Saturday, February 20, 2010

High Dynamic Range


Here is an image from Dover Stone Church falls looking out, Or more correctly here are imagesfrom Dover Stone Church Falls. I took the shots this summer and did not use them. The scene was way to brightly light to be rendered useable. Either the darks were going to get cut off and be all black or the green of the trees would be lost from over exposure. Photoshop CS4 to the rescue! Photoshop now has an HDR (High Dynamic Range) option. When you encounter this situation shoot the image on a tripod and make 3 images. One exposed normally for the scene and then another 2 stops over exposed and another 2 stops under exposed. Sometimes you may even need 3 over and 3 under. Then let the photoshop HDR function choose the best highlight / midtone / shadow parts of all three images and combine them. What you will get will likely be a little flat and unexciting, but you will have plenty of image to work with. Sometimes you can get some stunning shots.

Keep Makin' Art
Carl

2 comments:

irinapictures said...

The image is great. With or without CS4 I was so pleased to see this green in Moscow snow February, thank you.

Carl said...

Hi Irina!

Glad I could warm up your day in Moscow with the summer greens in this photo.

I may be working on more today if I am not painting in the studio.

Carl