HDR – Stuck in Customs

HDR

What is HDR Photography?

HDR Photography is one of the newest ways to take photos, being one of the most recent techniques to be practiced in the past few years. It’s a ton of fun, and anyone can do it!

This page will answer some of the basic questions and tendrils will drift off to other areas of the site that may interest you.

The Mist From The Tree Tops Fell On Me From Above And Behind

A sample HDR Image that shows off the sort of vibrancy and sense of living texture you can achieve with this technique.

 

Aurora HDR 2019 – NO Halos, NO Noise, NEW Looks

Entirely New HDR Algorithm with Artificial Intelligence

How do you follow up from Mac’s App of the Year in 2018? That’s a tough one but we put our heads together with the team from Skylum and we’ve done it!

Aurora HDR 2019 uses Skylum’s new Quantum HDR Engine. It is a completely redesigned HDR algorithm, paired with artificial intelligence, which took 3 years of development by Skylum’s AI lab. My favorite thing about this new version is you no longer need to make corrections on the initial results because it virtually eliminates noise, halos, and other little issues you often needed to fix. This means you can focus on your creative side. Begin by trying out the new “looks” (formerly called presets, a few of mine are included for free). And try tweaking out the “HDR-ness” of your creation with the new and improved HDR Enhance and Smart Structure sliders.

Already own Aurora HDR? Check to see if you qualify for a discounted upgrade

Existing users can check this link to see if you qualify for an upgrade for just $59. New users may purchase Aurora HDR 2019 for just $99.

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How to Make HDR Photos

Creating HDR photos is something anyone can do. Even you! I’ve taught thousands of people and I’m sure I can teach you too.

I have a FREE HDR Tutorial for Mac and Windows here on StuckInCustoms.com that describes the step by step process. If you’d like to dive deeper, I also have video tutorials for Aurora HDR 2019. The tutorial shows how I use the tool for a variety of situations… landscapes, sunrise/sunset, people, motion, etc..

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.

And yes, you can make an HDR out of a single photo as well. That is described in the HDR Tutorial here.

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 evocative and alive!

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.

You can go to my Camera Equipment page to see what I use.

HDR and Photoshop

Many people ask, “Why not just use HDR Photoshop?”  I don’t recommend just using Photoshop, and I have a little article at that link that talks about it.

What is your philosophy behind art and photography?

…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 store.

Some HDR Photos

Here are a few photos I’ve created… I make a new one every day here on the home page at StuckInCustoms.com, so you are welcome to come back regularly.

Moonrise Kingdom

Downtown Beijing After Rain

Road Trip New Zealand!

Inception Reflection New York

from Trey Ratcliff at https://stuckincustoms.com

My Last Night In Venice

The Ritz-Carlton, Phulay Bay, Thailand

from Trey Ratcliff at https://stuckincustoms.com

from Trey Ratcliff at https://stuckincustoms.com

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Rock Moved So Slowly That I Did Not Notice

walking alone and being somewhat lost on which way

The Secret Workshop Of Jules Verne

Reflections on the Eiffel Tower Isn't it romantic? What could be more perfect than a beautiful sunset here in Paris?There was a big storm all day long, but I could see the clouds were beginning to break up a little to the west, and I knew there was a possibility the sun would dip into an opening beneath the heavy clouds. So, with that intense possibility, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower area hoping the light would turn out right...I also made a behind-the-scenes video. Since you guys have been so nice over on Google+, I'll share that video exclusively there first, so be sure to stay tuned... I'm still editing the thing together!- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Aurora Australis Galactica

An Abandoned Game Trail in China

There Evolved a Technopolis

Lijiang at Night

The Secret Crystal LakeThis remote lake was so icy cold. You would think it's about 33 degrees or something, right? It felt like absolute zero. I dropped a little piece of my tripod in here and my hand almost froze off trying to retrieve it.In the distance you can see where the glacier comes into contact with the glassy lake; it gives a sense of the epic scale here.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Hong Kong from the Peak on a Summer's Night 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 had a long day waking up at 5 AM to take a series of subways and trains up to Shenzen for some meetings. I had a Chinese VISA, which you don't need to get into Hong Kong, but I had to use to cross the official Chinese border after getting off the train. I didn't realize that it was a one-time use VISA, and I had to go to Shanghai the next day. This caused a lot of problems with the Chinese officials, a body of government with which I do not enjoy causing problems.Anyway, after I got back to Hong Kong after a day in Shenzen, I was hot and sweaty and in the sort of meeting clothes that aren't great for being hot and sweaty in. But, everything about Hong Kong was still awesome and I had too look hard for things to complain about. The sun was setting, and I made it up to The Peak just in time for a shot.This was a 5-exposure HDR shot at 100 ISO, and, of course, a sturdy tripod to get all the lights as steady as possible.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto

Approaching Mount Fuji from the Old Village What a perfect place this is!I’ve been to Japan many times, but I never had the chance to visit Mt. Fuji! This time, Tom and I made a point to do it, and this was one of our fist stops. You can see much more about it in the video above!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Bryce Canyon National Park

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.

Reflecting on the Taj Mahal

Coming Home