Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

The Color of Light

Different light sources have different colors. This

can be obvious, like the deep red and orange glow

that the sun gives off at sunrise and sunset, or it

can be subtle, like the difference between the

incandescent and fluorescent bulbs used indoors.

And, while the human brain automatically

adjusts for small differences in light color, the

sensor in your camera is very different. It records

the light that is present in the scene as it is — so

that what you see may not really be white at all.

Combining photographs using HDR software
makes it possible to take a good scene and, with a
little patience, make it better and more interest-
ing. For example, an average sunset scene can get
a little pop by combining seven different expo-
sures into one image, as I did in Figure 2-17.

For more on HDR, check out HDR

Photography Photo Workshop, also

from Wiley, to learn more about how to work with and

create great HDR photos.

tip

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The sun setting over the Pacific captured with the camera on a tripod so that the composition
didn’t change, but the exposure range is seven full stops of light from –3 to +3 all combined using the Nik Software HDR Pro.

2-17