Dreaming of High Dynamic Range Photography Techniques

A new photography technique that I’m starting to learn about is called High Dynamic Range imaging (HDR for short).

If you are a photographer like me and your strengths lie in the artistic side of the craft, these next few technical paragraph descriptions may cause you to self-combust.

I’ll invite you to just hang in there.

The technique of HDR is to show the wide range of intensity levels found in a photograph.

There are 2 ways to create this visual effect:

1. The first way is to physically take a series of shots in the field of something — like the abandoned building shown above — and you would take this series of shots at different exposures and combine them later in an image editing program. You are literally ‘layering them’ on top of each other —- so that the images will show deeper contrast and color tones, and have a greater texture and density look to them than a normal one exposure image would have.

Think about this like baking cookies from scratch. You have all the raw ingredients, you put them together and you get the result — and you can alter any of the ingredients to change the outcome. You have more control on how they turn out because of this.

2. The second way to achieve this effect is by producing them by using Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom or other photo editing programs. You start with your one image of those same subjects and you adjust the tonal values, highlights, and other settings on the original photo until your tweaking ultimately creates the final look you want.

This would be like baking those cookies, starting with a box of cookie mix and adding a half a cup of chocolate chips to make them even more chocolaty. Your control over the outcome for this approach is limited, because all you can do is add other ingredients to the mix that is already there.

HDR is one of those things that beginning photographers should learn sooner than later. It sounds more overwhelming that it is. Once you understand how to approach it, go out and practice it. Make mistakes. Try different settings and add different effects.

As with most things, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

There are plenty of resources for classes, trainings, and books – a local photography Meetup organizer, Ray Mabry has even created a 2 hour workshop so photographers can learn the techniques classroom style, and then go out and practice them in the field together as a group.

Here are a few links to some online HDR resources -

• HDR Tutorial
• the Learning Exchange
• RMabry Photography
• Stuck In Customs HDR Photography

By focusing on this aspect of my top photography dream, I am DE-mystifying the technical side of photography — my biggest learning curve — and that feels like I’m on the right track with where I want to go this year.

Until next photo,

Rem

Remy would like to see a public showing of her photography.

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