"Brig in the moonlight" (above) may have been the first HDR photo. 1856-57 by Gustave Le Gray. Below are HDR photos "The Tetons and the Snake River" by Ansel Adam 1942 (left) and "Entering the Chunnel" Trey Ratcliff of stuckincustoms.com 2012 (right).
Aside from being beautiful, the above photos are all excellent examples of HDR photography. In plain terms, High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is the practice of creating an image that has a broader range of lights and darks than a normal picture could have. The result is a photo that more accurately depicts what it was like to view the scene in person.
There are many ways to accomplish this both in the dark room and on the computer. A popular HDR technique is to take multiple exposures of the same scene and use a process called tone mapping to combine the best parts of each into one image. In 1856, Gustave Le Gray created the first known HDR image (above) when he combined the bright sky from one negative and a long exposure of the sea below from a separate negative onto a single print in the darkroom. In the mid-1900’s Ansel Adams (above) was dodging, burning, and similarly tone mapping his work to help it communicate the grandeur of Yosemite. Now photographers, such as Trey Ratcliff (above), use a gamut of HDR software such as Photomatix and Photoshop’s HDR Merge to advance these technique in the digital frontier.
HDR Tutorials
For tutorials about how to make HDR photos using tone mapping software like Photomatix and Photoshop, here are links to several HDR tutorials I can personally vouch for:
- HDR Tutorial at Blame the Monkey by the incredible Elia Locardi
- Full 11.5hr Video Tutorial by Trey Ratcliff (I bought this and watched all 11.5hrs. It’s really all you need.)
- Free Video Tutorial by Trey Ratcliff
- HDR Photography Blog by Scott Kublin (I only watched the free video)
- RC Conception’s HDR Hangout on the Vid Cast Network
Advantages of HDR
The truth is that your eye is infinitely more perceptive than a piece of film and especially more than a camera sensor. This being the case, when you take a photo, a lot of information is lost in the dark and light areas of the shot. HDR techniques preserve allow images to retail some of this information and also enhance the shot to better reflect the relative intensity levels of the scene.
These techniques take time to get good at. Don’t give up if your first attempt isn’t the best. Here’s my first HDR photo ever if it’s any consolation.
Disadvantages of HDR
Most of the disadvantages of HDR arise in the process of producing the image, although the style itself is sometimes criticized. To take multiple exposures of the exact same scene often requires a tripod or stable surface and also a camera with bracketing capability. Post production is more usually more involved and requires specialized HDR software.
Visual preferences aside, earmarks of HDR photos are their saturated colors and overly luminescent lights and dramatic high contrast. Also, they tend to have more noise when magnified to 100%. Most of these negatives are linked to specific techniques and can be corrected. Often we see properly processed and edited HDR photos in commercial media without realizing it.
View more of my photos from the Merrill Auditorium by clicking the image above.
Is HDR Photography Fake?
Yes, it is. Just like “regular” photography. When you make a copy of real life, that imitation of reality will always be “fake.” However, I believe that when used to bring out details of a scene that were originally lost, HDR photography is less fake than regular photography. HDR is definitely an aesthetic style that not everyone appreciates, but I don’t think it’s less valid.
Current HDR Photographers
There are literally thousands of practicing HDR photographers out there. Many have made themselves accessible and are desperately waiting to connect with you on Google Plus (shameless… I know). Below are three of the forerunners who I highly recommend you check out (tell them I sent you too).
Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs
Elia Locardi of Blame the Monkey
Ken Kaminesky (portfolio site here)
Wow those pictures look like from another world. Actually I haven’t seen anything like that bevore. Time to take a deeper look on HDR photos. Thanks for bringing this up Andrew.
All the best
Drake
Thanks for a good article with great photos.
Just wanted to let you know that when I follow your link:
•Full 11.5hr Video Tutorial by Trey Ratcliff (I bought this and watched all 11.5hrs. It’s really all you need. If you decide to buy, you’re also supporting me if you purchase via this affiliate link)
I get this message:
“Fetching of original content failed due to Proxy Publisher Failure CLOSED. If you own this domain, please consult this FAQ.”
Cardinal Guzman – Sorry for the inconvenience! I recently decided to stop being an affiliate for Trey’s tutorials and forgot to change the link on this page. If you go to http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-video-tutorial/ you will be able to view the free short tutorial video and also purchase the full 11.5 hour course. Keep in mind that Trey’s methods are really great for getting the ball rolling but aren’t hard/fast rules for HDR. That said, without these videos I wouldn’t be where I am today. Good luck and let me know how things go with you and your photography!
All I can is AWESOME! I love watching photos like this. It’s perfect for framing and display.
The pictures above looks stunning! So, this is what you called HDR photos they all look great. Thanks for sharing such great HDR photos!
i studied color science in undergrad and my early career translating color spaces and evaluating color tables. photography and color reproduction has little to do with the truth and more so about what you want to remember or feel when you look at the picture. its all fake
as you said.
Wow, translating color spaces and evaluating color tables sounds interesting and really intense. As you alluded to, color is pretty subjective when get down to it. Even the cones/rods in the eye vary slightly from person to person. So in the end, using software to help bring out the colors the represent the scene best isn’t a crime in my book.
Wow! Because of the image you brought here, I thought I’m on the other place its beautiful and its been obvious that the one who catch it is professional .
Its not just pretty! Its amazing image catch by a great photography! So much love it.
I agree, HDR in it’s most elite form is breathtaking. However, it takes a lot of practice to get right and starting out takes time to really hone your own personal style and learn how to handle the post-processing effectively.
This is perfect capture from a great photographer. Thank you for sharing these pictures…
Glad you like them Liz ^_^
Watermark is very important whenever you share your pics. It can be editable so what you have to see is put them at such places which can’t be edited. Search the web for any type of photos and you can get an example for that.
Thanks for the information and it was really interesting. I see a lot of people are now posting HDR photos and they look so beautiful.
No problem. I hope to post a lot more about HDR photos in the future. The technique are technically quite interesting and the results are stunning (when done right of course).
Andrew, great post. Glad to catch up with your blog again. I’ve been on HDR hiatus for a while, but thinking about getting back into it again. These are great examples. Nice writeup, too!
Thanks Kris.
It takes a lot of time, but I think HDR is the way to go for landscape and architecture. For people, messes with the skin tones and I don’t use it studio or still life much either.
I’m just always throwing my tongue in these kind of beautiful image catch by a great photographer.
They are pretty aren’t they ^_^