HDR Photography Has Huge Benefits
No matter who you ask, everyone seems to have a different opinion about the merit of HDR photography. Some think its an excellent tool allowing you the ability to create impossible photos, while others are convinced it’s just a tool to make some incredibly bad photography. While it can certainly be both, after months of experimentation I’ve found HDR photography to be an incredibly useful tool.
HDR or High Dynamic Range Photography is essentially taking a combination of images and merging them into one photo in order to create a range of light that is otherwise impossible to attain from a traditional camera sensor. The benefits of this are vast, but most simply, when done well, it allows you to create a more accurate depiction of what a given scene looked like at the time the photograph was taken.
If you are taking a photo of a sunset it’s nearly impossible to expose for all of the elements of the scene. You can’t have the highlights, shadows and mid tones all come out correctly simply due to technological limitations. With an HDR photo you can. By taking correctly exposed shot and merging it one with one that is overexposed and one that is underexposed you are able to take the full dynamic range and turn it into one beautiful image.
One of my favorite aspects of HDR is that it allows a less artistic person to create some really cool art. There are a lot of people out there who maintain this is exactly why HDR is bad for the photography community. It’s really easy to ruin a photograph by making it look too fake or surreal, but at the same time if this is done well it can allow for some pretty unique compostions.
You do need to have a little bit of software if you want to create an HDR photo. Generally, Photomatix or Photoshop are the two most popular programs. Along with that, a tripod is the other very necessary tool to get the most out of your shots.
For some beginners tips to HDR Photography, as well as some excellent examples of the technique, take a look at Daily HDR.
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