2

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / All About Light and Exposure

There are really two kinds of images that you can

create using this process: one is a more photo-

realistic representation of the scene and more

closely resembles what our eyes see, and the other

renders the same scene in a much more artistic

way with a much higher level of saturation. The

latter style isn’t an actual representation of the

colors present, but a more artistic rendering.

To create an HDR image, you need a set of iden-

tical images with different exposures. To get the

best results, the following conditions must also

be met:

    ■   The exposures should all have the same

depth of field. This ensures that the final

image has the same objects in focus when it is

created from the individual files. This means

shooting in aperture priority mode or in man-

ual mode so that you can adjust the exposure

by adjusting the shutter speed or the ISO, and

not the aperture.

    ■   The images should each have the same com-

position. The HDR creation process blends

the images together, and any difference in the

composition in the individual shots can cause

a problem. These differences could be due to

the wind blowing the leaves on a tree or a

person walking through the scene, and it is

best to try to avoid them if possible. It is best

to lock the camera into a tripod and not move

it at all when shooting the sequence of

images.

To combine your images, you need to use a soft-

ware program that can blend the images together.

Programs such as Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro

and Photomatix Pro allow for easy HDR creation.

The Merge to HDR settings available in

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements also

work well.

HDR

In addition to creating composite images, a very
popular way to combine multiple images into a
single image is to create a High Dynamic Range
(HDR) photo. HDR imaging is a process where
you take a series of images of the same scene with
different exposures and combine them so the final
image has a greater tonal range than any of the
individual images. This technique takes the set
of images that have different exposures and,
by using specialized software, creates a single
image file.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The scene from Figures 2-13 to 2-15 com-
bined into a new image.

2-16