An Introduction to HDR Photography

Like Ryan, Tadder developed his style before the advent of HDR software and prefers to work in Photoshop—sometimes using 15 to 30 adjustment layers. He also uses extensive lighting to ensure that he starts off with as much dynamic range as possible.

Tadder sometimes employs a multiple-image approach using HDR software to put together a background or other components of a scene, which he composites into the final image. But the ads he produces for clients such as Bud Light, Coke, Pepsi, and the NFL often include people in motion, making it difficult, if not impossible, to bracket. “I don’t really do HDR by traditional standards,” he says, adding that while his clients may be familiar with HDR, they “don’t care how it’s accomplished.” Indeed, the best HDR images call no attention to how they’re made. Says Ryan, “My use of HDR techniques has always been in service of creating realistic images, those that appear true to the human eye’s dynamic range.”

Improving Skills
In 2009, according to Photoshop Senior Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes, a web search for HDR tutorials netted 295,000 hits. A Google search today? Some 3,540,000 hits, with photographer Trey Ratcliff’s www.StuckInCustoms.com atop the list.

Ratcliff, whose site offers tutorials, advice, and lots of images, started Stuck In Customs as an “experiment in visualization.” Trained in computer programming, he took up HDR about five years ago using the limited algorithms and freeware applications available at the time, then shared what he’d learned online. He posts a new image every day, and his site gets over 175,000 photo views daily.

Like many pros, Ratcliff isn’t satisfied with fully automated HDR, particularly when it comes to skies and skin tones. He calls Photomatix “the first step in the odyssey,” adding, “If Photomatix is the alpha, then the omega is Photoshop.”

He explains, “The problem with HDR algorithms is they’re limited. They don’t do what your eyes do in terms of texture and contrast. They’re really good on part of the photo, but about 30 percent is a disaster. It's a common mistake— to take the image right out of post-processing” and call it done. “You have to bridge the gap between the algorithm and reality, and do that clean-up in Photoshop.”

The Easy Route
Still, many people want to skip postprocessing entirely. That’s why a growing number of cameras, primarily aimed at consumers, include HDR modes. Pentax’s K7 was the first DSLR to offer an HDR mode that automatically captured and blended three bracketed shots. Sony has integrated multi-shot HDR into a number of its DSLRs, ILCs, and compacts. And this year Nikon released its first HDR-equipped DSLR, the 5100. Others offer HDR-like looks: Olympus’s Dramatic Tone effect filter and Casio’s HDR-Art effect, for example. Then there are smartphones, popular with pro photographers and snap-happy amateurs alike.{C}{C}{C}