High Dynamic Range (HDR) Experimenting
Experiments December 2012, Mountain City, TX
My new camera has a HDR mode. I'm finding that it helps to remove much of the flatness and bring out a bit more snap and pop of the colors and luminance in many of my images. Recently I've been experimenting with software to create enhanced or surreal HDR images.
On the web there have been many images that I call surreal insofar as their colors and luminance have been pushed to an extreme beyond what is realistic. I have decided to experiment with this technique.
The below image on the left is one of three images I captured and then processed using Photomatrix. Note that it is fairly flat, but I was really going for a surreal look to enhance and bring out the bronze tones and shades in the lamp. The HDR image out of Photomatrix is on the right.
I will try to use this mode more for artistic photos, but, for casual use, the HDR effect provided by my A-77 creates a more realistic looking picture.
To see some of my thoughts and a bit more background on HDR please click here.
Equipment
Camera
Sony SLT A-77, tripod
Settings
Three images at: ISO 100; Shutter 1/100, 1/25, 1/6; f5.6; EV: -2, 0, +2; taken in difuse sunlight, UV filter
Processing
Photomatrix using the 'Grunge' preset effect. Many other effects are available and one can adjust the processed image with user selected custom settings.
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