Take Photographs to Capture the Dynamic Range
[Use your camera and think HDR]

We’re starting out a journey though HDR Photography processing! Thanks for coming. If you want, you can check out a full list of the steps in the series when I announced the series!

This is the most important step in your [and my] workflow.  If you don’t go out and take pictures, you won’t need to proceed with the rest of the process.   Sometimes you’ll have to drive around and your eyes open for an area that interests you.  I like keeping a note pad and pen [because I don't have an iphone yet] in case I see something I’ll want to come back to when I have more time.   You’ll want to get to your desired location and I recommend to take a full survey.  Spend some time looking around with some features in mind: where is the sun, what catches your interest here, what tells your story best here?  What you should be doing is looking for the best way to create a composition that is exciting and/or unique.  Try to avoid getting out of the car and shooting your mega-pixels right away, or avoid sticking your tripod in the first place you see.  You are interested in creating work that is beyond the scope of a tourist, snapping photos at anything and everything in their viewfinder.

Getting out to actually take the photographs you’ll need should also be your most desired part of the process.  It’s the part of my workflow that I easily lose track of time and I feel fully connected to source energy. I feel aligned with my true passion in my life.  People will look at you like you’re weird, taking pictures of a grungy alley or something, but that’s what I love!  I love that people are suddenly interested in whatever it is, because they don’t see what could be so interesting.  They don’t see it.  You do.  Take great pride in the fact that you see the beauty in everything and take the time to stop, look, appreciate, and photograph.

Here is where you’ll want to think in HDR.  You want to capture that high dynamic range.  I wrote a post about the 5 benefits for HDR photography and I realize now that it has great information to motivate you to go out and take the photographs.    Think about shooting into the sun, going out any time of day, and going out regardless of the weather [I have trouble with the cold still].  Check out places you normally avoided because the light just didn’t seem to work.  It’s going to be fun and exciting to now make it work with the HDR mindset.

Once you’ve decided you’re in the right place, and you’ve thought about the image you want to create, it’s time to drop some mega-pixel bombs.  The ideal scenario is to use a tripod and a DSLR.  The tripod is going to give you sharper images, less chance for blur or movement.  Sometimes it is not possible to get a tripod where you need to go, or you don’t have the time.  If you don’t have a tripod though, you’re going to be limited to shooting one shot to later process as a pseudo HDR [made from one photo] or looking for interesting compositions that incorporate walls or ledges to rest the camera on so that you can change the shutter speed manually.   Even better though, if you don’t have a tripod, you’re going to want you DSLR camera to have AEB [Auto Exposure Bracketing] and a “burst mode” or “continuous high mode” so that your camera takes multiple pictures fast.  AEB will adjust your exposures for you automatically and get those shots you need for capturing the dynamic range.  This is awesome with a tripod as well because it will save you a huge amount of time and less chance for blurring.  I also recommend using a remote that will release the shutter instead of having to press the camera down.  It makes it a lot easier and more comfortable.  The image below is the result of wandering around Boston with no tripod and no Auto bracketing- I was limited to one photograph.

Capturing the Dynamic Range of Light

As for capturing the range of light you’ll need to bracket.  Auto Bracketing is a god send but it is possible without as well.  It just means that you adust the EV or shutter speed manually.  So in my eyes, you need a camera that is going to have the option to shoot manual.  If you don’t have that, you’re going to be starting with pseudo-HDR type shots. I want to show you what I mean by the Dynamic Range.

-2EV Exposing for the Sky

In this photograph, we’re exposing for the sky by going 2 stops down for the exposure.  We’re letting less light into the shutter.  It looks like everything is far too dark, but the sky looks pretty decent.  This is what should help us get a nice sky in the final HDR image.

-1EV Getting a bit more Light

This photograph is simply 1 stop brighter than the last photograph.  Interestingly enough, I think the sky looks a bit better in the ‘whites’ and start to notice a bit of muddiness from the last photograph.  I notice that I am starting to see more of the foreground.  This photograph is sometimes excluded or not shot at all.  Canon users have the ability to bracket as -2 0 +2, therefore skipping the -1 and +1 photographs.  This is pretty nice because it would save memory card space and less chance for hands shaking during 5 photos.  With Nikon, you can simply exclude the -1 and +1 images; however, as they say, it’s better to have the images than not once you’re out of the field.

0 Correct Exposure

This is the exposure that you could probably get away with if you were not trying to shoot for HDR photography.  It would require some tweeking of course, but it should be pretty balance in terms of exposure. Sometimes you have to play on manual mode to find this exposure as your starting spot. If you look at the water, you’ll still notice that its dark and in shadow.  I want to get some more detail out of there so this is why we want to go 2 more stops brighter. You can also see that the structures in the distance, the white ones, are starting to get blown out – this is why the darker exposures will help too.

+1EV Revealing Shadows

As I mentioned, +1EV could be skipped or eliminated if you wanted to do so.  I am showing it here because it is starting to show us what is hidden in those shadows.  If we didn’t get these brighter shots, we would end up with a lot of excess noise in these area’s and it’s pretty upsetting when you didn’t get enough of the range of light.  The next photograph should show us better detail.

+2EV Into the Shadow

Ah, there we go. I believe I have enough light into that shadow where the water meets Canada Place. And you see we are now at the other extreme: The sky is blown out and unusable compared to the 1st and 2nd photograph.  We’ve got the range of light that we were after.  So from here we can move on to the next subject and explore.

As I mentioned, this part of the workflow has got to be the most exiting and the most fun.  It’s when you’re actually out and about, taking photographs, looking at the world with a creative eye for HDR. This spring/summer/fall, I plan to ensure I carry business cards everywhere because when you’re being observed as weird by those other people, you can tell them to take a look later on your website.   Of course you’ll have to go through the rest of your workflow to make it to the final stage of showing off your work.  Also remember that once you get out and start taking the pictures, you’ll forget all about Jury Duty and be within your new hyper-reality.

Incase you were wondering, the photograph that I used for showing the exposures and range of light will be the photograph I am going to move through this workflow. I know that not all workflows are exact but that usually comes to the later steps.  I hope this helps you get out and shoot for HDR Photography. I also hope it may have answered some questions in regards to understanding what I mean by this type of photography.  Feel free to comment!

Tomorrow is about grabbing the photographs off your memory card and organizing the photographs for HDR processing.

Ready for the next step?

DOWNLOAD AND ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS