When teaching photography classes, I teach the absolute importance of getting exposures correct.
After all, you can immediately tell when there is a problem with an image due to bad exposure. It looks too light or too dark. And you can tell when someone has attempted to correct the problem (or let the “auto” mode on their computer software correct it.) The pictures start getting this grainy appearance. And programs like Adobe Photoshop can only make so many changes to an image before things start falling apart.
But there is one way around this — and depending on whom you speak with, it is either the greatest thing since sliced bread or just another tool of the devil. It is called High Dynamic Range photography (HDR for short).
I enjoy playing with it. What you actually do when creating an HDR image is take multiple photos of the exact same thing at different exposures. And then combine the results in programs such as Photoshop or Photomatix.
Let me explain further — when you normally shoot an image you create a single exposure. HDR depends upon your taking more images — one that is at what can be considered the correct exposure, another over exposed and then another even more overexposed. Then going the other direction and creating one that is under exposed and then even more underexposed. Five photos seems to be the common number but you can create with as few as three or as many as nine.
It does take a special program to combine the images — and I prefer Photomatix to Photoshop for this currently, but some of the changes coming to Photoshop may change my mind on this.
Now — the ideal way to capture these types of images is using a tripod. I have some strange aversion to using tripods (I think I’ve actually lost too many of them) so I try to find ways around this. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But I find that it is possible to create something a bit different.
I’m going to post a bit more on this on my next blog, but here are some teaser photos taken this past week while on our pilgrimage to the annual WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) conference in Las Vegas! And I’ll explain further the remark of “greatest thing since sliced bread or another tool of the devil!”
If you’d like to see more, please visit our main website at EMC Photography or at Flickr
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- This is one of the riskier photos to attempt — but well worth it. The catch is trying to handhold what is essentially three different exposures and not have blur. It worked!
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- Okay, bad joke! But the Luxor gives a good chance for a different HDR image. I’ve only seen this image as either the surroundings very dark or the beam vanished. In this case, the image capture as much as the eye naturally sees. Down to the water glistening on the ground.
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- Okay, I confess, this image is actually a mistake while creating an HDR. They did not line up precisely as is supposed to occur. But it still looks neat!
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- The effect of the strange glow comes from a sky that is actually reddish on the evening this was shot. This is actually a four-exposure image — but it is the only way to “escape” from the bright lights of Vegas while still seeing it all
