HDR photography is one of the most trending and the best types of photography techniques available in the market right now.
If you’re only learning “how to handle all HDR effects” and using your DSLR camera to capture some beautiful HDR shots.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Photoshop, Lightroom or any other photo editing software/applications you use.
But if you learn how to capture images with these HDR effects and also learn how to edit simple images with these HDR then in the end you will get 100% better output.
In this article, you learn lots of new things related to HDR photography.
You learn and get to know the proper meaning of HDR & HDR photography and also WHY you need HDR photography and some benefits of HDR photography with beautiful examples of it.
These all things are a top priority apart from these you also learn a lot of new things, which I told you in this article.
So now without wasting any minute, let’s get started.
Why HDR Photography??
In Short…
Let me ask you one question, in a matter of colour sense which one is better!? your eyes or your DSLR camera ??, yes you are absolutely right it’s your eyes.
So when you are capturing the images of sunset or sunrise at that time what you see you won’t be able to capture the same view with your DSLR, that colour, graphics, and clarity.
The human eye can see in a range of approximately 10,000:1. In comparison, a good digital camera can capture a scene with about 1,000:1.
So to capture that kind of image with your DSLR you need to understand HDR photography, and some basic camera settings(like exposure and shutter speed).
But if you don’t know how to use manual mode then you are in trouble, so first you need to learn how to use manual mode and then come back to this article.
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In-Depth Answer…
I know this is the basic question which you’re asking right now.
If we are able to capture beautiful images with manual mode then why do we need this unknown type of photography right??.
But wait this is not any normal type of photography.
Let me tell you one of my best stories which makes me realize that this HDR photography is very good.
Last year I and some of my friends went on holiday and I was driving my friend’s car through the Mountains and I just wanted to capture that moment.
So as a so-called photographer, I’m always ready to click!!, so I just grabbed my DSLR with the tripod and started capturing that beautiful moment and landscapes.
But when I captured some images, I got results like this.
ummmmm it’s too bad, isn’t it?
At that time I actually didn’t know what was happening with my camera and manual settings.
I just know about HDR photography, but don’t know how to apply it.
One of my friends just changed some settings and captured the same Image(and also did some minor editing).
You can easily see the difference.
To capture this type of image you must need to understand HDR which is too easy to learn and apply just follow all these steps.
Now let’s understand the definition of HDR…
What Is HDR?
So HDR stands for High dynamic range.
The word Dynamic range is the most important point to understand.
HDR is a collection of three words.
We know the meaning of high and Dynamic but here is Range!! The range for what ??.
So here is Range for your image clarity.
The word Dynamic range is the ratio of light and dark in your photograph.
Did you see these HDR modes in your Smartphones!!??.
And when you capture images using this mode then you get a total of two images (which you don’t know!! maybe), and the main reason behind this is dynamic range.
So that’s the simple meaning of HDR, or normally any Android devices or iPhone contain this mode inbuilt within their camera, so you can use it.
How to Capture Best HDR Photos???
To capture HDR photos you just need to understand shutter speed, exposure, and ISO, as I told you before.
If you know these three things and the Auto Bracketing feature which is available in your DSLR then you can able to capture the best HDR photos.
Here is the shortcut to understanding this Auto Bracketing feature.
This is the sample image of this feature.
Which basically works on EV (Exposure Value).
Use the bracketing function of your camera and shoot in 2 EV steps.
For example, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 works great for most situations.
You can also use the Spot metering technique to capture some awesome HDR photographs.
How does HDR Photography work?
So if you want to know how to make HDR photographs then follow the steps mentioned below.
- Capture any spot with under-exposure,over-exposure, and with normal exposure.
- Then combine all these photographs into single images.
That’s your HDR photograph, or that’s how HDR works.
(HDR Image is composed of 2 to 5 of the same image at different exposures.)
Best Software to Make any Image into an HDR Photograph
Actually, I never use any of this software to make an image into HDR.
But I know some popular software which is used by expert photographers to make an image HDR.
Software like photo-matrix Pro, and some Noise Reduction software.
Which you can use to edit your images and also to make an image into the HDR format.
If you are asking me then I must say that all these things are optional.
If you are working on some big project or freelancing then you need to use all these types of software otherwise it’s not a good idea to buy it.
Which Format is better to Capture some beautiful HDR photographs ??
I know many of you don’t know about these formats.
Normally everyone uses by default image format (JPEG) to capture HDR photographs.
But that’s not enough, and this one is your biggest mistake.
You need to use RAW format to capture HDR photographs.
The main reason behind the RAW format is that this format saves the entire data of your image, so if you are using any software like Lightroom or Photoshop then you can easily manage exposure, shutter speed, etc with this format.
Which you are not able to change with your JPEG format.
So that’s why the RAW format is better to capture HDR images.
If you want to know why RAW format is far better than JPEG then here is one resource which clears all your query related to RAW and JPEG.
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Best Time To Use HDR…
So the basic answer is it depends on the environment, we know the reason – if there is low light or an object is not clear and if there is too much amount of light available at that time we need to use HDR.
Here is the list of the best times or movements to capture the best HDR photographs.
- So while shooting night photographs, some pictures are dark so to make those images in a range we can use this feature.
2. Highlight portrait photography
- In portrait photography, the main heart of a photo shoot is the model’s face, if the Face is shining too much then it’s an issue, at that time you can use this feature.
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- When you click a wide range of landscape photos there is a lot of difference between sky and land and if the sun is shining well then automatically brightness increases(contrast), so at that time you can use this feature.
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4. Capturing images in a cloud environment
- So again while shooting some thunderstorm images of clouds, sometimes we get too dark images to handle at that time we can use HDR.
5. Black background low-light photography
- Again low light to make an image brighter or colourful using HDR.
HDR photography with my SmartPhone
Some of our readers don’t know that they can use HDR mode with their smartphones or can capture HDR images with their smartphones.
They don’t need any expensive camera to capture HDR photographs.
So as you know there is one mode that you need to turn on to capture some beautiful HDR photos.
Also, you don’t need any software like Lightroom or Photoshop to make your simple images into HDR.
You can use Adobe Lightroom which is available for Android, IOS, and Windows devices.
Using these apps you can make your simple image into HDR.
There are lots of other applications available but this one is the best, so I recommend this one for you.
(You can also do HDR videography, but I don’t know too much about this topic.
So here I share some resources if you are interested then you can check these links out.
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Some Beautiful examples of HDR photography
Beautiful Image From Flicker
Beautiful Image From Flicker
Thanks for the awesome images – source – blamethemonkey
When HDR is not required…
So basically when there is such a good amount of light or darkness available or a combination of color is available then there is no need to use this mode.
Still, I am sharing some of the examples of “When You Should Not Use HDR”.
1. A high Amount Of Colours Already Available
- As you know HDR means High dynamic range, so this range is used to make light, darkness, colour, contrast etc, to make it higher so our image looks beautiful, but if our image contains a good amount of colour then do not use this feature.
2. Needed Amount Of The Combination Of Light And Darkness
- So if you are getting an already better picture with simple mode then there is no need to use HDR
3. Street Photographs
- I am not talking about Traffic photographs, I am talking about photographs that contain some movement.
- We know this feature takes more time than a normal feature to click images so if we enable this mode then we never archive good results.
4. Wind
- If the wind speed is too much or more than normal then that’s not a good time to capture HDR photographs.
That’s the full quick guide related to HDR photography with some beautiful images, hope you like it, and if you like it then share it.
May you like
- 7 Proven & Unique Ways to Earn As Photographer In India
- How To Read And Learn Histogram? | Photographywith.com
- Top 17 Photography Hacks You Should Know And Master Right Now
Thank you, and have a good day 🙂
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