I've started to dabble in HDR photography. I love, love, love the looks of photos with this type of processing. I sometimes search google just to look at the images of this type and am simply amazed at some of the photos that photographers achieve. Here are my only 3 examples thus far. Not great but passable. I just need to find more time to get some of these processed. Of course, you can achieve a faux HDR which two of these are but you really need at least 3 photos taken at 0, +1 and -1 exposures. My first photo in winter was achieved with the 3 exposures.
Take outside my home in winter during sunset.
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A photo taken through the tree at about 5 pm.
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Photo taken by my co-worker that was absolutely beautiful and I knew it would look fabulous applying HDR tonemapping to it.
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I haven't had the time to do this ... read into that taking my camera off of automatic .... it is one of those things that get pushed to the back of things to do .... these are great
Thank you Susan. I know about the things that get pushed on the back burner. Anymore, that's all I seem to do. Someday, I may have more photos to display here but not anytime soon. Even when holidays roll around, there never seems to be enough time. I guess I've added too many pleasurable things to my list of things I'd like to do.
Oh my goodness- those are beautiful!
Thank you very much Beatrice. I'm very fortunate to live very close to Valley Forge National Park and have taken photos there. The park is beautiful. I decided to tonemap two of those photos this weekend. The photos themselves are very pretty but with tonemapping they become so awesome looking like paintings almost. These were not taken in true HDR fashion though. Thanks so much for looking.
Oh wow. They are so pretty. After seeing these I really do need to get my hands on a good camera. Im currently using a sony bridging camera and have started to teach myself some of the settings. Im hoping to buy a DSLR in the next few months and looking at doing some photography courses, mainly because I enjoy taking photos
I can't say I've even heard of HDR photography until now... I love your images! ESPECIALLY the one with the rays of the sun beaming through the tree... heavenly!
Thanks very much Adriana and Catherine. I love the look of HDR photos. You can sometimes get them to look so drastic. Just google HDR photos and see some of the ones professional photographers have done. They are stunning.
Catherine, I posted the one of the sunbeams on FB one time and a photographer saw it and said it was fantastic. Of course, that made me, unprofessional photographer, feel so good about that photo although I still think it doesn't stand up to other HDR photos I've seen.
Adriana, a DSLR is exactly what you need to get really good results and also a tripod to capture the photos in 3 different exposures. There are many tutorials posted on the web about how to achieve the results. If you have a camera already that can do the different exposures and a tripod, you can achieve it now. Of course, you should also have a version of Photoshop that supports tonemapping or at least a version you can add the plug-in for tonemapping to it and create your own outcome. It's kind of like painting without the paint brush.
If you find you have what you need to do this, please come and post your photos here. I love seeing HDR photography.
Thank you again ladies.
Super excited to try this, Judy, thanks! I'm an old-school, classically trained film photographer who (even though I've been forcibly digital in hand for years) is still limited in how I use it. Inspired!
Will look at my cameras settings and see if i can achieve it. I do have a tripod so that's a start. The camera I have is whats called a bridging camera. The one you buy when you've outgrown your point and shoot but aren't quite ready to take the leap into SLR photography. I do have a fair bit of control over settings if i take it off Auto, but there is still that auto function there if you want it.
Beautiful photos. I actually follow a couple of great photographers on Google+ (warning that causes lots of time wasting). HDR is either loved or hated by people. I love it. I hate to admit, I have not tried it even though I have a great Canon T2i. Paint Shop Pro has some HDR settings to play with and I haven't done that either. Your photos are inspiring. I hope to try it out someday.
Great photos Judy! So HDR are basically camera settings or exposure?
Thank you Elouise, Kat and J.Ajabad Abad.
I'm very happy to see that some of you are inspired to try this. Elouise, I started in film many years ago too and I loved the transition to digital. No more wasted film.
Adriana, it sounds like you can do it with your current camera then. I didn't realize what a bridging camera was and I learned something new today. Thanks
J.Ajabad Abad - Yes HDR is exposure (some photographers take as many as 5 different exposures and merge them) of the same photo. You can also alter exposures of one photo that you have on hand but the correct way is doing it through the camera. Then it is the processing you do after the merging. I use Photoshop tonemapping to change the look. In Photoshop, it's called HDR toning.
Cat, I know the time waste looking at photos because I do it all the time. I love Photography and with digital, professional photographers have created some outstandingly, superb photos that make me drool.
I know I love the look of HDR but I'm sure there are some who do hate it. Sounds like you have a fabulous camera to use. I have a Nikon, D300 which is an awesome camera too. I also didn't realize that PSP had the functionality to do HDR.
I hope you all get inspired and then we can start scrapping our HDR photos. Talk about overkill.
My old film SLR was a Nikon, they are great cameras. My husband went back and forth deciding what we should get, Nikon or Canon.
The problem with digital now is instead of too few photos, I know have too many, thousands and thousands. Yes no more wasted film, I like that.
Wow Judy: I had never heard of this before either. After viewing your photos. will have to tell the hubby about it and have a little creative competition between us. We both love photography and are always trying to see who gets the "best" shot while on our hiking trips and/or other travels.
TFS about this. I can't believe in all my years in photographing I never had heard of it. I get too easily distracted with too many things and FINISH nothing... so I try not to read too much on the internet. LoL
Isn't that the truth about digital photos and having so many of them Kat. My first film camera was a Canon and I don't remember the model and then I decided to buy a film Nikon. I've never been disappointed with either.
@Shawna, hahahaha, I know that feeling of being distracted with so many things. Sometimes, I think I suffer a little with ADD. Hey, good luck with your competition with hubby and let me know how you make out. Would also love to see photos if anyone decides to try it.