- Understanding HDR Imaging
- Shooting an HDR Photo
- Editing HDR Images in Photoshop
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Shooting an HDR Photo
The key to digital HDR photography is to take multiple photographs of the same scene, each at a different exposure value. In HDR photography, you change the exposure by adjusting the aperture (the size of the lens opening), while maintaining the same shutter speed; this ensures you’ll have the same depth of field in all the shots.
To take HDR photographs, then, you need a digital camera that allows you to manually adjust the aperture or f/stop setting. This may be accomplished by a simple over- or underexposure setting that you manually change between shots. Some more sophisticated digital cameras offer auto exposure bracketing, where the camera automatically “brackets” a normal exposure with additional shots at higher and lower EVs.
Naturally, when you take multiple photographs of the same scene, you need to do so quickly, to reduce any movement in the photo. (This is where auto exposure bracketing is nice, as the shots follow automatically in rapid succession.) HDR photography, then, is best suited for images without any natural motion; it’s better for landscapes than for sports action, for example.
How many shots do you need to take? You’ll need to shoot at enough different exposure levels to capture all the brightness levels in the scene. This means putting the darkest values in the scene no lower than the mid-range of your camera sensor’s sensitivity range. In practice, that means no fewer than three separate exposures, and perhaps as many as five to seven — or even more. Each shot should be taken at between one and two EVs apart.
The best way to approach this is to position your camera on a tripod, so that it won’t move between shots. Switch your camera into manual exposure mode (sometimes called aperture priority mode) and turn off the autofocus. Then take a series of shots at 1-EV increments by changing your camera’s aperture with each shot. Start with a “normal” exposure, then bracket it with one shot 1 EV lower and another shot 1 EV higher. What you end up with is one shot properly exposed, one underexposed, and one overexposed; it’s this combination that generates the HDR image.
If this series of shots doesn’t achieve the dynamic range you want, repeat the process but shoot two shots at higher EVs and two shots at lower EVs, instead. You may also want to experiment with shooting at 2-EV increments instead of 1-EV increments.
For best results, shoot in camera RAW mode, if you can. You want to record the shot with the least compression and highest possible resolution, so you don’t lose any of that dynamic range.