High Dynamic Range Photography

Western Maryland Steam Train (HDR), originally uploaded by bmthomas.

I started playing around with HDR photography last year after Ferrell McCollough came and did a lecture at my camera club. Check out his book Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography.

So what is HDR? Well basically the range of light that a camera’s sensor can process is limited. The challenge is to get details in the the highlights and the darks without blowing out the highlights or turning the darks black. The classic example is to get details in the forground photographers often blow out the sky creating ugly white detail free skies. Often photographers can compensate with graduated filters to reduce the range of stops of lights in a scene.

Here is an example. I had to bracket my exposure in this scene of the Western Maryland Railroad. I took the following seven shots to create the above photo. Note that none of the photos alone capture the scene but combining the best of each, I was able to create the above.

F7.1 Shutter 1/320 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias 0
F7.1 Shutter 1/2500 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias -3	F7.1 Shutter 1/160 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias +1
F7.1 Shutter 1/1250 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias -2	F7.1 Shutter 1/80 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias +2
F7.1 Shutter 1/640 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias -1	F7.1 Shutter 1/40 sec ISO 200 24mm Exp Bias +3

I used Photomatix Pro to combine these seven exposures into the final image. You can download a trial but it will watermark your images. Look for a discount on the purchase of Photomatix Pro at Ferrell McCollough’s website.