[Updated for 2012!]
Introduction
High Dynamic Range (or HDR) photography has been a hot topic in photography circles the last year or two. There is a very real debate about whether it’s “good” or “bad” (as with most heated debates, I believe the answer is: “it depends”). For my part, I think HDR photography can and will play a significant role in the evolution of digital photography.
The usefulness of any software technique is usually predicated on staying true to the scene and the artistic intent of your picture. If you can manage that with HDR, you’ll be in good shape! No software tool –HDR options included– can fix a poorly executed photo, but they can make a good photograph better.
The most important part of HDR photography is capturing the series of bracketed exposures, the data from which can be merged together to make a single photograph. The reason for the bracketing is so you can capture all the tonal details in the scene, from brightest to darkest and everything between.
A good rule of thumb is to vary the exposures by one stop and take additional shots on either side of a 0EV exposure. For example you might want to capture the following exposure values for your scene if it has a wide range of tones: -2EV -1EV 0EV +1EV and +2EV. A more extreme example are scenes like a downtown street at sunset or dusk, where most of the light from the sky is gone but the street lights are on, creating a mix of dark shadow details and brightly lit specular details that come from the cars and storefronts in the scene.
Capturing that entire scene would be impossible with a single exposure, even using the best cameras available. The difference between the lightest and darkest tones is simply too great. That’s where HDR Efex Pro comes in!
I’m very proud to announce that I am authoring a new book for Peachit and Adobe Press, focused on Adobe Digital Imaging products (that’s all I can say for now), which will be released later this year! I’ve been working with the Adobe alpha and beta teams since CS2, and can say as a photographer and hard-core Adobe fan, this is a dream come true for me. CS5 is such an impressive upgrade and more great stuff on the way; it’s just a very big year for digital imaging all around.
