by Julia Catherine Lee

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

tter High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography - the new genre in digital photography and it has helped transcend photography into art. Read on....

How often have we been teased by the many vibrant imagery we see on a calendar or magazine cover and wonder what did the photographers do to get such beautiful images. We want to so desperately be able to create these beautiful images as well. That day has finally arrived with the advent of HDR High Dynamic Range photography - the new kid on the block, the latest obsession and the new genre in digital photography if you will. In many ways, the vibrant imagery reminds me very much of color spectrum of the Velvia slide films. In simple terms, HDR technique combines tonal properties of an under and over exposed image to produce a very rich and colorful imagery. It is not a complex technique once you understand what it is and what the ingredients are in order to produce a good HDR image. It goes without saying that the three source images must be exactly identical with the exception of their exposures which I will explain below.

The necessary ingredients of a good HDR image:

1. Interesting subject. Interesting subject is not synonymous with a beautiful subject. Interesting subject is anything that catches the eyes, yours or your audience. Some examples are building facade, wood cabin, expansive view - landscape, farm country, rural countryside.

2. Subject with good contrasts, textures. Whether that is a good mix of colors in the scene or between light and shadow, darkness and bright. A snow scene with trees and building in the foreground for example. Coastal landscape and cityscape all make good subjects.

3. There must be enough light. For a photographer, that means at least 10 hours in the normal day where there is sufficient light for normal photography - between sunrise and sunset. Do HDR when there is plenty of light. Don't introduce unnecessary complication in your shot.

4. The next most critical of this whole exercise is a sturdy tripod. A tripod is a must have in every student photographer's tool kit. If you do not already own one, get one. While you are at the camera store, get a wireless or wired remote release as well. Remote camera release is handy in many situations

5. In HDR, you do not need three shots to get an HDR image, you can also use an underexposed and an overexposed shot but for beginners, the simplest way to accomplish this without messing things up is to let the camera do the tricks for you by setting it to AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing). Most modern day digital SLR and high end Point and Shoot cameras today have auto bracketing features. So look in your instruction manual to figure out how to turn your AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) on. You often heard of how you can bracket your shots to make sure you get it right. Turn the AEB feature on, then set it to take three shots , your metered exposure, and an underexposed shot and an over exposed shot.

6. Finally you will need an HDR software to combine them to get an HDR imagery. There are a few HDR softwares available in the market today. The top picks are Photomatix (hdrsoft.com) which is a standalone software and offers a trial version before you buy. It also sells a Photoshop plug in for both Mac and PC for those who are already using Photoshop. The other popular and simpler software is a DRI (Dynamic Range Increase) HDR plug in for Photoshop offered by Fredmiranda.com. Both are easy to use. I use Photomatix and found it to be very user friendly. If you are just starting out in HDR do this as simple as possible. Concentrate on taking good photography as HDR is a tool and does not replace grounded photography techniques and an eye for composition, light, simple lines and shapes.

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