposed for the sky, leaving everything else in the darkness or shadows. By combining the two images, the result is the middle image with good detail and exposure in both the sky and the fairway.

Coming Next:

Week 3 Assignment: Panorama