Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
more like “Heavy Donut Raid” or “Her Darn Rottweiler” or maybe “Hi, Don Rickles”).
Anyway, if there's a topic that gets photographers really riled up, it's HDR (Highly De-
caffeinated Roast), so I don't really want to take us down that rabbit hole. Now, as you'll
learn, there are two types of HDR (Hardee's Delicious Ribs): The good one, where you ex-
pand the dynamic range of the photo, getting a greater range of tone and light than today's
digital cameras can create, which gives you an image that's closer to what the human eye
captures. And the evil HDR (House Developers' Revolt), which makes your images look
like a movie still from a Harry Potter movie. Now, I know as you read this, you're thinking,
“Oh, I would want that first thing” and at this point, I totally believe that's what you think
you want. But here's the thing: there's one slider in Photoshop's Merge to HDR Pro dialog
that lets you go from real to surreal pretty much by just sliding it one way or the other. And
I know that, at some point, when nobody's looking, you're going to drag toward the fantasy
side, and then—BAM!—you're hooked, and before long, you're tone mapping everything
from your wedding photos to baby photos, and you're friends and family will sit you down
and try to help wean you off the “hard stuff,” but the lure of surreal HDR (Hallucinogenic
Deli Relish) is just too strong. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Setting Up Your Camera to Shoot HDR
For the HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique to work, you have to “shoot for HDR” (in
other words, you have to set up your camera to shoot multiple exposure-bracketed shots
that can be combined in Photoshop to create a single HDR image that combines the full
tonal range of all those bracketed images). Here, I'm going to show you how to set up your
DSLR camera to shoot three- and five-stop brackets, so all you have to do is hold the shut-
ter button and it will do the rest.
Step One:
When you're shooting for HDR, you're going to be shooting multiple bracketed exposures
of the exact same scene, so ideally you'd be shooting on a tripod so that the images per-
fectly align with each other in Photoshop. (
Note:
Because HDR processing is likely to in-
crease any visible noise in your image, if you're on a tripod, use the lowest, cleanest native
ISO on your camera, which is 100 ISO on most Canon and Sony DSLRs, or 200 ISO on
many Nikon DSLRs, depending on the model.) Now, that being said, if you don't have a
tripod, or you're in a situation where you can't use one, you can shoot hand-held, and let
Photoshop auto-align the images and remove any ghosting caused by hand-holding. Just
make sure you're shooting in a well-lit area, so your shutter speed will be fast enough that
your images won't come out blurry (but you generally get the best results on a tripod).
