I thought I would try my hand at HDR photography with a shot I took today. For those that don't know, high dynamic range photography is hard to explain, but I'll try. Here goes:
When we look at a scene, our eyes and brain see it differently than what a camera can actually capture. This is because our eyes see over several stops of light. What this means is that when we look into the shadows of a scene, we see what's in there, whether it be a dark alley, a shadow of a tree, or etc....whatever-because our eyes adjust to the darkness via our pupil dilating larger and smaller to allow more or less light in, just like the aperture of a camera. When we look into the sky, or a bright scene, our eyes also adjust to it to allow us to see definition and color and etc. This is the shot "as captured" by the camera. It's alright, but it isn't really how I remember the scene.
High dynamic range programs use several algorithms to "mesh" these different highs and lows, or brights and darks, to make a scene much closer to the way our brain remembers it. Some HDR shots, in my opinion, are really bad. Some look really good, it just depends on what the "shooter" saw when they took the picture. It really doesn't show much integrity as a photographer to say what is good or bad, just "not my style".
Here is the shot "post-processed" with HDR as my main focus.
In this second shot, I did what is called "dodging and burning"-that's making the darks a bit darker, and making the brights a bit brighter, as well as some color correction and layer masking. All of this is sometimes done in an HDR program, but I use the simple Photoshop Elements 2 that came with my first camera.
What I really like about photography is the "subjectiveness" of it, if I can use that word. You may like the first shot better, others may like the second. It really is up to you and me to decide. Have a good day and get your rear outside, it just keeps getting bigger! (the outside, not your rear....I'll shut up).
Cheers!
