Tame Your Dynamic Range

HDR au naturel • Hybrid Lenses • Pros And Point-And-Shoots

By George D. Lepp With Kathryn Vincent Lepp

HDR doesn’t have to be obvious. This HDR image was taken in Yellowstone National Park on the Yellowstone River using a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II with a 17-40mm lens set to 17mm. Three images taken two stops apart were used to make up the HDR. The three were processed in Photomatix software.

HDR au naturel
Q When photographing a deep canyon, with dark shadows at the base and bright sky above, is there a way to capture the entire range of light-to-dark tones? I’ve tried HDRs, but it’s a lot of postprocessing time, and I don’t like my results. Is there a neutral-density filter that will render that “V” of light in the background in a natural way?
K. Collard
Prince George, B.C., Canada

A A neutral-density filter is used to darken an image to allow increased exposure time. Graduated neutral-density filters are half clear and half dark, with a narrow, graduated transition between the two areas. The dark portion, positioned against a bright sky, for example, “holds back” the sky and allows sufficient exposure for the darker landscape below the horizon. The problem with graduated neutral-density filters is that the dark area can be positioned in limited ways: high, low or at an angle in the frame. There isn’t a filter specific enough or versatile enough to cover the shape of every blown-out area of every photographer’s image. In film days, we just lived with it. Now we have HDR (high dynamic range) to solve the problem.

Anytime we get a new digital tool, you can count on some photographers to take it to the max and beyond. (Think saturation!) The HDR process can be used to resolve high-contrast subjects and render them entirely natural—that is, as you saw them. Or you can take it many steps farther and create something slightly enhanced or entirely new that no one has ever seen before. The choice is yours, and that’s what I love about digital.

HDR isn’t really difficult if you plan ahead and let the software do the work. Whenever you face a high-contrast exposure problem, take at least three images in increments of either one or two stops apart. In the case of your canyon, you’d be working from a tripod. But you can accomplish this process handheld by setting your camera to multiple-exposure and auto-exposure bracketing, and firing the three images in quick succession.

I’ve used three different HDR software programs. The most difficult, and perhaps the one you already have, is a component of Adobe Photoshop CS2-CS4 and the least controllable. I typically use HDRsoft’s Photomatix ($99) because it gives me a full range of options, from very natural to highly creative (even bizarre). Photomatix is easy to use, but the multitude of output options can become overwhelming. For your purposes, you might look at the inexpensive and simple Pangea Bracketeer ($29.95). The results are quite natural, with only a few options for enhancement, including saturation and contrast.

The bottom line is that you must recognize the problem in the field and capture accordingly. If you want to keep up with the competition, blown-out highlights just won’t pass muster anymore.

Page 1 of 3

« StartPrev123Next End »

6 Comments

Joe Whittle makes this comment

Saturday, 02 January 2010

Great article! The most concise and clear explenation of HDR I've read yet! Thank you Mr. Lepp! I just read your comment on my favorite places submission Zabriski Point, (an old single exposure image I shot on TMax 100 with a Pentax K1000), explaining how HDR could have helped the sky. I have yet to experiment with it and don't have any other software besides CS4 yet. Your article was very helpful in clarifying how simple it can be to use it. I was not looking forward to the learning curve on the software, but it seems fairly simple. Can specialized HDR software help enhance single exposure images in ways beyond Photoshop's capabilities? You mentioned it helping the sky in my photo (which was shot on Zone System rated and exposed film-so a quality negative scan and not one from a flatbed, as there may be more info in that sky to pull out, and perhaps HDR software, could help my Zabriski Point image?) Anyhow, I'm looking forward to learning this new tool. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Joe Whittle
Joe Whittle makes this comment

Saturday, 02 January 2010

PS- Would doing multiple scans at different scanner exposures help render more information from a single negative than just one scan? Then HDR could be used to combine the different scans?
Lewis Miller makes this comment

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Can Pangea Bracketeer be used with Windows XP or is it only for Mac? If it is only for Mac, then this should be mentioned in the article. I enjoy your magazine.
mrjennison makes this comment

Saturday, 06 February 2010

I had the same question about compatability with windows.
Vlad makes this comment

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

@Joe Whittle - Not sure is scanning negative multiple times will help much as negative's dynamic range is not that big - but for slides it is sound yes - it does help to have multiple scans at different exposures especially if scanner is of common breed with dynamic range of just 3.4. Applying HDR techiques to scans does help - especially for darks details and saturation. Keep in mind that some scanner software allows to make few scans with the same settings and then "averages" the result automatically keeping scanner's electronic noise at bay.
Eraldo makes this comment

Sunday, 21 February 2010

Interesting read