What is HDR photography?
HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is a technique for capturing a high contrast scene using natural light.
Let's say you are photographing a room with a sea view on a sunny day. Your camera will struggle to cover the large lighting difference between the room's interior and the much brighter exterior view.
In automatic exposure mode, your camera will use an average exposure that works for the average lighting in the scene, but that results in a loss of details for both the interior and exterior.
If you manually set the exposure so that the view looks good, the room inside will look dark. If instead you set the exposure to get the inside of the room looking right, you won't see the view.
Using a flash to artificially reduce the lighting difference between the interior and exterior is one option to mitigate the problem. A better option is HDR photography, which gives you more control, avoids the use of a flash and can tackle the largest differences in lighting.
With HDR photography, you take multiple exposures and merge them into an image that records the detail in both the darkest and brightest areas of the scene.
Why is it called High Dynamic Range?
In the context of photography, the term "dynamic range" refers to the difference in lighting in a scene. A high-contrast scene comprising both deep shadows and bright highlights has a large difference in lighting and is therefore a high dynamic range (HDR) scene.
In this sense, the terms high-contrast and HDR can be used interchangeably.
How do I create an HDR image?
The HDR photography technique involves two steps:
Step 1: Take photos with multiple exposures
In addition to the "normal" exposure set for the average lighting, you take overexposed photos to capture the darkest parts, and underexposed photos to capture the brightest areas. You can do that automatically using the AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing) feature that most digital cameras offer. See the next section about the camera setup for HDR.
Step 2: Merge to HDR
Load the exposures into Photomatix and merge them to HDR. This will create an HDR image which has all the details of the darkest and brightest parts. If needed, you can further adjust the image by applying presets or using slider controls.
HDR starts with taking multiple exposures. Learn how to set up Exposure Bracketing on various camera models.
Learn how to set up your camera to overcome lighting challenges in interiors with bright light coming through the windows. This exposure bracketing technique will let you take perfectly exposed real estate interiors without lighting equipment.
Auto Exposure Bracketing settings (number of bracketed frames, max EV step increment and burst rate) for various camera models from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji and other camera manufaturers.
Shows you the exposures to take when photographing a very high contrast scene (e.g. room interior with a bright window), based on two metering readings.
Watch tutorials on using Photomatix with landscape and real estate photos.
Learn how to use Photomatix Pro with just one exposure, with one of those three HDR with a single RAW file techniques.
Barry tells us about his work, the benefits of using 32-bit HDR in the photogrammetry process, and shares his views on the photogrammetry industry today.
Definition, terminology and information on the technical/scientific concepts behind HDR imaging in layman terms.
High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch: In-depth exploration of all aspects of HDR imaging and techniques, including practical tips, artist interviews, and step-by-step tutorials.
Practically oriented guide by Ferrell McCollough, well illustrated and with technical advices you will not find anywhere else.