Richard Haymaker Photography of Lakewood, WA

About HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography

HDR or High Dynamic Range photography really isn't a new idea. The concept actually began in the 1930's. Wikipedia offers an interesting history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging.

With the introduction of the digital camera HDR is now available to just about anyone. Besides the camera you'll need a tripod, and a photo editing program such as Photoshop. I have CS4 but primarily use Photomatix Pro. http://www.hdrsoft.com/. It is version 3.1.3 and you can download a trial version. If you are using a camera that has a sensor of 12 mp or greater your computer will need a healthy supply of Ram. Reason being is you may be combining 5-6 or more Raw pictures creating a rather large file size. It takes a lot memory to do it. I recently upgraded to a new computer with 8 gb of Ram. The CPU is an Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.40GHz. The operating system is Vista Ultimate 64.

The idea behind HDR is to capture a scene that really isn't possible with just a single frame. Obviously that single shot allows only one f/stop and one shutter speed. Remember the camera can't record exactly what your eye sees. If your scene consists of a combination of heavy shadows and highlights it is just about impossible to record that with just one shot. What if you put your camera on a tripod and took several shots of the same scene at different exposures? Check your owner's manual and see if your camera can be set to shoot multiple pictures at different exposures automatically. This technique is referred to as 'bracketing'. From the 'metered' scene the camera will take several under and several over exposures. I choose to change the exposure using different shutter speeds instead of changing the f/stop. Remember the aperture is what controls your depth of field. If your camera doesn't have auto bracketing you can still shoot the scene manually. Just keep track of what you're doing.

Normally we would throw away pictures that we think are too under or over exposed. You'll be surprised to see what happens when these are combined with one or two midrange exposures. It will take some experimenting. Don't get discourage. The photos I have presented here are combinations of 2 to 4 different exposures from as many as a series of 8 shots per scene. ShutterBug magazine has a couple of excellent features about HDR photography. You'll find them at these links. http://www.shutterbug.net/equipmentreviews/software_computers/0708hdprimer/index.html and http://www.shutterbug.net/techniques/pro_techniques/0908longranger/index.html. The following link gives some excellent examples of HDR photography. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/10/35-fantastic-hdr-pictures/. It represents photography in a way you may not have seen before. Some like it some don't. At the SmashingMagazine site you'll see photos created by a technique referred to as 'tone mapping'. Once you pursue HDR you'll have plenty of opportunity to experiment with it. My opinion of this type of HDR photography? I find it unique, even fascinating. It is definately photographic art. For myself, I guess I'm more of a traditionalist. I love technology and don't consider myself too old to learn something new. But in the end the challenge of capturing that perfect scene is still there. It is made up a couple of key factors, composition and lighting.

Thanks for your continued interest in my work. --- Rick