Now The most common purposes of HDR are..
1. To create a properly exposed image of a scene with very unbalanced light. i.e. Looking directly into the sunset over an ocean.. the sunset can not be properly exposed if the Water is too (unless your using a 10 stop ND Graduated ND filter) or a daylight image with intense dark shadows..
2. Boosting colors, and luminance and creating a very unique and almost unrealistic scene. this is probably the case with most HDR's that you will see. The photo can be realistic looking or very unrealistic looking (which im sure you have seen examples)that is all a matter of preferance and controlled during the tone mapping process which i will explain later
Now... For the How to.
1. When your going out to take photos use a tripod is probably the most important. while HDR programs can compensate for slight moving objects and ripples like clouds and trees blowing in wind Your entire image will be messed up if the camera gets moved too much between exposures.
2. Probably the most helpful thing I have learned is to take more than 3 exposures, while an HDR requires 3 different exposures (1 under exposed, 1 properly exposed and 1 under exposed) It is always a good idea to start out at least 5+ stops under exposed and take a photo every stop you move up until about 5+ over exposed.. So say properly exposed is 1/320th start at 1/40th and take a shot every time you move up one or 2 stops until your at maybe 1/1000th. While choosing your exposures check the objects in your image to make sure that all the parts get properly exposed throughout the series of images (if that makes sense) ill explain more about that later.. Also it is very important you don't adjust your Aperture between exposures, only your shutter speed. Changing your aperture will change the Depth of field and make your photo look very focally un-balanced.
3. Choose your images assuming you shot multiple exposures do not Do any editing to them at this point.
4. Now for the HDR creating part.. I use Photomatix pro because it is by far the most powerful and easiest to use of all that I have tried. Photoshop Cs4 and Cs5 both have HDR software as well, but i don't have much experience with them.
Some free HDR Software is in the links below. I have only had experience with qtpfsugi, and was very satisfied with it!
Essential HDR
Qtpfsugi A.k.a Luminance HDR
Over Exposed. 1/40th
Under Exposed 1/500th
Properly exposed 1/160th
5. Generating the HDR and then tone mapping it is the final step. Here is a quick set of screen shots showing you the combination process and how it looks after tone mapping. To access the "tone mapping" option on Photomatix you click the HDR tab, the same one you click to add your pictures and "generate your HDR"
Make sure to select "reduce ghosting artifacts" in the initial "generate HDR" screen. After all the tone mapping is done you will end up with a beautiful HDR...
All Those exposures were combined and then tonemapped in Photomatix pro to create this final product, as you can see with this HDR I was able to properly expose the Sunset and the entire foreground grass and trees. This would have been nearly impossible in a single exposure with out an expensive graduated ND filter. Now you are able to use layer masks in Photoshop and properly expose this image with 2 exposures, but making an HDR is much more simple and plus creates such an effect which is unachievable by layer masking.. I hope to create a layer masking tutorial soon here too, since that is a Very valuable thing to know.
Hope this was helpful!!
if you have any further questions dont hesitate to shoot me an email..
Thanks for checking this out.
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