As you may have noticed, I’ve enjoyed exploring High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography over the past several months. HDR is a collection of techniques that make it possible to produce images that have a greater dynamic range – the difference between the darkest and the brightest tones in the image – than can be captured with an ordinary exposure. This is typically done by making several different exposures of a subject that cover the full range of tones and then merging those exposures in a tool such as Photomatix. HDR excites me because I can now capture what I see rather than trying to fit my vision into what the camera’s sensor (or traditional film) can record. I also enjoy the ability to try different treatments of my subjects from photorealistic to painterly or hyper-realistic. This image of the interior of the First Baptist Church in Boulder, CO is from an HDR workshop taught by Mark Johnson that I attended in July. It was produced from 9 separate exposures separated by 1 ev, processed in Photomatix and finished in Photoshop. While HDR isn’t necessary – or even appropriate – for every image, it’s a very nice tool to have available.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 22nd, 2010 and is filed under Creative Process. Both comments and pings are currently closed.