My Favourite type of Photography – HDR

HDR photography tutorial – weirdo HDR image

We have all seen them! That strange looking HDR image with the over saturated wild looking colours. Or there are those HDR images which are so sharp that they might cut you, with all the details enhanced and emphasised. There is a well-known photographer on the Internet by the name of Trey Ratcliff who goes by the name of Stuck in Customs. Trey has made a name for himself with the HDR image, producing some stunning looking photographs from all around the world. Some of these images from Iceland are particularly amazing. Even if we can’t all have the opportunity to travel around the world in order to make amazing photography HDR style, we can still learn how to make the HDR images ourselves. If you check out the website for Stuck in Customs you will be able to find a HDR photography tutorial. This will answer all of your questions about what is HDR photography.

What is HDR photography?

With the HDR photography you are extending the visual range of your photograph. Usually the way to do this is to take 3 to 5 shots of the image with the exposures bracketed. So you will have one photograph where the image is overexposed, another photo where the image is underexposed and one where the image is correct in terms of exposure. Then you will use software such as the Hdrsoft’s Photomatix Pro to merge these photos together. You will then have a photograph which is your HDR image, giving you more visual information in the shadows and the highlights. The overexposed photograph gives us the information back in the places where it would be otherwise blown out. The underexposed photo uses the information in the shadows that would be too dark in the standard image. Mixing these two photos together with the standard exposure photo gives us a much wider range of tonal information for our final HDR photo.

Easy does it with HDR

Judging by the many examples of the HDR image around the Internet you’ll understand that it is quite easy to overdo it. While the HDR image is often going to be a little bit strange to the eye and more a piece of photographic art than a faithful rendition of your natural scene, there is no need for it to be completely stupid looking. Fortunately with the HDR software that many people use called Photomatix Pro, there are settings which allow you to achieve a wide range of effects. You can still go for something that might look silly, but you can also do something that will just make a great looking HDR image.

The first stage of the process is to choose whether you want to go for enhanced details or a fusion style of HDR image. Once you have made that decision you will be presented with a variety of choices in the form of sliders and switches that will affect your final image. Even without using a HDR photography tutorial you will soon find some favourites within the style of photograph that you can create. When you start using Photomatix Pro you will more than likely use all of the different presets available before finding some combinations that suits your photography best. Practice using the Photomatix Pro application and you will soon be able to make your own stunning HDR photographs. You can get something that looks like HDR in Intensify Pro.