If you’ve ever taken photos of a subject
under sunny skies, where the brightness and contrast range are high, the
chances are you either lost details in the subject or the sky is blown out.
This is because the difference between the brightest and darkest areas, or
Dynamic Range, is too wide that you can’t capture them both in a single shot.
In this article, we will explain the HDR approach to overcome this problem.
At
the core concept of HDR is taking two or more bracketed photos – which is
photos of the same subject with varying shutter speed or aperture combinations
to cover a wide range of luminosity of the subject. Then, using a
post-processing software such as PhotoDirector to blend the photos together and
create a single image with the most lit and colors of the subject.
What you will need to create an HDR image:
For best results, here is what we recommend:
1. A digital camera, with or
without Auto Exposure Bracketing function. If it doesn’t, then a tripod is a
must. Without Bracketing, you can manually change shutter speed and aperture
settings between each shot. But, you have to make sure, your camera is still
(no movement between frames) or the photos won’t line up in the editing
software.
2. A tripod or any other type of stabilizer. This is highly recommended for
best results. If your camera is equipped
with Auto Exposure Bracketing, you can shoot without a tripod. Make sure you
set the shutter to high speed continuous mode to minimize movement between
frames. When you blend the photos, PhotoDirector comes with image alignment
feature, which will only work to certain extend. The best plan is to take all
measures for a stable sequence of shots.
3. HDR
photo-blending software (PhotoDirector). There are a number of different programs
out there, in this tutorial, we will be using PhotoDirector. It sports six different
photo-blending algorithms going from a more realistic to surrealistic look, you
should be able to achieve the look you want.
Once you have all the equipment, it’s time to go out and take some pictures. Here are a few tips for getting good pictures:
-
For intense contrast, such as sunrise or sunset, take several photos of different exposures in manual mode to make sure you capture a wider range of light.
- HDR and exposure bracketing is meant for still subject. You won’t be able to capture a moving subject easily. Choose a scene that isn’t going to move drastically for at most 10 second.
- Choose a high speed memory card. Faster write speeds will help reduce the time your camera takes to store your shots
- Shoot in RAW for better quality.
- Take 3 or 9 photos of different exposure to make sure you cover all the light range. You don’t necessarily have to blend all of them in PhotoDirector, sometimes blending 2 or 3 photo will produce the optimal visual effect.
- Experiment and play around with it. It takes time and patience, but once you get the feel, you can have lots of fun with the artistic
effects.
How to blend photos using PhotoDirector
First of all import the bracketed shots to the library:
Select Edit and choose “HDR” on the left panel:
Drag and drop photos into the main panel. You can merge up to 5 bracketed shots. In this example, I will merge 3 photos: one underexposed to capture color of the sky, one for midtones and the last one for highlights.
Select a main photo and click on merge to process HDR.
You can further adjust HDR effect using the quick preset selection or manually adjust the Glow, Edge, Detail, and Tone to bring out the HDR effect you want. Don’t be afraid to try, nothing will be changed on your original images.
And now
here is the final image:
This guide is really potential . I admire it .
ReplyDelete