What is HDR Photography?

HDR (High dynamic range photography) is photography that captures a very wide range of brightness levels ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.

HDR photographs by FeaturePics Authors

If the subject is new for you, go to  http://www.hdrsoft.com/ to find what Dynamic Range and HDR imaging is, and how you can shoot an HDR image.

More information about HDRI at wikipedia - High dynamic range imaging

John from Okinawa Photography was very kind to give us a permission to publish his tutorial "Creating HDR images" at FeaturePics.com. All images in this tutorial are from http://www.hdrjapan.com.  We really appreciate his contributions to our trade.

Please, check out the tutorial below.

Creating HDR images

Creating high dynamic range images involves a little planning and setup time, but the results can be wonderful. Here's a step-by-step approach to help you ease into creating HDR images.

1. Bracketing
   Setup your camera to bracket 3 or more images. Ensure that your bracket covers the entire range of light that is present in the scene.
   
   
2. White Balance
   Set your white balance to whatever the scene requires, but don't use auto.
   
   
3. Mount the camera on a tripod.
   Having a stable base for your camera is very important and means less alignment issues in post productions. While hand-held HDR is very possible, and many people create very successful images with this technique, having a sturdy tripod will give you the best results. If you have a model in the scene, just ask them to hold as still as possible for a few seconds.
   
   
4. Cable Release
   Attach the Cable release, or set the camera to use the self timer. You do not want to touch the camera at all. Even the slightest movement can cause alignment issues with your final images.
   
   
5. Switch the camera to aperture priority and make your aperture F8 This step is only to give you a direction in where to begin, let me add that some people prefer to actually shoot at smaller apertures, experiment, and adapt this step to your workflow.
   
   
6. Mirrior Lock-up
   When bracketing your shutter speeds may get very slow and the mirrior can cause vibrations that blur the image. Mirrior lock-up helps you to avoid the mirrior slap that creates this.
   
   
7. Shoot
   Now, just take your series of photographs! You have successfully just captured a set of images that will merge into an HDR image!
   
   
8. The next step is to actually merge the images to an HDR or EXR file, so open Photomatix. The quickest way to do this is by running a batch. I actually batch almost 90% of my HDR image processing.
   
9. 
   -Open Photomatix.
   -Go into the batch menu.
   
   
10. 
    
    -Click Generate HDR image
    -Click process with details enhancer
    -Go down to source and browse to where your images are stored and select them.
    -Go to destination and select how your image will be output.
    
    
11. 
    You have just successfully created an HDR, plus a tonemapped image!
12. When you open your image for the first time, your histogram may look something like this...
    
    
    
    and your image like this...
    
    
    
    There are numerous ways of doing things in Adobe Photoshop, so I will only touch on the method I use. So, let's add some contrast, with Nik.
    
    
13. 
    
    Click Pro Contrast, and adjust the image to your taste. This may turn your image looking something like this.
    
    
14. Next we're going to bring out that shadow detail, so click "Image > Adjust > Shadow Highlight"
    
    
    
    Adjust the sliders to taste, and you may be left with something like this.
    
    
15. Next we're going to punch those colors, so let's hit Nik again, and this time run our Brilliance and Warmth.
    
    
    
    Again, adjust sliders to your taste, and your image will come out with a little more color intensity, like this.
    
    
16. Now, let's add a little sharpening, so zoom in to %100 percent and load Smart Sharpen by clicking "Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen"
    
    
    
    Again, adjust the sliders to your taste.I try to keep the radius low, something like 0.6, then toggle the amount slider.
17. Our image.
    
    
    
    Below are some sample images that were made with this technique. It is the exact technique that I use to process almost all of my HDR photography, so I know you will get results if you try. Experiment and have fun, thanks for reading!
    
    

Additional tips

• Look for scenes with high contrast. In my experience this will give you the most impact in your images. (Reflections, dark objects, metal, shiny objects, bright lights, heavy shadows, bright sunlight, etc)
• When assessing the area you will be photographing, try to get clouds in the skies.
• Remember how you always tried to not back light your subject without a main softbox/reflector/mainlight with conventional photography? With HDR, break all the rules that limited you and never feel constrained. You are only limited by your imagination, so start dreaming of new ways you can use HDR that have never been seen.

References: Photomatix is a tool that allows you to increase dynamic range by merging differently exposed photographs into one image and revealing highlights and shadow details in an HDR image.