Standard JPG Image 
HDR Image HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It's a technique of creating a photographic image by combining several different exposures of the same scene into one image. Typically at least three images are combined... one exposed as indicated by an exposure meter to make a "proper" exposure and then one taken one full f-stop above and one taken at one full f-stop below the norm. While it is possible to make an HDR image look extremely dramatic, I believe the best HDR images make the scene look more natural.
In these examples, the first image is a standard image taken with the exposure settings indicated by my handheld exposure meter. The second image is an HDR image made from combining seven exposures into one. You can clearly see that the HDR image shows both the inside boardroom as well as the outside through the windows. Even the "shadow" areas are easier to see as well. Take a closer look at the details you can see of the chair closest to you. The standard JPG image exposes the inside scene nicely, but everything outside the window is totally "blown out." And, the chair closest to you has no details that you can see. It's just black. Now look under the table at the chair legs of the chair on the right. Which image can you see details? The HDR or the Standard JPG image?
Which image do you like better? Only the natural ambient light is used on these images. A flash was not used.
HDR images take a little more work (ok, a lot more) than a standard image. It requires multiple photos be taken and a lot more post production work to create the final image. But the results are often spectacular.
By the way, this is an image of the boardroom at my office. I meet my clients here as well as teach photography out of this room. Be sure to click on each image to take a closer look.
2 comments:
A friend asked me if I could have saved a lot of effort with a shot like this by just exposing for the outside light and then using "fill flash" to match the indoor lighting to the outdoor lighting.
The basic answer is "yes" you can! But here's where having HDR avaiable as an option comes in handy.
Check out the details under the table. With fill flash you would most likely end up with a huge shadow caused by the top of the table and all the detail under the table probably would not be there.
The whole point of this exercise is just to see how much dynamic range I could squeeze into a shot just using the ambient light available. Imagine, if this room was 100 feet deep (like a photo I recently shot of the hallway at a funeral home which had hired me to shoot their interiors), how would you be able to light the entire hallway with fill flash? That's where something like HDR can come in very handy. The problem of course is setting up the tripod and then shooting off several frames of the same image. But with the auto bracketing on the Nikon D3, it's a push of the button and it shoots all the exposures for me automatically.
The real hassle is of course messing with the post production within the HDR software.
Nice results with these HDR images. I've just placed some HDR images on my website...good luck ahead!
Post a Comment