TUTORIAL: High Definition Range Photography

The Daily Pete blog has a tutorial of High Definition Range (HDR) Photography, as well as a few incredible samples.

Using software like Photomatix you can create images with a more detail in the highlights and shadows than you can with a normal photo from today's digital cameras. It's similar to the old technique of exposure blending. Taking one photo for the sky and one for the ground, then merging them both together in Photoshop. HDR takes it a step further by increase the amount of detail in the image and allows you to create some unique photos. You can use it carefully to create natural looking photos or you can use it creatively to create atmospheric and emotive photos. The choice is yours as to how you process the end result.

CameraArts Magazine (September/October 2006) has featured an article by George DeWolfe on Dan Burkholder's application of HDR with Photomatix in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. You can view "Dan Burkholder: A Personal Portrait of Disaster" here. This and other web portfolios are available on the Web Exclusives page.

"HDR imaging allows us to capture, with bracketed exposures, a very contrasty scene from the deepest shadows to the highest highlights and still render those highlight and shadow details clearly. In a normal digital capture image, the range of detail is, at the most five f/stops. With an HDR image you can have 6, 9, 15 or more images and combine them to decrease contrast and increase detail."

Download a trial version of Photomatix here.