Nature Pictures -Using HDRTaking nature pictures using HDR or High Dynamic Range is a great photography technique to use if done right. It helps overcome the limitations of the light collecting sensors in digital photography. What is HDR or high dynamic range? It is technique used to capture a greater range or variation between the lightest and darkest areas of in your digital photograph. Basically you intentionally overexpose a photo or photos to capture better details in the dark shadow areas and combine them with one or more intentionally underexposed photos which will capture details better in the bright highlight areas.
Look at these three nature pictures on the right. I combined the underexposed image on top with the overexposed image in the middle to get the photo on the bottom. I used Adobe Photoshop using a simple masking technique to hide and reveal various parts of the two photographs. The photographs are layers that are visually stacked on top of each other, exactly registered. You cannot do this technique without a tripod. Any movement of your subject including the movement of leaves caused by the wind will prevent you from using this photography technique. The overexposed photo in the middle is close to the correct exposure. Some of the highlights where the sun was striking the leaves were overexposed. The path looked properly exposed. I revealed parts of the underexposed photo in the foliage area, so that the path became more prominent in the finished photograph. This is just an introduction to HDR. I purchased Photomatrix Pro, which is software designed specifically to handle this technique. I will install it and review it shortly so check back for more digital photo tips. Happy Shooting! Back from Nature Pictures-HDR to Nature Photography |
Then you combine them using a variety of simple or complex photo editing techniques.