HDR photos

[ThomasL]

Hi everybody,

As I'm going to Barcelona Tuesday, I'd like to experiment and try making some HDR-photos. I know how they're made, but I wonder which are the best conditions to make such pictures... During what time of the day can I get the best luminosity? Which subjects give the best result? Do I have to look for contrast to succeed? etc..

Thanks in advance ;-)
Thomas

[AdrianW]

For best results, ideally you need interesting cloud patterns, textured surfaces or reflections. Not necessarily strong ones, but interesting ones.

The effect most people associate with HDR is ToneMapping, which is one way to display an HDR image on an LDR device (like most monitors). ToneMapping accentuates local contrast. HDR simply allows you to capture a greater range of brightnesses than you would normally be able to in one shot; so it's most useful for shooting backlit subjects and dark alleyways which would normally be impossible to capture without losing either shadow or highlight detail.

I strongly recommend you practice before you go though. Whilst you can shoot handheld quite easily, a tripod makes alignment easier. Also be wary of moving objects, if they're covered by the brightness from multiple images you may find floating bits of people and vehicles in your shots. If you can, wait until they stop moving, or take multiple shots so you can edit them out later ;)

Shoot at base ISO if possible, use aperture priority if available, and switch to manual focus. I use AutoExposureBracketing (AEB), usually set to +/- 2EV. Remember to check the histogram to make sure that the whole range of the scene has been captured though. The shot for the shadows (the bright one) should not touch the left hand edge of the histogram. Similarly the shot used for the highlights (the dark one) shouldn't touch the right hand edge.

For an idea of how tone-mapping affects a scene, have a look at this shot of mine; and see my comment later in the messages showing how it looks as a "best exposure" single shot, and how it looks if you use ToneCompressor instead of ToneMapping in Photomatix.

Enjoy Barcelona!

[ThomasL]

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for your reply! I actually read it just before leaving for Barcelona :-) So I took some photos with different exposures and I'm now tonemapping them. I used a tripod but I had to change the exposure values manually, because my camera doesn't have an Auto Bracketing feature... I'll post some results on TE asap ;-)

Thanks again,
Thomas