Is Is Really Hdr Photography Best For Creating Spectacular Images?
On a day with clear blue sky, and having the sun in your back, its pretty easy to take good pictures. Some cameras may do it better as the tonal range isnt always the same across all the cameras range. HDR photographys been around now for some period and slowly becoming more popular, even though some purists prefer working in raw. However, if youre faced with having to shoot a very good landscape during an overcast or cloudy day, then you should know you can do this thing in two ways. Set the digital camera for raw format, if it has one, and then process the picture on your computer. However, if you need an impact with a more dramatic effect, take multiple shots and then process these pictures usingHDR software. To get the best and most dramatic outcomes, take the pictures in raw format, and then process the pictures using HDR software. So what is HDR exactly? Known as High Dynamic Range imaging, is basically a process in which you shoot at least three pictures, one under exposed, another over exposed and the third one perfectly exposed – usually using one stop. To make sure each picture perfectly overlaps, your camera should be put on a tripod. Also, it would be better for you to use a remote shutter release, alternatively you could set the timer for 2 5 seconds to ensure that the camera doesnt move during the shots. With the slightest movement of your subject, the pictures wont properly map. This usually meansHDR is only suitable for scenes with no movement like landscapes or other scenes. So, if you have to take a picture of your children while they run around the house, its not worth using normalHDR techniques. However, you could still create a pseudo HDR image taken of your young child while running around if you shoot in raw mode. Then you have to process these raw pictures and create 3 copies, first perfectly exposed, next under exposed plus one over exposed. Now these three pictures could be processed by usingHDR software, and usually these results come out pretty good even though its not a true HDR. So, HDR is really efficient when taking pictures of landscapes or similar pictures, however its worth keeping in mind that because youll have to take three same pictures for image mapping, and for example if trees are present in the frame, plus its a windy day, this could affect the final picture even if you use high shutter speeds. Lots of software exist which help you process HDR images and also to do tone mapping. FDR Tools, Photomatix, EasyHDR, DynamicHDR are just some examples of the most popular software, but try them first before you buy them, to make sure you get what you want. I recommend always trying the software before buying it, just to make sure that it meets your requirements, plus more importantly getting accustomed to using it!
About the Author
Alex is a writer about photography techniques for http://reshade.com . Reshade works in the field of online picture processing programs and offers a free online photo resizer web-tool. It’s also possible to purchase a photo resizer application for Windows. Give it a try !
James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss