High Dynamic Range or HDR is an abused process that bad photographers use to hide the fact that they can’t shoot. I am paraphrasing here but I heard it, I read it and I disagree and here is why!
A good, not an over the top, over done HDR, a good HDR requires planning and thought. The framing has to be right, the light has to be right and the contrast has to exist and textures helps a lot. You mess one of these up and that is it, the HDR is no good. Much like traditional photography, it’s in the eye and experience, the more you do HDRs the more you pickup what will and will not work before you shoot it.
I have, in the past months, created many HDR and even often tackled Panoramic HDRs, not the easiest of feats. Most of which was handheld because most have been done during photo walks and to be honest I hate carrying around a tripod for 3 hours to use it a couple of times, a monopod does little to help in the HDR world, so I don’t carry either. Instead I learned to use my body as a tripod and sweep panoramic like a robot.
The equipment helps, obviously, in fact I would probably not be able to do what I do without a tripod if it was not for my ever faithful Canon EOS 7D. It’s shooting speed and bracketing, even though it can only do 3 (this is where I am jealous of the NIKON owners, whom in some cases can go up to 7) and presets make my life easier. When I see an HDR opportunity, I switch to preset 3 and voila I am in HDR mode.
What is my HDR mode? Well f/8, bracket 0 , –2, +2 stop at – 0.5 of a stop, ISO 100, RAW. The only things I will change is the ISO and rarely the aperture, I found f/8 to be a sweet spot for HDRs and the lens I use, the 16-35mm f/2.8 L from Canon.
What is the aim of an HDR? Triple the colour, triple highlight and triple shadow information allows for triple the details. Triple the details allows for a better visual experience, closer to what the eye sees. In my case, I bring back colour and details, I try not to over do it and from the reactions to my HDRs, it seems I go a good recipe.
The bottom line, try it, I have a short primer here and there are wonderful books by the like of Trey Ratcliff of www.stuckincustoms.com and many others.
I will post about the issues I encountered with HDRs in a latter post, it’s not all fun but the results are what they are stunning images.
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