In the video the steps are:

Set the dial to “P” “A” (aperture priority – per Helmut’s comment)

Go to “Menu”, Settings (pencil on the left), and scroll down to #12 (BKT Set), press the dial right, Go down to AE & Flash, press the dial right, Select 2.0 Step, and press the dial right “OK”.

Now you will see a BKT setting on your top LCD panel that looks like this:

Take 3 photos (each little black bar disappears once you take them in turn). Voila – you have the photos you need for your HDR.

The 3 consecutive photos taken from the shot in the video are here:

Each one is taken with a different exposure setting – the EV Steps. Once you combine them all in HDR processing software (I use Photomatix) and tweak the settings, the resulting photo should look like this:

Maybe next time I’ll take a photo of something more exciting than some garbage cans and a driveway

In the first part we covered what an HRD photo is, now we’ll go into a basic tutorial about how to create your own HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo. Please keep in mind that I’m very much an amateur – I just started experimenting myself so this is more of a “how to get started” type of guide.

The photo shoot

What you need:

• Camera (with ability to change exposure settings)
• Tripod (not required but highly recommended)
• Photomatix Pro ($99, but you can get it for $85 with Photomatix coupon code VPG15) or Photoshop CS2/CS3

Most modern digital cameras have exposure settings so you should be able to do this even with a normal digital point and shoot camera. SLR cameras usually have a bracketing feature which makes it easier to change the exposure settings automatically. If you are using a point and shoot, you’ll need to find a way to keep the camera as steady as possible when changing settings.

I’d recommend using the following settings:

• Lowest ISO setting (200)
• Aperture Priority Mode (usually a big [A] on the wheel)
• 3 exposure settings
  • EV 0 for the first picture
  • EV -2 for the second picture
  • EV +2 for the third picture

Instructions for the Nikon D50

I personally use a Nikon D50 so these settings are achieved by rotating the top wheel to [A], pressing the “menu” button, going to camera settings (the wrench icon), making sure “CSM/Setup” menu is set to “Detailed”, then going to image settings (pencil icon), scrolling down to #12 “BKT Set” – and setting it to “AE & Flash” with “2.0 Step” setting. This puts the camera in a mode where the 3 consecutive shots will each have a different exposure setting.

Once you have the camera set and on a tripod, take the 3 pictures, each with a different exposure setting. If you have a remote, I’d recommend using that, but if you don’t (like me) then try to not move the camera each time you take the photo. See my HDR tutorial video.

High Dynamic Range Processing

After the shoot, download the photos to your computer. Photoshop CS2 comes with a “merge to HDR” feature, but the tone mapping features are a bit more complicated to get a hang of. If you are feeling brave, check out the “Creating A 32-Bit HDR File In Photoshop CS2″ section of the High Dynamic Range lesson (about halfway down the page).

If you don’t have Photoshop CS2+, and/or want an easier way to process the photo (and have $99) I’d recommend buying a copy of Photomatix Pro. Once you have the program installed you can fire it up and follow the directions. The tutorial at the start of the program (which can also be found online) is pretty good at stepping you through the process. Note: HDR Soft also has a Photoshop plugin, but I highly recommend using the standalone Photomatix Pro to generate the photo. You can download a free trial of the program to test it out but it will create watermarks on the photo until you buy a license.

I looked around at other options for processing HDR photos but didn’t really find anything I liked besides Photomatix and Photoshop CS2.

Modern HDR photography is a fairly new field so I expect this process will be made easier in the future. Please feel free to offer any suggestions, feedback, or your own experiences. Happy shooting!

My newest obsession has become HDR photography. Over the past few weeks I’ve read up on it and while there are plenty of technical articles about it on the web, there aren’t too many written in straightforward easy-to-understand language. I thought I’d give a brief overview of what HDR is all about and follow it up with a post on how to actually take your very first HDR photo.

What is HDR photography?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It is a type of photography that allows you to capture a much greater range of light and detail in a single photo. An HDR photo usually contains a blending of light areas and dark areas that are much closer in appearance to what your normal eyes would see than with a traditional photograph.

HDR photos are created by combining 3 or more photos taken at different exposures. After the 3 photos are merged into a single HDR file, a feature called “tone mapping” allows you to combine the light and dark details in a single photo to produce an (often exaggerated) photo with a high range of detail and color. You usually need a tripod because each photo needs to be taken from the same perspective and angle.

Let’s look at an example of my very first HDR photo (taken last night). Here are the 3 source images:

and the resulting processed (tone-mapped and cropped) HDR:

If you look at the cars on the right hand side, you will see that their detail and exposure is preserved along with the color and detail you see on the wall to the left. So the result is a composite that’s much closer to what you would see with your own eyes because more of the “range” is seen in the photograph.

Check out HDR Soft if you want to see even better examples of what HDR photos enable you to do. If you want to learn more about HDR photography or get more into the technical details, check out Memoirs On A Rainy Day – it’s one of the best articles I’ve found on the topic. There’s also an HDR photo group on Flickr with even more examples.

Next up… How to take your very first HDR photo.