HDR

Lately I’ve been doing some HDR Landscape photography. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It’s a technique that’s been around for a long time, but with new software developments is becoming quite popular and more accessible. Basically, you take 5 exposures (or however many you wish) of a scene. Setup your camera to bracket, say 5 images a stop apart. Setup your camera on a tripod, compose your scene, and then take your 5 exposures. Then when you are back in front of your computer, use an application like Nik Software’s HDR eFex Pro. It works almost like magic to combine your 5 images into a really cool end result. HDR is more like what the human eye can see, with a greater range of darks and lights than can be captured in a normal photograph. It works great for landscapes, cityscapes or any image where there is lots of textures and extreme light/dark contrasts.

1/5 The correctly exposed shot

2/5 -2 stops

3/5 -1 Stop

4/5 + 1 Stop

5/5 + 2 Stops

And now, after a little HDR eFex Pro magic, and a little help from Viveza 2, we have the final result.

HDR Image

It’s a technique you either love or hate. I like it! It makes for a far more dramatic landscape with added visual appeal. Be sure to check out my Gallery page for more examples of HDR.