High Dynamic Range Imagery

You've probably already seen some very insipring HDR photography out there on the web already, as it's not a new technique - in fact the idea goes back to 1850 (!) - but it's become more and more common, especially now when many people have their own digital SLR camera.

I'm quite a keen photographer myself and thought I could share with you how to do a quite simple but in most cases will give you a great result!

Step one - Camera settings

You will need a tripod, or at least balance your camera on a steady surface. In the settings on the camera, set the AEB (auto exposure bracketing) to -2 and +2 (google AEB and your camera brand to find exactly how to). This makes the camera take 3 images when you hit the release button; one with normal exposure, one under- and one overexposed. For best result, choose to take your pictures in RAW rather than JPG. RAW stores much more information.

Step two - Use photomatix

You can download the application from the HDRsoft website. This is where you'll transform your 3 images.

In your navigation bar click HDR - Generate. In your dialogue box choose your 3 images and click OK. You can alter the white balance if you please but I choose to leave it as shot. Converting these images will take a minute so I suggest getting a cup of tea.

Once that's done you'll be looking at something similar to this, which obviously isn't very attractive. Time for the magic!

Step three - Tonemapping

From your navigation bar choose HDR - Tonemapping : Here's where all the fun is, go mad with the sliders but remember, a little goes a long way.... You can really get some amazing results, and after you've come to a good results then you can pull your image into photoshop and play around with adjustment layers and other filters to create stunning pieces of art. These are a few of mine..

Stonehenge

Orignally posted on Fuselagetown.com