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If you have ever photographed a high-contrast scene, you know that even the best exposure will produce blown-out highlights and bulletproof shadows. Cameras, even high-end DSLRs, are only capable of rendering a portion of the range of light that the eye can perceive. A photographer must choose which is more important—keeping the details in the bright areas or detecting what is in the shadows—because rendering both is difficult, if not impossible. Until now, that is. The advent of High Dynamic Range Imaging photography is expanding our vision, quite literally, and the resulting images are taking photography to a whole new level of accuracy and art.
High Dynamic Range Imaging, known as HDRI or simply HDR, has been turning heads in the fine-arts field for a number of years. Its über-saturated colors and radiant highlights are reminiscent of Renaissance paintings. Unlike “normal” photography, HDRI allows one to see detail clearly in every shadow of an image—without blasted highlights or the “noise” (graininess) that boosted ISO generates.
High Dynamic Range should really be called Full Dynamic Range, because technically that’s what it is: the full range of light, from the brightest sunlight to the flickering of the faintest star. HDR is quickly finding a fan base in the corporate world. The look is unique and aesthetically attractive, while the incredibly sharp details appeal to architects and engineers as well.
There are two ways to create the HDR look. True HDR is a composite image, produced by taking multiple frames at different exposures, a technique known as bracketing, and combining the shots using an HDR software program like Photomatix. “Fake” HDR involves using Photoshop effects and adjusting the highlights, lowlights, saturation and other settings on a single image. A fake HDR will never achieve the natural luminosity and nuance of the real thing, but it still has an attention-grabbing effect.
Interested in creating your own HDR photos? Here’s what you need:
- A camera that has a manual over- and under-exposure setting
- A decent-quality tripod
- HDR software such as Photomatix
- Editing software such as Photoshop
RAW format is recommended, but it is possible to create acceptable HDR images using JPG or TIFF originals, although the results will not be as striking. With your camera firmly locked off on a tripod, and preferably a cable release device to further thwart camera shake, take at least three and up to dozens of frames, bracketing at least 4 f-stops. For example, start at -2 on your exposure wheel for the first frame, 0 on the second frame and +2 on the third. Next, open the selected images in a program like Photomatix, which will automate the image-merging process. Using the software adjustment controls, tweak the image to your liking. The last step is exporting the manipulated image to a usable format such as JPG, TIFF or PSD. Most pros go one step further and end the process by opening the HDR image in Photoshop for assessment and fine-tuning. Interested in more detailed info? Check out the following tutorial: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography: Tutorials, Tips and Stunning Examples | Inspiration.
A word to the photo-geeks out there: The next Photoshop upgrade, which is coming soon, is slated to include a built-in HDR processor that promises to be even better than Photomatix. And there is good news for the more casual “accidental photographers” too. Cameras capable of basic automated HDR imaging are making their way into the consumer point-and-shoot market. Given the choice of two similar cameras with at least 12 megapixels (MPs), I would opt for the camera with built-in HDR capability over one that simply offered more MPs. The ability to render high-contrast scenes accurately without high ISO noise or the need to supplement the lighting is a huge advance. No more party photos where the people are overly lit and the background is totally black! No more outdoor scenes with great-looking landscapes but too-dark/silhouetted foreground subjects! Anything that eliminates the need for using ugly on-camera flash lighting when shooting photos of people gets high marks from me.
Playing with the creative possibilities of HDR images is addicting. But a word of caution: As great a discovery as it is, HDR, like fire, has its bad side. In the wrong hands, it can easily be overdone and end up more cartoonish than artistic. Not every image needs to have 10 or more stops of dynamic range. In fact, most photographs look quite nice, thank you very much, with the five to seven stops of dynamic range that we’re used to seeing in images. I like to think of HDR as a beautiful next step toward realistic 3-D or even holographic imaging. Use it tastefully, and your audiences will take notice and appreciate the sparkle and energy of this new photo style.
To learn about creating a strategic plan for developing and using your organization’s imagery, attend Suzanne’s session Words are not enough at the IABC World Conference in Toronto.
Suzanne Salvo and her husband/partner Chris are co-owners of Salvo Photography, an international award-winning studio with bases in Houston, Texas and near Milan, Italy. They specialize in location shooting, and assignments have taken them to more than 65 countries. Typical projects include annual reports, ad campaigns and editorial assignments. See their member photos on the IABC home page. For more information, visit their web site at www.salvophoto.com. For more fun, visit Suzanne’s nationally recognized photoblog at www.salvoatlarge.blogspot.com. |
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