My Take On HDR

As I peruse other photographer’s work, a type of image using high dynamic range imaging or HDR (or HDRI) would make me stop and think…

“That’s cool.” – with a cock of my head. And…

“How do they do that?”

And then I would think,

“That’s gotta be a lot of work.” 

“In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.^“The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, which in turn are known as low dynamic range (LDR) (also called standard dynamic range (SDR)) photographs.”

So says Wikipedia. Upon reading the definition, I came away with not much more understanding than before. However, my eye can now spot an HDR photo very readily even if I don’t know what the blazes Wikipedia is talking about.

For a few months now, my buddy Bob over at Dream Tomorrow, Live Today… has posted several photos in HDR which I like very much. Then Damien Franco over at Your Photo Tips posted an article about photographers around the internet and this artist’s (sterk1) HDR rendering caught my eye.

However, the master of HDR to me is John Maslowski at Sirius2 Photography. You should go over there. He’s the granddaddy of HDR photography and does beautiful work. His work falls into the takes-your-breath-away category. And he’s from Pennsylvania from my old stompin’ grounds.

Though I don’t know what that has to do with anything.

These above artists are all men and that made me think that perhaps this type of photography appeals to men more than it does to women, but then of course that would be stereotypical.

Though I like HDR photography I feel that sometimes it can be “overdone” and take on a cartoonish factor. I was also intimidated by what I thought would be an incredible amount of work and I frankly don’t have that much time. So after some thought, a little bit of free time and gentle nudging by Bob, I decided to check out Topaz Adjust. Lo and behold, they have a 30-day free trial so it really was painless.

You can create HDR photos using Photoshop. You will need Filter>Automate>Merge to HDR. I experimented with this because I have this horrible habit of trying to take apart things to see how they work. However, I found that it really was work just to figure out how to use it. I think you have to have several similar photos shot in different lighting in order to really edit this way. And they have to be the same size. I didn’t explore further but don’t let my laziness stop you!

Instead of doing it the “hard” way, I just fell in love in with Topaz Adjust.

Topaz Adjust is a photoshop filter, not a photoshop action. The difference is…

Filters go here.

Actions go here.

You can thank me later for the technical explanation.

Here’s a “before” SOOC.

And I don’t yet have a subtle touch but I love how it transforms a photo.

The photo above uses the High HDR setting(?) of the filter. It’s too much but oh it’s so cool.

Here’s another version I like better.

I brought this one into photoshop then smoothed the graining using TRA’s Smooth-O-Matic action to get rid of some of the graining. I wish I had used a different camera setting so that I didn’t blow out the Starbucks sign written in Chinese. This is a good lesson on how editing will never replace a good photographer. I’ll get there one day.

Hint: This is just my personal preference but though I’ve seen some really pretty landscapes that use HDR, I like HDR as applied to architecture (buildings, etc) the best. 

So there you go…a not-so-short HDR explanation.

Check out Bob’s site tomorrow…I think he’s going to post an HDR photo right Bob?

And I’ll tell you another thing. When my 30-day Topaz Adjust trial runs out, I’m going to buy it:)