The Art of HDR Photography Part 1

By Uwe Steinmueller
Dynamic Range and HDR
Fort Point Arcades. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is all about dealing with the
dynamic range of the scenes we capture, and the limited abilities of our cameras/printers to
properly capture scenes such as shown aboe!
"et#s start with a basic definition of Dynamic Range$
Dynamic range is defined by the ratio of darkest and brightest element that matter for your photographic view (measured in brightness
levels).
%his is not an absolute range, as it ery much depends on your personal goals! %here are great photos that show ery dar& shadows without any
details' in doing so they represent only the lower dynamic range part of the scene!
%here are actually different types of dynamic ranges to consider$
Scene
(amera
)utput (screen, print)
Human ision
During the photographic process the dynamic range gets transformed twice$
Scene * (apture Deice (here we thin& of cameras)
(apture * )utput (monitor or print)
+t#s important to remember that any detail that gets lost during (apture can neer be recoered (something we#ll coer in more detail later), but in
the end it only matters that the final output image pleases your ision!
Different Types of Dynamic Range
Dynamic Range of the Scene
,hat are the brightest details and dar&est details that you want to portray- %his is your artistic decision! .robably the best way to e/plain is to
loo& at some e/ample scenes!
Lost Cabin: +n this scene we wanted to show inside and outside details!
Fort Point Arcades! 0gain we want to show detail in the bright and dar& areas! +n general we
consider highlight areas to be more critical than shadows! 1a2or blown out highlight usually loo&
bad in prints (show as plain paper white)!
0 dynamic range (contrast ratio) of 3$45555 can easily be reached in these situations 6 een more if you photograph a dar& room with windows to
a bright outside scene!
Ultimately, HDR photography is all about creating pleasing images in these circumstances!
Dynamic Range captured by the Camera
+f our cameras could capture high dynamic range scenes in a single shot we wouldn#t need the techni7ues described in these articles!
Unfortunately the dynamic range of cameras is much lower than many of the scenes they#re used to photograph!
How is the DR of a camera defined-
Dynamic Range of the camera is measured from brightest details to shadows that have good detail well above the noise floor!
%he &ey thing here is that we measure from highlight details (not a pure white) to shadow details that are not degraded by too much noise!
%oday#s normal DS"Rs can capture 8635 f6stops (3$39: to 3$3555)! ,e don#t try to be too optimistic here! Don#t get caught up by
numbers! Some photographs can loo& still great with a lot of noise in them and others may lose their beauty! +t is your decision! )f
course the print si;e matters too!
Slide film <68 f6stops
=egatie film about 35639 f6stops
Highlight recoery in some R0, conerters can gain up to >3 e/tra f6stop
DS"Rs hae got much better oer the last few years, but don#t e/pect miracles! %here are some speciali;ed cameras that can capture a higher
dynamic range, but these are mostly cameras designed specifically for ery special applications! %he ?u2i S@ (discontinued), for e/ample, had a
uni7ue sensor with dual photo sites that allowed it to capture about 9 f6stops more DR!
Output Dynamic Range
)f all the stages in the digital photography process, the output normally shows the lowest dynamic range!
%oday#s 1onitors$ 3$45563$3555
HDR monitors 3$45555 (watch your eyes, may get stressed)
.rinters on glossy media$ about 3$955
.rinters on matte fine art papers$ below 3$355
Aou may well be as&ing yourself why would it ma&e sense to capture the higher dynamic range of a scene if the output DR is so limited- %he
answer is dynamic range compression (you#ll also see us refer to this later as tone mapping)!
Important aspects of Human ision
Because we present our wor& to other people it is also important to understand some basic aspects about how we perceie images and the world!
Human ision wor&s in 7uite a different way to our cameras! ,e all &now that our eyes adapt to scenes' when it gets dar&er our pupils open, and
when it gets brighter they close! %his process often ta&es 7uite a while (it#s not instant)! +t is said that our eyes can see a Dynamic Range of 35 f6
stops (3$359B) without adapting the pupils and oerall about 9B f6stops!
Contrast
0ll detail we can see is not based on absolute tonal alues but based on contrast at some image edges! %he eye is e/tremely sensitie to ery
small contrast changes! %his ma&es the concept of contrast so important!
!"oba" Contrast
Clobal contrast measures the brightness difference between the dar&est and brightest element in the entire image! %ools li&e (ures and "eels
only change global contrast as they treat all pi/els with the same brightness identically!
%he global contrast has three main regions$
1id6tones
Highlights
Shadows
%he sum of the contrast of these three regions defines the global contrast! %his means if you spend more contrast on the mid6tones (ery
common) you can spend less global contrast on highlights/shadows at any gien global contrast (e!g! glossy paper print)!
%he mid6tones normally show the main sub2ect! +f the mid6tones show low contrast the image lac&s DsnapD! 0dding more contrast to the mid6tones
(DsnapD) often results in compressed shadows and highlights! 0dding some local contrast (see below) can help to improe the oerall image
presentation!
#oca" Contrast
%he following chart helps to understand the concept of local contrast! %he circles in each row hae e/actly the identical brightness leels!
Aet the top right circle loo&s a lot brighter than the one on the left! ,hy is that- )ur eyes see the difference between it and its local surroundings!
%he right circle loo&s brighter with the dar& gray bac&ground compared to the same tone on a brighter bac&ground on the left! Eust the opposite is
true for the two circles on the bottom! ?or our eyes the absolute brightness is of less interest than the relatie relation to other close areas!
%ools li&e "ightroom#s ?ill "ight and Sharpening, and .hotoshop#s Shadow/Highlight act locally and do not treat all pi/els with the same brightness
alue identically!
%he classic Dodge F Burn tools manipulate the local contrast of images! Dodge F Burn is still one of the best methods to refine images, because
our own eyes are naturally pretty good at 2udging how the image is going to appear to other people#s eyes! +n some way today#s tone mapping
tools reduce the need for manual dodge F burn without replacing it!
HDR: $anaging Dynamic Range
,hy then een bother to photograph scenes with higher DR than your camera#s or printer#s DR- %he answer is that we can capture the scene#s
high DR and later map it to a lower DR output! %he &ey point here is that we don#t lose any detail information during this process!
%here are other solutions to the problem$
Some photographers simply wait for oercast conditions, and don#t photograph at all when the DR of the scene is too high!
Use fill flash (which of course does not help with landscapes)
,hile on a longer trael trip you hae to get the best out of any weather and we need to find better solutions! 0lso often the e/isting light may not
depend so much on the weather! %his is best illustrated with some e/ample images!
Page Antelope Canyon! %his scene in 0ntelope (anyon is ery dar&, yet there is still an
ama;ingly wide dynamic range of light (we used @ shots here at 9GH apart)!
Alcatraz. +n 0lcatra; the light from the right was still 7uite bright compared to the dar& room (there
was no artificial light aailable)!
%he first step is to capture the full DR of the scene with our cameras without losing any details!
$apping DR: #o%er DR Scenes
"ets first hae a loo& at photographing a lower DR scene!
"ower DR Scene
+n this case we can capture the DR of the scene directly with our cameras in one shot! %he minor clipping in the shadows is not usually a problem!
=e/t we map this captured tonal range to our output (which usually offers een lower DR than the camera itself)!
1apping to )utput
$apping to Output
%he mapping from camera to output is mainly done ia tone cures (often compressing the highlights and shadows)! Here are the main tools that
get inoled$
Raw conerter processing$ maps from linear camera tonality ia tone cures
(ures and leels in .hotoshop
Dodge F Burn in "ightroom or .hotoshop
&ote: +n the days of the wet dar&room we printed negaties with enlargers and used papers at different grades (or multigrade papers)! %he grades
differed in the contrast they produced! %his is the classic method of tone mapping! %one mapping may sound li&e something new, but it is far from
it! )nly in the early days of photography did photographers map directly from scene to output! Since then the se7uence followed has always been$
Scene ''( Capture ''( Output
$apping DR: Higher DR Scenes
=ow let#s loo& at the situation when we photograph a higher dynamic range scene!
(lipping in Highlights and Shadows
Here is an e/ample how the result could loo&$
0s we can see the camera can only capture part of the scene#s dynamic range! 0s mentioned earlier, it#s rare that clipping the highlights is a alid
option! %his means we need to change the e/posure to protect all the highlights from getting clipped (ignoring the specular highlights, such as
reflections)! %hen we#d hae the following situation$
G/posed for the highlights
=ow we hae stronger clipping in the shadows! +n some cases this may be perfectly fine, though not if we want to show more shadow details!
Below is an e/ample of how the result of e/posing for the highlights might loo&$
Capturing Higher Dynamic Range %ith )rac*eted +,posures
So how can we capture all the DR we want with the same camera- %he solution is to capture multiple oerlapping e/posures at different GH
(G/posure) leels!
G/posure Brac&eting
+,posure )rac*eting
+n HDR photography we capture multiple different, but oerlapping, e/posures to coer the DR of the scene! +n general the e/posures differ by 369
GH! %his means the total number of needed e/posures is defined by$
%he DR of the scene we want to capture
DR the camera can capture in a single shot
Gach additional e/posure can add 369 GH (depending on your selected brac&eting) of DR to the camera#s DR!
=ow we hae to find out what we can do with these multiple e/posures! %here are 7uite a few methods$
1anual blending (today in .hotoshop, was/is done with enlargers)
0utomatic G/posure Blending (?usion)
(reating HDR images (in HDR enabled Software)
$anua" )"ending
1anual blending of different e/posures (using what are essentially montage techni7ues) is nearly as old as photography! Gen if .hotoshop
ma&es it much easier these days it can be a tedious process! ,e hardly eer use manual blending!
Automatic +,posure )"ending -a"so ca""ed .usion/
Here the software (+ most often use ?usion in .hotomati/) performs the blending process by blending the different e/posures directly into the final
output image!
G/posure Blending
+,posure )"ending
?usion (G/posure Blending) usually produces ery nice images that loo& more DnaturalD!
Bryce (anyon blended with ?usion
Creating HDR images
HDR processing is actually a two step process$
(reate a HDR image
%one6map the HDR image to a normal 3< bit image
,hen creating HDR images we actually follow the same goal but use a different way! ,ith HDR +maging (HDR+) we first merge the images to an
HDR image and do not map directly to the final output!
(reating a HDR image
Something entirely new to photography (they cannot e/ist without computers), HDR images are 496bit floating point images that can store a
practically infinite dynamic range of tonal alues! %he HDR merge process tries to find all the tonal alues in the brac&eted e/posures and create
a new electronic image that represents all the tonal alues captured by all the e/posures!
&ote: 0lways if something new comes along some claim this is an old hat and they did this before they were born $6)! %o ma&e it clear, HDR
processing as described here is new and can only be done using computers, and oer the past few years the results hae become more and
more usable!
But we photographers are only interested in the final print, and techni7ues to reach this goal e/isted long before we had computers! +n the moie
industry they actually wor& with the HDR images during the (C+ process (e!g! #lets add a second floor to a building#)! ?or photographers, HDR is
2ust a step on our way to the final print! 0nd, again to ma&e it clear, new technology does not automatically produce better images! HDR is simply
a new tool that we can e/ploit and use to create images that were harder to achiee in the past!
,hy create images with high dynamic range at all, if the output DR is so limited-
0nswer$ %one mapping 6 1ap the tonal alues from HDR to )utput DR
%hat is why tone mapping is the most important 6 and also challenging 6 part of HDR processing for us photographers! %he same HDR image can
the tone6mapped in many different ways!
%he HDR images also can be stored in different formats$
GIR (!e/r suffi/, high color gamut and precision, DR about 45 f6stops)
Radiance (!hdr suffi/, less color gamut, huge DR)
BG? (priate format by Unified (olor to get better color 7uality)
49 bit %+?? (ery large files due to low compression and not much used in practice)
%o create these HDR images you need special HDR software! ,e use$
.hotoshop (S@
HDRsoft#s .hotomati/
Unified (olor#s HDR G/pose or G/press
=i& Software HDR Gfe/ .ro 3!5
Unfortunately all these different software pac&ages produce different HDR files! %hey can differ by (we#ll coer these aspects in more detail later)$
(olor (Hue and Saturation)
%onality
0lignment
=oise handling
(hromatic 0berration ((0) handling
Chosting reduction
The )asics of Tone $apping
0s with our "ow DR Scene case, we need to compress down to the output DR$
1apping down to )utput DR
How is this different to the "ow DR Scene situation- %his time the tonal compression is much stronger, and the classic tone6cure approach
doesn#t wor& that well anymore! %he easiest way to show the basic tone mapping principles is to use an e/ample$
4 G/posures at ?ort .oint
%hese are dar& arcades at ?ort .oint in San ?rancisco! %o demonstrate the tone mapping principles we#ll use Unified (olor#s HDR G/pose tool,
because it allows us to use the arious different operations inoled in a modular fashion!
Here is the merged HDR file shown without any changes$
HDR +mage
+t#s pretty dar& in the shadows, and also almost totally blown out in the highlights! "ets ta&e a loo& at the histogram as shown in HDR G/pose$
Histogram of the HDR
original
%he shadows are not really a problem, but the highlights are clipped by about 9GH! ?irst we#ll see how a minus 9GH e/posure correction would
improe the image$
69 GH G/posure (ompensation
69!5 GH histogram
=ow the highlights seem to be much better but the oerall image loo&s way too dar&! ,hat we need is a mi/ of e/posure compensation and
lowering the global contrast!
Clobal (ontrast reduction
%he global contrast is
now fine! =o highlights
are clipped and the
shadows are open!
Unfortunately the
image loo&s 7uite flat!
+n pre6HDR days, the solution for such a situation would be to use an S6(ure in .hotoshop$
Simple .hotoshop S6(ure
But crafting a good S6(ure would ta&e a while, and could easily result in oer compressed highlights and shadows!
%his is why tone mapping tools ta&e another route$ %hey improe the local contrast!
Clobal and local
contrast changed
+n this ersion the highlights show detail, the shadows are not bloc&ed and the flatness is gone! %his would be not our final ersion! ,e usually
optimi;e the photo in .hotoshop (S@$
%uning saturation
)ptimi;e (ontrast with D). (ontrast .lus H9
?inal sharpening with D). )ptimal Sharp
&ote: +n Unified (olor#s HDR G/pose you actually can control the global and local contrast independently! ,e li&e this systematic approach, as
we understand the settings in photographic terms!
,hat ma&es all the HDR tools different is the algorithms they use to deal with lowering the contrast (e!g! how they deal with what should be
DlocalD)! %here is no right or wrong, and it is more a 7uestion of your own preferences and personal photographic style!
0ll the main HDR tools in the mar&et also offer control oer further parameters$
Detai"$ Hery much related to local contrast and sharpening but not 7uite the same! %oo much detail can ma&e images DgrungyD! %his can
be what you want or 2ust not! ,e use normally our D). Detail G/tractor H9 script for ery strong detail!
Saturation: G/cept of HDR G/pose and =i& HDR Gfe/ .ro (ia U6.oints) most HDR tool handle only global saturation (all colors treated
the same)
0hite )a"ance -0)/: we try to sole this already at the Raw leel in "ightroom (or other Raw conerters)!
&oise Remo1a": again we remoe the noise in "ightroom 4!/ if needed!
Shado%2High"ight: treatments to open shadows and toning down highlights!
Cur1es: %he (ures in .hotoshop (S@#s %oning (%he new (S@ %one61apper) are powerful, but re7uire some time to get the right
result!
,e#ll coer most of these aspects later in the HDR Workflow and HDR Tools chapters in more detail!
Summary on Dynamic Range and HDR
%he approach to enhancing the dynamic range that your camera can capture is ery old, because these limitations hae been &nown about for a
long time! 1anual or automatic blending of images offers ery powerful ways to map the combined dynamic range of your images down to the
lower dynamic range of your printed output! (reating seamless blended images manually can be ery challenging and time consuming$ Dodge F
Burn are techni7ues that can be ery powerful for creating good print, but they re7uire practise and perseerance!
(reating HDR images is a new way to master the same old problem! ,e as photographers are mostly interested in the tone6mapped results!
%one mapping algorithms face the challenge of compressing a high dynamic range down to an image we can iew on a monitor or in a print! %he
arious different methods of tone mapping can gie ery different results, and it is up to the photographer to select methods he li&es best!
The Art of HDR Photography Part 3
By Uwe Steinmueller
Chapter 3: HDR Cha""enges
See also (hapter 3$ Dynamic Range F HDR
The Ghost of Grafton
%o better understand the DGssential HDR ,or&flowD we need to understand some of the challenges we face creating HDR photos!
Termino"ogy
!hosting
Since we#re ta&ing multiple photos, we don#t only hae moing elements in a single shot to deal with$ any elements that moe from between shots
will appear DghostedD! %he image below shows such a situation!
Person moved while shooting all frames
=ote that in this case the ghosting was intentional! Chosting is not always a bad thing' it always depends on your own goals with your images!
%hat said, generally spea&ing we try to aoid ghosting as much as we can!
Chromatic Aberrations -CA/ and .ringing
Chromatic Aberrations -CA/
%here are seeral different &inds of (hromatic 0berrations, but here we dealing mainly with "ateral (hromatic 0berration, as it can be reduced
using raw deelopment software! "ets first show an e/ample$
(0 shows most often as Red/(yan fringes
but it also can be Blue/Aellow! (0 is a lens
property and all lenses hae this defect to
some degree! %he further you get from the
center of the frame the more the different
light fre7uencies focus differently on the
image plane! %he lens manufacturers try to
correct (0 and different lenses show a
different amount of (0 (,ide angle lenses
and ;oom normally show stronger (0)!
=early all raw conerters can reduce (0 to
some e/tent! 1any years ago the ?rench
company D/) started to correct (0 (and
other lens deficiencies) automatically,
based on the lens and camera information!
0lso the latest ersions of "ightroom 4!/
and (amera Raw <!/ (0(R) allow
automatic (0 corrections as part of their
lens correction feature (uses camera/lens
profiles)! Here is how "ightroom 4!4 showed
the corrected image$
So why do we care so much about (hromatic 0berrations-
3! %he latest high resolution digital cameras resole more and more of the (0 that our lenses produce!
9! But more importantly (0 gets amplified when we merge images to HDR, multiplying all the (0 of the different e/posures!
%here are also cases where we see #purple
fringing# that may be related to sensor
lea&ing between the pi/els! +t shows at high
contrast edges! "ightroom and 0(R hae a
DDefringeD option that also helps to reduce
fringing a bit!
HDR Cha""enges
HDR Cha""enge: $otion
Since we#re ta&ing multiple photographs moement is een more of a challenge than it is with single shots! Basically we deal with two types of
motion$
(amera motion
1otion in the scene
Camera $otion
?or each single shot you need to ta&e to aoid camera sha&e! )n top of that you also want to ma&e sure that there is no motion between the
shots!
a/ 4sing a Tripod
%he tripod, head and plate need to be sturdy
Use a remote to aoid introducing sha&e to the camera
Use mirror loc&up or lie iew to minimi;e mirror slap
=ote$ Some photographers assume that there is no camera moement between shots if they use a good tripod! Aou will be surprised how much
the tripod gets rattled by most camera mirrors and shutters! Gen ery minor moements can degrade the final HDR 7uality (if the images do not
get perfectly aligned, more on which later)!
G/ercise$ %ry to use a 955mm lens from your tripod and e/perience the misalignment you get!
b/ Handhe"d
+t#s worth noting that we personally shoot a lot of HDR images handheld!
%he &ey thing here is to use fast shutter speeds and utili;e camera/lens image stabili;ation! %he most critical e/posure is the most oere/posed
frame because it has to hae the slowest shutter speed!
%he best approach is to use the highest continuous frame rate your camera can delier! %he ideal burst rates for the purposes of handheld HDR
are 8635 fps, but we also use slower cameras down to 4fps (in this case the demands for steady alignment are higher though)! High frame rates
ensure that the camera moes less between shots, and will reduce isible moement (ghosting) within the scene!
Perfect A"ignment
+t should be clear by now that the &ey to the best possible results lies in the perfect alignment of all the images shot! +n the ssential HDR
Workflow chapter we#ll share our personal techni7ue to archie this goal! Here is an e/ample what software alignment can do!
%he following image shows how bad the images were aligned as shot (the image shows the different layers showing through)!
Strong isalignment
)J, this was shot handheld! 0h, we hear people saying' we told you use a tripod! But this was shot on a .acific cliff in a ery strong wind! +n this
case shots using a tripod could well hae be een worse, and would not hae allowed us to shoot at the angle we wanted! +n the worst case both
camera and tripod could hae been blown into the oceanK Here is what .hotoshop could do with it$
Aligned in Photoshop
0s this e/ample clearly shows, software image alignment is crucial for most HDR wor&, especially gien how difficult it is to get #perfect# shots
eery time! ,e#ll get into more practical detail in our ne/t chapter!
0t first glance you might thin& that aligning images using software is a relatiely simple tas&$ you 2ust shift the image a bit until it lines up 6 and in
fact this is some implementations actually wor&! But, naturally, it#s neer that simple! %he camera can moe in many ways$
left/right/up/down
?ront/bac& (means each shot shows a slightly different magnification)
Rotate
%ilt
0ny combination of the aboe
)n top there are also lens distortions which ma&e it een more comple/
Remember all misalignment (whether ma2or or not) degrades your final image resolution' all your e/pensie 1ega .i/els are easily wasted!
Here is an e/ample of poor alignment$
Poor Alignment
+ should mention that thus far we haen#t usually named or recommended specific software pac&ages! ?or one thing this is because the arious
options all improe oer time, for another it ery much depends on the images used (there is no uniersal solution)! +n a later chapter we#ll show a
method that helps us to get consistently good results!
)ften you reali;e ery late in your wor&flow process that the alignment was less than optimal (the aboe sample is of course easy to spot) +t may
be ery subtle but we aim always for best possible alignment!
Alignment in Photoshop CS!
$otion in the Scene
(ompared to misalignment issues, motion within the scene is far harder to correct (using processes sometime referred to as #de6ghosting#)! Aou
will be surprised how many things moe! 1otion in the scene means mostly moement between the brac&eted shots, and the faster you shoot (i!e!
the shorter the time between shots), the fewer elements in the scene can moe! Eust a few of the potential #moers# in scenes are listed below$
.eople and larger animals
(ars and other transportation deices
?oliage
Birds, Butterflies
?lags
(louds
,ater
"ets hae a closer loo& at some of these elements!
Peop"e and anima"s
%he good news is that these are often easy to spot, allowing you to ta&e them into account at the point you#re actually ta&ing your photos! %he bad
news is that ghosting created by moing people (and larger animals) are also tough to remoe, so the best solution is to analy;e the scene
carefully while you shoot and aoid them completely if at all possible! Some ghosting in the bac&ground (distance) is often perfectly acceptable!
Cars and other transportation de1ices
Being large, these are e7ually problematic, but typically are moing a lot faster, meaning you should be able to &eep them out of at least some of
the frames! Don#t try HDR for fast sport $6)!
.o"iage
?oliage is e/tremely tric&y because$
+t#s easy to forget about and hard to combat
+t can result in nasty HDR artifacts
%his means that you hae to watch any foliage close to the lens and in focus, as it may cause trouble!
)irds or big )utterf"ies
Chosting of birds or butterflies that fly through the scene loo& often li&e sensor dust, so we treat them 2ust li&e dust (i!e! we remoe them using
.hotoshop#s healing brush)! )f course if the bird(s) are important to your image you may try some of the de6ghosting options in recent HDR
software!
."ags
?lags are so common that they are desere their own category! ,e recently tried the de6ghosting option in .hotoshop (S@ and the result was
7uite impressie$
,ithout de6ghosting ,ith de6ghosting
C"ouds
,e don#t consider most clouds to be a problem because their ghosting loo&s 2ust as organic as the original clouds! )f course e/tremely fast
moing clouds can cause some problems! ,e recently saw some purple artifacts in the clouds using 1erge to HDR in (S@! Gnabling the de6
ghosting feature too& care of it!
0ater
Slow moing or still water (such as cree&s and la&es) rarely causes any problems, but we haen#t had much luc& with strong ocean surf! %rying
one of the de6ghosting options may improe the images!
HDR Cha""enge: Chromatic Aberrations -CA/
+n the introduction of this chapter we e/plained that (0 is a ma2or problem for HDR! %he best approach is to remoe as much (0 as possible in
your raw conerter! 0lthough some HDR tools can remoe (0 in the !erge to HDR step" and it helps, we personally try to remoe it before
merging to HDR!
HDR Cha""enge: Camera &oise
0s mentioned in the last chapter, camera noise is a limiting factor for the dynamic range of our cameras, and the reason to use e/posure
brac&eting is to oercome this limitation! But once we start producing HDR images, we tend to open up the shadows (during tone6mapping) more
than we eer did with standard processing! %his again reeals the noise! %here are, of course, seeral ways we can minimi;e the impact of noise
on our HDR images$
Use as low an +S) setting as possible
Use raw conerters that perform good noise remoal (e!g! "ightroom 4!//0(R or D/))!
Use noise remoal filters on the final tone6mapped image!
HDR Cha""enge: Source Image .ormats -Ra% or 5P+!/
5P+!! +n our personal wor& we hardly eer use E.GC images! ,hy-
E.GCs show compression artifacts
%hey are limited to :6bit color depth, while raw images can hae 3963B bit information! 1ore color depth allows finer color gradations
+naccurate white balance can degrade E.GC image 7uality
"ess headroom for highlight recoery
"ower dynamic range
+f you#re using E.GCs for HDR the last point isn#t really an issue since you can capture higher dynamic range ia multiple shots!
+f you don#t want to deal with raw images, creating HDR images from E.GCs is still a alid techni7ue' you 2ust need to understand the limitations!
Ra%! ,ith the Raw images you hae access to all the information the camera captured! 0ctually HDR files and raw images are both linear file
formats! %o be able to iew these images both re7uire the application tone cures!
Here is a practical dilemma! +n the ideal world all D1erge to HDRD operations would start with the linear HDR data! )therwise the HDR tools hae
to undo the tone cure operations performed by the raw (onerters! %his is why 7uite a few HDR tools offer the option to create HDR directly from
raw (mostly using the public domain raw conerter dcraw)!
So why do we prefer to use an e/ternal Raw (onerter such as "ightroom 4- Simply because we thin& that in the end these Raw conerters allow
better control oer noise remoal, (0 remoal (e!g! "ens profiles in "ightroom) and lens distortion corrections and offer better de6bayering and
custom color profiles (e!g! D=C color profiles ia (olor(hec&er .assport from I6Rite)!
,e always conert to 3< bit %+?? files before the D1erge to HDRD step, and the loss of 7uality due to the tone cure reersal seems 7uite
acceptable in practice!
HDR Cha""enge: #ens ."are
"ens flare degrades image 7uality in certain shooting situations (such as sunsets)! %his in itself is nothing new, but with HDR we tend more often
to include bright light sources into our compositions, which means flare is more prealent!
Summary
Aou need to understand these HDR challenges to get the best possible 7uality! %his list is almost certainly incomplete, but hopefully we#e
coered the main hurdles you#ll face! ?eedbac& by our readers is ery much welcome!
Chapter 6: +ssentia" HDR 0or*f"o%
By Uwe Steinmueller
7ion #one Tree
Scene Ana"ysis for HDR
D%o HDR or not to HDRD is often the 7uestion while photographing a scene! Regardless of whether a particular scene re7uires HDR to accurately
capture it#s essence, it is pretty much always beneficial to hae brac&eted photos to wor& with! Haing multiple e/posures allows you to chose the
best single shot or to go the HDR route! Here is a short chec&list to assist you in ma&ing that decision!
$o1ing +"ements
Here are some situations in which attempting to use HDR techni7ues would produce unusable results$
.eople or animals in motion
Birds in flight
Sports or other high motion actiities
?oliage in windy conditions
)cean with strong surf (if detail should be isible)
,e almost always shoot brac&eted e/posures! ,e always hae the middle e/posure as the first shot and hae the option to 2ust delete the other
e/posures later if we don#t need them! %he first shot will be the normally e/posed shot ta&en at the moment you hit the shutter! )f course
brac&eting shots uses more frames and so for fast action should always be turned off to increase responsieness!
Scene Dynamic Range +1a"uation
Galuate the scene for the dynamic range you would li&e to capture!
O1ercast: =o HDR needed in most cases (unless you plan to show details in dar&er shadows)!
$idday sun %ith strong shado%s: %a&e 4 shots at about 3 L 3!44 GH apart!
$ission San Antonio in Ca"ifornia
+n these cases a single middle e/posure photo often wor&s fine but brac&eting for HDR can gie you more options for nice highlights and open
shadows! 0s with the photo aboe we often shoot these scenes handheld, because there is enough light to get a fast shutter speed (een for the
oere/posed image)!
Dar* rooms %ith some "ight through the %indo%s: Here we usually ta&e at least @ brac&eted shots with about 9GH apart! Using a
sturdy tripod is a must!
.ort Point: Officer8s )ed
Dar* room %ith detai" in bright scene outside the %indo%s: +ndoors in low light you may need to brac&et for 8 or more e/posures! +n
this situation a tripod is of course is a must! %he use of a manual programmable remote control allows you to change the e/posure time
without moing the camera!
=ote$ %hese types of images only pay off if there is an artistic balance between the interior and e/terior ;ones of the image!
High"ight2 Shado% Cha""enges
0lways ma&e sure you &now how to capture the details in the highlights and how to get the shadow details you want! ,hile highlight clipping
should always be aoided it is your artistic decision how open the shadows should be!
Tripod2Handhe"d
%wo factors will help you decide wether to use a tripod or not$
Aour personal style of photography (tripods are stable but handheld gies you more fle/ibility)!
+f the most oere/posed photo of the set can#t be ta&en without a tripod (without inducing motion blur), the only option is to use a good
tripod or forget about HDR!
Capturing +,posures for HDR
0fter analy;ing the scene (which normally only ta&es a few seconds) you should &now how many brac&ets to shoot! Depending on your personal
shooting style you can then decide on whether to use a tripod or shoot the scene handheld!
)rac*eting Setup
=ormally we rely on the camera#s 0GB (0uto G/posure Brac&eting) feature! Here the camera controls the e/posures of all the shoots needed!
Here is how it loo&s on more recent (anon and =i&on cameras!
(anon 4 shots M>/6 9GH =i&on @ shots at 3GH apart
&ote: +t#s unfortunate that some camera manufacturers limit some features which would be useful to HDR photography$
"imited ma/imum GH step of 3GH (in some cases it#s limited to 9/4GH)! ,e#e pushed for change in our reiews for years but
manufacturers hae yet to ta&e note!
"imited the ma/imum number of brac&eted shots to 4 photos (e/cept in the higher priced cameras)!
0ll cameras we &now of limit the ma/imum e/posure time to 45 seconds! + don#t beliee there#s a solid technical reason for this any
more! Aes, + &now long e/posures can create noise, but many cameras wor& 7uite well beyond 45 second e/posures! %he photo below
stressed the 45 second limit 7uite a bit!
Ante"ope Canyon
HDR )rac*ets from the Tripod
?or HDR a tripod is een more essential than with single shots, to aoid any moement between photos!
Sturdy tripod, heads, clamps and plates are needed
Use a remote if aailable or the camera#s built6in timer
Using lie iew or mirror loc&up can reduce camera sha&e when ta&ing longer e/posures!
HDR )rac*ets Handhe"d
Software can wor& ery well to align your brac&eted images (more later) so in many cases shooting HDR hand6held can wor& 7uite well! ?or these
shots we enable 0GB for three e/posures (usually about 3!44 GH apart)! %hen we use the highest possible frame rate to capture all three
e/posures! %o decrease motion blur the fastest high speed shooting possible is desired! Using 8635 frames per second can produce good results
but we also use slower frame rates! %he camera should be set to continuous shooting and will normally stop once the brac&eted e/posures are
done! ,e need to &eep the aperture constant so we shoot in 0perture .riority mode!
Jeep in mind the order of the e/posures as well! ,hen shooting we always try to use the following se7uence$ normal, under6e/posed, oer6
e/posed 6 if possible! %his way the normal e/posure is the one we capture nearest to the moment we hit the shutter! ,e set the GH compensation
for 0perture .riority so that in many cases the middle e/posure can be used as a single shot! %he under6e/posed shot can be used as a bac&up
in case the middle e/posure shows clipped highlights! %he last and oer6e/posed photo has a higher li&elihood to show motion blur from camera
sha&e because it uses the longest e/posure! %hat is why it#s important to chec& that the highest possible shutter speed is fast enough for the >3
3/4GH e/posure
,e nearly always use cameras with lens image stabili;ation (+S, HR) to get our photos as stable as possible! Hold the camera steady through out
all the shots! ,e will sometimes een ta&e @ shots, though only with cameras that can do at least 8 frames per second!
0hite )a"ance
+t is ery important to &eep the ,hite Balance (,B) the same for all shots in your brac&et se7uence! Howeer, we still use 0uto ,B because we
only use the camera#s Raw image format anyway!
1ost often the auto ,B will be the same or ery close!
0ll Raw conerters can easily allow to sync the ,B settings in your se7uence! %his does not cause any perceptible loss of 7uality!
+f you plan to shoot E.GC for any reason it#s best to set a manual ,B for your se7uence! Remember to chec& your ,B before you shoot your
ne/t scene!
$ore Issues to chec* for
0oid to shooting directly into the sun!
%his could physically damage the sensor
%he flare introduced in the lens and camera reduces image 7uality
High Speed HDR
,e#e already coered this to some e/tent in our section about handheld brac&eted shooting! +n this section we will go more in6depth on high6
speed brac&et shooting because it can create an entirely new style of shooting in the field!
,ith the camera set to the highest burst rate (8 6 35 fps) we capture brac&eted shots with different e/posures at this speed! %his means a 46
e/posure brac&eted se7uence (63, 5, >3GH) is shot in less than a second!
%o ensure success using this method ma&e sure the camera e/posure is set to aperture priority and watch that the shutter speed is fast enough to
produce sharp photos! +f it#s not you may need to use a higher +S) or a tripod!
0s you can see, the basics are ery simple! %his is important because in the field we want to get as much techni7ue out of our way as possible so
you can concentrate on the sub2ect scene!
0hy 9High Speed brac*eting9:
,e hae combined the classic brac&eting approach with modern HDR techni7ues!
C"assic brac*eting
%his proen techni7ue is based on ta&ing multiple shots at different e/posure settings to ensure a single best photo! %he only difference here is
that we shoot these frames so fast that it feels li&e a single shot (at least once you ma&e it a habit)!
+,pose to the right
+n essence this well &nown techni7ue means choosing an e/posure that allows you to fully recoer all of the highlights! +f you only grab one shot it
may turn out to be unusable if you are not able to recoer all highlights! %his is not always easy to chec& in the field! ,ith our techni7ue we always
hae the undere/posed shot as a solid bac&up!
Since we#re not oerly worried about the right e/posure (one of the three frames will be good enough) we can concentrate on the scene we#re
trying to photograph! +n the past +#e chec&ed histograms all the time and een used manual e/posure, but now + more or less leae e/posure on
automatic (0perture priority)! + only aoid automatic e/posures when shooting photos for stitching, when all the frames need to hae the e/act
same e/posure!
4sing ad1anced HDR techni;ues
Because we always capture brac&eted e/posures we always hae the option to use HDR if it would help our final image!
+t may sound li&e my intent is to always merge images to HDR! %his is not necessarily the case, but we always hae the option to do so if
necessary 6 which is why we call it D(apturing more "ightD! Using this techni7ue we capture about 964 f6stops more dynamic range that we can
ma&e use of if need be! +f you consider that many of the recent top DS"Rs capture about :635 f6stops in a single frame we can e/tend the
dynamic range to 35634 f6stops (this approaches the dynamic range of color negatie film)!
Ana"y<e the brac*eted +,posures
Dynamic Range co1erage: Chec* the Histogram
+t is good practice to chec& the camera histogram of your se7uence after the shoot!
4nder e,posed photo
+t is important that the under e/posed photo
has no clipped highlights, otherwise the final
HDR image will also show the same clipping!
"oo& for a good amount of head room as
shown in the histogram!
O1er e,posed photo
Aou do not want too much clipping in the
shadows! %he histogram below is acceptable,
though more headroom in the shadows may
hae been better!
Histogram of an under e/posed photo! Histogram of an oer e/posed photo!
$idd"e e,posed photo
0s e/pected the middle/normal e/posure
falls in between the other e/posures! %here
is not much to chec& here!


Histogram of the middle/normal e/posed
photo
Chec* for $otion )"ur
Aou should also chec& the images for motion blur! +n most cases you will &now how these shots pan out at certain shutter speeds based on
e/perience!
Chec* for mo1ing ob=ects
(hec& both while shooting and afterwards for unwanted moement in the scene that might cause a problem!
Ra% con1ersion for HDR
,e are assuming that you will capture your images in Raw mode! HDR from E.GCs will wor& but is often not of the same 7uality!
0hite )a"ance -0)/
0ll shots in the se7uence should hae the same ,B! (orrect the ,B of the normal e/posure in your Raw conerter and then synchroni;e the ,B
settings to the other e/posures!
Chromatic Aberrations -CA/ and other #ens Corrections
,e mentioned before that (0 correction is crucial for good HDR images! ,e can perform this correction using the "ightroom 4 "ens (orrection
tool$
"ightroom 4 "ens (orrection Settings
+f your lenses are supported in "ightroom the correction will be applied automatically otherwise you hae to use the manual (0 corrections! ,e
also set DDefringeD to D0ll GdgesD with the goal being to reduce or remoe as much fringing as possible!
(orrecting the lens distortions and ignetting is more a matter of preference! Howeer, if you photograph architecture it can be essential!
&o ma=or Cur1e or )asic settings corrections
Jeep the images as linear as possible! 1erging images to HDR wor&s best with linear files because the HDR images themseles store the tonal
alues in a linear way! 0ll the HDR tools try to recreate the linear data if they wor& from %+?? files (it#s best if you also use 3< bit data here)!
0ctually D1erge to HDRD in .hotoshop ignores these settings to get the best possible results! +t is unfortunate this does not wor& in cases where
you need to perform Highlight Recoery (see below)!
High"ight Reco1ery -HR/ can sa1e the day
+f your brac&eted se7uence coered the highlights well you do not need to use this tric& but eery once in a while it can sae the day!
,e had a chance to ta&e some pictures at the abandoned Cilroy Hot Springs! %hese hot springs are is a part of Henry (oe State .ar&, but most
of the time are closed for the public! ,e had hoped for some oercast s&ies (haing started out with an oercast morning in San Euan Bautista)
but when we arried at the Springs we found the worst light possible (35am Summer sunlight)! 0s usual we shot all our photos brac&eted and
handheld (here a Sony =GI6@ with its ery limited GH spacing of 9/4GH)! %o be honest we thought these images would mostly be a lost cause
(especially the image we feature here)! ?ortunately the Highlight Recoery in "ightroom 4 saed the day!
Basic default setting for linear conersion (all
are ;ero)
Brac&eted G/posures with Histograms
0s we e/amine the undere/posed photo we can find that een though there is no fatal clipping isible, it is still too much for our taste! (lipping in
the undere/posed photo cannot be recoered in the final HDR image and results in bad highlights after tone6mapping!
Basic settings with Highlight Recoery
0fter HR correction
)nce we are able to produce an image with good Highlight Recoery for the most undere/posed photo we then sync the settings to the other
photos in the brac&eting series!
=ote$ Aou cannot use these settings directly with "ightroom 4 using Gdit in ( $erge to HDR because in this case .hotoshop will bypass these
corrections in an attempt to access better data directly from the Raw! Aou should create %+?? files instead and wor& with them in .hotoshop!
0s we mentioned earlier, this saed the day and we got the final result we wanted after merging to HDR and tone6mapping! Still, it#s best you ta&e
proper brac&eted e/posures to aoid the need for this &ind of tric&ery!
&oise
0s always, shooting at lowest +S) leel possible aoids noise! %his is rarely an issue if you use a tripod! But, if you shoot handheld you hae to
balance 0perture, Shutter6Speed and +S) wisely! Because the 0perture is defined by your lens and intended D)? (Depth of ?ield) you basically
hae two parameters to wor& with$
Shutter Speed: needs to be fast enough to aoid motion blur on the most oer e/posed photo!
ISO: Higher +S) shows more noise!
,e would gladly trade more noise for bad motion blur which would ma&e the e/posure unusable!
Sharpening
+t#s best not to sharpen before we merge to HDR for the following reasons$
%he HDR and tone6mapping process may amplify sharpening artifacts
.art of the tone6mapping process also e/tracts more details
Sharpening as final step is often a good practice anyway
Optima" Image A"ignment
+n this section we will coer alignment as a a discrete step although most HDR tools include automatic alignment! Unfortunately not all alignment
is of e7ual 7uality!
,e hae often found that the alignment in .hotoshop (S@ gets the best results, good enough for HDR images of high 7uality!
,e hae created a modified (S@ script that you can download for free! %he use of this script is at your own ris& and does not include any support!
%his script is only designed to wor& with (S@! ,e use this script on our 1ac all the time and it should wor& on ,indows as well! Aou should
download this script before continuing with this section as it will be referenced in the process!
Do%n"oad
%he script can be downloaded from here (N+. ?ile)! (opy the script to the .hotoshop/.resets/Scripts folder!
$erging Process
%he &ey to any good HDR merge is a precise alignment of all of the images! .hotographers often use ery sturdy tripods to shoot nearly perfectly
aligned images! +n this case the HDR software will hae a little bit of wor& to do to perfect the alignment! Bad alignment may not be that easily
isible but can show as a loss in resolution, and all we can do is to use the best alignment aailable to us! ?or high resolution HDR images proper
alignment is ultra6critical!
Try it: Shoot with a 955mm lens on a ery sturdy tripod with a camera such as a (anon 3Ds 1ar& +++ or =i&on D4/! ?ollow all the rules about
mirror loc&up and remote shutter release! %a&e 4 shots! Aou will be surprised how much the shutter alone rattles your camera!
)n the other hand we shoot a lot of brac&eted shots handheld, at which point the tas& of alignment becomes more complicated! +n our e/perience
there is not much of a problem when you use cameras that can shoot 8635 fps se7uences! Howeer, we often use the (anon @D 1ar& ++ or (anon
@@5D which can only shoot at about 4fps! +n this case we#e found that some HDR applications can fail to perfectly align all the shots! Remember
you may tilt, shift and/or rotate your camera between shots!
+n our e/perience .hotoshop (S@ most often performs the best alignment! Aou may be as&ing yourself$ Dwhy not create the full HDR image in
(S@ too-D Unfortunately not all HDR merging software performs e7ually (e!g! saturation) so we may want to perform the HDR creation in other
applications!
,hich leaes the following 7uestion$ How to align images in (S@ and then merge to HDR in an application of your choice later-
Here we will e/plain how to do it! +t ma&es the wor&flow a bit more tedious but is clearly worth the effort!
%hree brac&eted e/posures
Step 1: Settings in #ightroom -or Camera Ra%/
,e will perform some basic and important corrections in "ightroom 4 (identical for all images in our brac&eting se7uence)!
Highlight recoery if needed
"ens (orrection (we want as much (0 remoed as possible)
=oise reduction if needed
,hite balance
Jeep all tone cures linear
Blac& .oint to 5
Step 3: Open images as #ayers into Photoshop CS>
Select all images of the se7uence in
"ightroom and choose +dit in ( Open as
#ayers in Photoshop?
%his opens all these images as a "ayer
Stac& into .hotoshop (S@
Step 6 @ A: A"ign and Crop
Run the Stac&0lign(rop script from
.i"e(Scripts! ,arning$ %his script should
only be used as described! %his means if you
2ust opened files from "ightroom or Bridge
into layers you should not do anything e/tra
to these layers prior to the calling the script!
%he script completely lac&s any error
handling in the case that you started with an
ill6formed stac&! 0s mentioned earlier you are
entirely at your own ris& using this script!
&ote: 0s a welcome side effect$ the alignment will li&ely be slightly improed oer the normal (S@ auto alignment (the script uses an enhanced
auto align ersion used by the (S@ D1erge to HDRD script)!
Step >: +,port #ayers into fi"es
?ortunately .hotoshop proides a script to
G/port "ayers %o ?iles!
Destination: ,e use a temporary folder that
we can synchroni;e with "ightroom
.i"e &ame Prefi,: ,e add a uni7ue prefi/ so
that we can &eep the e/ported files in a clear
sorting order
.i"e Type:
6 %+?? for lossless processing
6 +nclude +(( .rofile for proper color
management
6 + leae the %+?? options at their default! %he
bit depth depends on the original files! ,e
use 3< bit!