Shooting HDR
Chapter Three
of Captain Kimo’s HDR How-to Guide
Setting your camera to shoot HDR might seem daunting at first but I assure you it’s painless. Once you’ve done it a few times it becomes second hand. The trick is understanding how to adjust your exposure.
Exposure
Your exposure will allow you to adjust how bright or dark your image is when photographed. Not all cameras will have this option. Check your camera’s user manual to see if this feature is available. Below is a image of what it might look like.
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| Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS75 | Canon 5D Mark1 |
Most cameras are similar so you shouldn’t have much of a problem finding this feature. However there are a few cameras that are not so user friendly. If this is the case I recommend doing a Google search for your answer.
Once you’ve figured out how to adjust your exposure, you’re ready to shoot your HDR photo.
Go find yourself a beautiful scenery and capture all it’s splendor. My suggestion is to photograph a car with some clouds and sky in the background. This will make a good test subject because of multiple light sources being projected from different direction.
When you’ve decided what to shoot, you will need to take three pictures like the samples below.
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The first image should be a regular shot, don’t worry about adjusting the exposure. The only thing we’re concerned about in this image is that we get an even amount of light. |
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The second image should be darker than the first so adjust your exposure to make it darker. Get it as dark as possible to bring out the rich colors in the bright areas of the photo. |
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The third image should be brighter than the first two so adjust your exposure to make it brighter. This exposure will focus on the foreground image and any details in the dark areas. |
Once you’re done, proceed to the next chapter to combine your exposure into one single HDR image using Photomatix.
Thanks for your helpful website- keep it comming- I am just getting started in this and it is the coolist thing going on in my retirement.
Jake
Jake I hope you have a great retirement. Photography is a great way to spend your time. HDR photography is a very fun and satisfying hobby.
Thanks for your tutorial captain~ I have some question, can u suggest about aperture while snapping the photo for HDR?
It really depends on what you’re trying to achieve with the HDR shot. I keep my aperture maxed when I’m going for a motion effect, smooth water or sunflare. Otherwise an aperture that allows for the fastest shutter speed, around 200 of a second is ideal. You want to shoot as fast as you can to avoid any movement.
Do you recommend setting your camera to -2, 0 and +2 for the 3 levels of exposure?
Two stops both ways is perfect, that’s what I shoot 100% of the time when I do HDR.
Instead of taking 3 pictures with different Exposures, can I just take one normal picture and use software such as Lightroom to produce the under and over-exposure pictures from that normal one?
Thanks
You certainly can! But your results will be different compared to using 3 actual exposures. You’ll also get more noise from your image. To get the best result make sure you use a RAW file. In fact Photomatix will let you tone map a RAW file but it’s still better if you convert them like you mentioned. I also did a post on single exposure HDR if you want to check it out. It goes through the entire process.
Hello… I love your HDR photographs. I have been playing with my camera (Pentex K7) for a few day practicing with the exposure and then I realized I have extended bracketing. I have tried a few combinations of their choises for settings and I was wondering what you would suggest. I haven’t been able to get the extended bracketing to come with much difference from picture to picture.
I have had this camera for almost a year and it is in my hands for hours each day and every so often I still stumble upon a feature I hadden’t noticed before:0)
Kirsten,
Thanks for your comment! I’m jealous that you have the Pentax K7, it was a camera that I was seriously looking into getting when both my cameras broke. But I decided to stay with Canon since I have a few lens that cost more than the camera itself. From what I’ve research the K7 has the ability to do HDR all in-camera so you might want to pick up the manual and find that feature! This was the main reason that I wanted to get the K7 because of the in-camera HDR. But if you still refer to do it the manual way than the best setting for your exposure is 2 stops up and 2 stops down. Good luck with the camera and send me some in camera HDR when ever you figure it out. I wold love to see the results.
Thanks again, Kimo
Kimo,
I note that you took the first image at 0 EV, then the underexposed image then finally the over exposed shot. Is it really crucial the images are shot in this sequence? Does Photomatix expect them to be in this sequence ? I have been using automatic bracketing on my D90 to get -2, 0, +2.
BTW, brilliant site !
Cheers
Mal
Mal, thats the default for Canon, I wish I could change it to your similar setting but it won’t let me adjust it for that sequence. What I do to get around that is shoot 6 exposures and select the sequence I need.
Also Photomatix will pick up the exposure detail for you because it reads the data which is embedded into the photo file. All HDR software can do this.
Thanks Kimo,
So it doesn’t really matter in what sequence they are loaded into Photomatix ?
Cheers
Mal