Wednesday May 4, 2011

HDR Photography

All About HDR Photography

There is so much to the new sport of HDR Photography! It’s a new a fun way to take photos and capture the world around you. This page will answer some of the basic questions and tendrils will drift off to other areas of the site that may interest you.

Farewell India I had a truly wonderful time in India and I can't wait to return. After spending most of the day exploring the Taj Mahal, I found a car to take me across the river. The bridge was over 100 years old and crowded with every type of locomotion - from donkey to pull cart to bike. After working my way down to the river, I found I could not quite get low enough to take the photo I wanted. So, reluctantly, I took my camera off my tripod and buried it in the mud, about half an inch above the water. I spent all night in the bathroom saying I was sorry to the camera... cleaning her up back into her old self once again.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

A sample HDR Image of the Taj Mahal in India.  Many more samples below…

How to HDR photography

“Anyone can do this!” This is what I always tell people when I speak at universities, photo clubs, seminars, and the like, and I mean it! I am very open about my process, and I made a free HDR Tutorial here on StuckInCustoms.com that describes the step by step process. If you’d like to get in deeper, I also have a bunch of videos available for download at the HDR Video Tutorial link.

What is HDR Photography?

HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It is a post-processing task of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed.

An HDR image is commonly made by taking three photos of the same scene, each at different shutter speeds. The result is a bright, medium, and dark photo, based on the amount of light that got through the lens. A software process then combines all the photos to bring details to the shadows and highlights both. This helps to achieve the same task in the final photograph that the human eye can accomplish on the scene.

I would say that about 75% of my images use the technique, and if you are new to it, then you may notice a slightly different “look and feel” to the photographs. There are all kinds of nerdy technical things I can say about HDR, but in case you are like me, you can learn best by example. I posted a bunch of my HDR photos below.

To me, the HDR process helps the photos look more… let’s say… evocative.

I can talk a little bit more about the philosophy behind the photography style here for a quick moment. You might consider that the way the human brain keeps track of imagery is not the same way your computer keeps track of picture files. There is not one aperture, shutter speed, etc. In fact, sometimes when you are in a beautiful place or with special people and you take photos — have you ever noticed when you get back and show them to people you have to say, “Well, you really had to be there.” Even great photographers with amazing cameras can only very rarely grab the scene exactly as they saw it. Cameras, by their basic-machine-nature, are very good at capturing “images”, lines, shadows, shapes — but they are not good at capturing a scene the way the mind remembers and maps it. When you are actually there on the scene, your eye travels back and forth, letting in more light in some areas, less light in others, and you create a “patchwork-quilt” of the scene. Furthermore, you will tie in many emotions and feelings into the imagery as well, and those get associated right there beside the scene. Now, you will find that as you explore the HDR process, that photos can start to evoke those deep memories and emotions in a more tangible way. It’s really a wonderful way of “tricking” your brain into experiencing much more than a normal photograph.

What kind of camera do you need to make HDR Photos?

Really, the hardware does not matter…  The bulk of the look comes from the software process, as described in the aforementioned tutorial.

I have a Nikon D3X, but it does not require a camera that beefy to make photos like the ones you see on the site. In fact, many of my photos were taken with a camera that only costs a fraction of this beast. I have a full rundown of some HDR camera recommendations here on the site as well.  You can get started in this hobby fairly cheaply! :)

What is your philosophy behind art and photography?

Ahh! That is a good question, even if I did write it myself! Well, the answer is too long for this format, but you can find a few nuggets of truth inside this article I wrote entitled “10 Principles of Beautiful Photography“.

eBooks on HDR Photography

I’ve also penned a series of books on photography. You can find those over at my sister site at FlatBooks.com.

Sample HDR Photos

And here are some HDR photos for you:

The Bamboo Forest While exploring Kyoto, I eventually found my way to this fanciful bamboo forest. There had been a light rain most of the morning and everything was quite lovely. The rain does strange things as it moves its way through these sorts of trees. I waited and waited, and that was nice too. In the early afternoon, the rain stopped while the sun peeked through the top. It shone down while the earlier rain misted down from the tops of the trees.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Fourth on Lake Austin It was a tough night because I was on the edge of a bridge that was rumbling as cars went across. The evening was very windy, and there was a light driving rain right into my lens. I had to wipe down the lens after every few exposures and try to cup my hands over the top during the shot. This ended up being the first HDR photo to hang in the Smithsonian, and it made my mom very proud.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Sunset in Ibiza Ibiza is a fabulous island off the coast of Spain that is the "in" destination for all the Euros that like to get trashed, party, dress in white, do medium-level-drugs, and stay on the beach without many clothes.I saw this girl bouncing around and very happy about something, so I went over and said hello, introducing myself. She didn't speak much English, but I managed to ask her if I could take a photo of her. She enthusiastically said yes, and I explained the sitch as we walked over to the water, mostly using interpretive dance to span the language gap. She was Italian and her name was Wendy. I think that is a strange name for an Italian, but I didn't question it. Anyway, I asked her just to walk off into the ocean and I would take a photo. She did just that, and I grabbed this shot just as the sun was dipping below the horizon.- Trey RatcliffThe rest of this entry resides here at stuckincustoms.com.

HDR Photo

The Chinese MothershipLook at this magical place in Beijing... it's on the edge of belief.I could hardly fathom the nature of this place. I expected the lights to appear on the grid with melodic tones a mystical, alien language, like in Close Encounters. But none of that happened... So I just stood there for a long time, thinking about how incredible this place was... and took my time, setting up my system for a fitting photograph.Remember when we were kids, and we never finished our food, even under the threat of starving children in China? Now, I say to my kids, you better eat your food, or else Chinese children will grow up and create an economic powerhouse. Well too late for that!This is the amazing National Centre for the Performing Arts, or as I like to say, the 国家大剧院 -- I find that rolls of the tongue a bit easier.from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com

HDR Photo

The Open Road I had a long lonely weekend in Iceland, so I took my rental Jeep out into the wild. I drove all over the country from dawn till dusk seeing what I could find. The sky and landscape was an ever changing palette of colors and clouds.The sun is so low on the horizon during the winter that it is almost like a 5-hour sunrise followed by a 5-hour sunset. I drove up and down one of these highways to the next, listening to all kinds of strange and eclectic music on my iPod, occasionally jumping out to take a shot of something like this... it was a perfect weekend.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.In the distance, you can see the snowy mountains which always seem to be just a few songs away.from my daily photo blog at www.stuckincustoms.com

The Bay at Portofino This isn’t really Portofino, but it sure does look like it, eh? We might even make the case that it is more pretty than the real Portofino! This is a beautiful resort in Orlando, over at Universal Studios. All the colors in the sky and the buildings seemed to melt together, so I stopped for a quick photo.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Secret Passageway to the Treasure After the crowds of Angkor Wat, it was nice to go find a remote temple in the jungle and be alone. This temple laid under the jungle, completely undiscovered for centuries. The hallway and mysterious chambers seemed to go on forever.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

A Sunset on a Texas Farm This photo was shot about two hours outside of Austin in a little town called Brady. You'd like it. They have a Sonic there. This was a 5-exposure HDR shot at f/16. This kept everything in focus and kept the shutter open long enough to let the clouds drag across the sensor. In these conditions, you don’t have a lot of time to fool around because the sun is bookin’ it towards the horizon.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Sleeping In Driving from Reykjavik to Isafjordur is just about one of the longest possible drives you can make in Iceland in a day if you have a reasonable level of sanity. There comes a point when you feel like you're getting close, when you start weaving in and out of fjords. They are huge and each one seems to take over half an hour to drive around.In the midst of one of these, I espied an old house up the side of one of the valleys. It was partially obscured by a hand-built stone wall. I stopped the car and started hiking up the side of the valley to investigate. Once I got up there, I began to think that maybe this place was actually occupied! There were new lace curtains hanging in the windows and everything seemed to be in pretty good repair. So then, I felt like I was intruding, and not just exploring an old ruin. But, it was 3 AM in the morning, and I figured if anyone was indeed inside, they must be fast asleep. So I set up for a shot and then made a hasty elf-like egress.Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

A Neo-Rockwellian Christmas When dad is a photographer, then there is a major degree of pressure to deliver photos on all the requisite holidays and celebrations! So, I decided to try to re-invent the family Christmas photo with HDR. Please note that many of my inventions go down in flames, but, as Winston Churchill said, “success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm”.Christmas scenes have a lot of light levels. The lights on the tree, the deep greens withn the branches, a roaring fire, lights in the room, reflections off the ornaments, and the like. It’s wild! I’m pretty sure this is why people like Christmas scenes so much - a wonderful treat for the eyes that is rich in texture and rich in light. Traditionally, it’s been very difficult to capture so much richness in a single photo, saving a lucky and heroic combination of shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and lenses.The tree lights made the faces of my three stunt-children (who are also my real children) glow perfectly. No flash could have achieved this, unless you are the kind of Rambo-flash guy that would go bury one inside the tree to hit their faces from the left. But, let’s face it. That’s hard.This was a 5-exposure HDR. You will notice that I often use 5 exposures, but note I could have done it with 3 exposures at -2, 0, and +2. Some silly Nikon cameras, like the D3X I use, will not let you step by twos, so I had to take 5 at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. The middle exposure, from which the kid’s faces were masked in and perfectly lit, was shot at f/4 aperture, shutter speed of 1/250, 100 ISO, and at 28mm.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

HDR Photo

Delicate Ice in Spring - Trey RatcliffAfter dinner one evening in Ísafjörður, I drove through a nearby town and up into the mountains. Along the road, I noticed an iced-over river that was beginning to thaw in a few areas. I pulled over, and scrambled down the hill to set up for a shot.I tried this both with and without an ND filter. The ND filter didn’t add anything to the shot except for a lot of pain! The light was low enough where a small aperture could get the feeling of the river through the hole in the ice…- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

An Icelandic Horse in the Wild If you want to see how I made this (and how you can too!), visit my HDR Tutorial. I hope it gives you some new tricks! I consider myself very lucky to have a network of great photographers around the world. I met most of them through Flickr, where we are constantly commenting and giving feedback on one another's photos. This has enabled me to meet up with great photographers wherever I travel, and they are great people to hang out with because they already know the prettiest places around where they live!One of the people I was lucky to shoot with was Rebekka in Iceland. We met at a coffee shop in Reykjavik and talked about where to go shoot. We jumped in her car and drove a while until we reached a fjord. Nearby were these horses running around like wild beasts. They have no fear of humans, and we were able to go right up to them. Their hair is very long, and I'm sure it evolved from the hyper-cold whipping winds around the edges of the sea.I don't shoot a lot of animals, because I find it hard to improve upon what other great animal photographers have done in the past. However, here is a tip for shooting animals. It's kind of a lame trick, but it always works. Use a wide-angle lens and get in close. It always makes the head look really big and cute. Humans love big-headed animals and it always makes them smile. Why this is, I have no idea... Note this trick also kinda works with babies.Seriously, thanks to Rebekka for a great day tooling around the fjords of Iceland.Oh, and yes.... I have pictures of Rebekka coming up at some point wearing her green-thing ... nothing too salacious for public consumption, I assure you... but in more of a "photographer in her milieu" milieu.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Central Park in the Fall I had spent the afternoon alone while traveling (as usual, it seems) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the middle of New York City. It sits on the Eastern edge of Central Park. It was a little cold outside, but I decided to walk across the park anyway, just as the sun was setting. As I moved through the trees, I found this little place and thought it would be fun to share.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

HDR Photo