The Ohanaware Weblog
How To Take or Shoot Photos for HDR
To make an HDR you need to take multiple exposures of the same picture, thus capturing different ranges of light. How you take these photos really depends on the features available in your camera. A tripod is essential, because you’ll need to keep the camera as steady as possible.
Auto Bracket
The first method is to use the Auto Bracket feature of a camera. The best way to tell and to explain how to use it, is if you check the manual of your camera. Auto Bracket is normally on mid range to high end camera and it’s the best way to capture photos for HDR.
- Fix your camera to the tripod.
- Set-up your camera so that you’re ready to take the shot, angle it in the right direction and focus it on your subject.
- Now enable the Auto Bracket feature of your camera (check your manual if needs be), set it to be the widest possible. The best is +/- 2 stops, however +/- 1 stops are better than none! If you can choose how many images, set it to 5.
- If you have a remote control, let go of the camera and use the remote control to take a picture. Otherwise you can use your camera’s timer, set it to 2 seconds, click the shutter button and let go of the camera. This step minimizes camera shake while taking the first frame.
- Congratulations, you’ve taken your first HDR. You should now have a series of images that look like the photos below.
- When you get back, off load your images onto the computer. Then drag the exposures into HDRtist, choose the "Strength" and voila.
- That is it, you’ve just taken photos for an HDR, created an HDR image and tone mapped it… Yep, it is simple. You can either admire it in HDRtist, or use the Save button to save the image to disk. If you have Funtastic Photos, clicking the "Edit in Funtastic Photos" button will open your HDR into Funtastic Photos, where you can add frames, special effects, watermarks, create photo mosaics, print greetings cards or cubes, upload your photos online (Facebook, Flickr and MobileMe) and share your HDRs as Fun Cards… If you’d like to try the unlimited trial of Funtastic Photos, or learn more about Funtastic Photos; please visit http://www.ohanaware.com/funtasticphotos/
Manually Adjusting Exposure
If your camera doesn’t have the Auto Bracket feature, you can still make an HDR. It just takes longer…
- Before you start you need to figure out how to adjust the exposure compensation on your camera. I’d suggest checking with the camera manual, you may need to change the mode of your camera to "P". You may wish to spend a few minutes playing with the exposure compensation, adjusting it to -2 or +2 and then back to 0.
- Fix your camera to the tripod.
- Setup your camera so that you’re ready to take the shot, angle it in the right direction and focus it on your subject. If you have an "AF/AE Lock" button, this is great, half press the shutter so that the camera focuses and then press this button (you can then let go off the shutter button). It’ll keep the focus through the shots.
- Make sure your exposure compensation is set to -2, this will make the picture look dark in the preview, however that’s fine.
- If you have a remote control, let go of the camera and use the remote control to take a picture. Otherwise you can use your camera’s timer, set it to 2 seconds, click the shutter and let go of the camera. This step minimizes camera shake while taking the photo.
- Congratulations, your first exposure.
- Change the exposure compensation to 0, and take the second shot the same way you took the first.
- Change the exposure compensation to +2 and take the last shot. Remember to use the remote or timer to avoid camera shake.
- Congratulations you’ve captured your photos for an HDR.
- When you get back, off load your images onto the computer. Then drag the exposures into HDRtist, choose the "Strength" and voila.
- That is it, you’ve just taken photos for an HDR, created an HDR image and tone mapped it… Yep, it is simple. You can either admire it in HDRtist, or use the Save button to save the image to disk. If you have Funtastic Photos, clicking the "Edit in Funtastic Photos" button will open your HDR into Funtastic Photos, where you can add frames, special effects, watermarks, create photo mosaics, print greetings cards or cubes, upload your photos online (Facebook, Flickr and MobileMe) and share your HDRs as Fun Cards… If you’d like to try the unlimited trial of Funtastic Photos, or learn more about Funtastic Photos; please visit http://www.ohanaware.com/funtasticphotos/
From a single RAW image
This technique should be reserved as a last resort or when the subject will not stay still. The results of this technique is NOT as good as multiple exposures taken by the camera. It amplifies any noise in the photo and reduces detail. The only advantage is that you don’t need a tripod and your subject doesn’t have to be perfectly still through multiple shots. To use this technique, your camera needs to be able to save photos in a RAW format, and you’ll need special software to "Develop" your RAW photos.
- Take your photo
- Open up your RAW developing software. I personally recommend the software that comes with the camera as this software is generally customized to create better images from your camera.
- Develop the photo as it is and save it with the file name of "Normal"
- In your RAW software adjust the "Exposure Bias" (Maybe called Exp.Bias.) down to -2, then develop the photo and name this photo "Dark -2".
- Next adjust the Exposure Bias to +2, and develop the photo. Name it "Light +2".
- Now take all 3 images and throw them into HDRtist, adjust the "Strength" and Voila, you now have an HDR made from a Single Raw Image.
- You can either admire it in HDRtist, or use the Save button to save the image to disk. If you have Funtastic Photos, clicking the "Edit in Funtastic Photos" button will open your HDR into Funtastic Photos, where you can add frames, special effects, watermarks, create photo mosaics, print greetings cards or cubes, upload your photos online (Facebook, Flickr and MobileMe) and share your HDRs as Fun Cards… If you’d like to try the unlimited trial of Funtastic Photos, or learn more about Funtastic Photos; please visit http://www.ohanaware.com/funtasticphotos/
Tags: Camera, HDR, HDRtist, Photography, Tutorial, Tutorials
September 30th, 2009 at 9:26 am
[...] Welcome to the HDRtist Getting Started Tutorial. The first section is how to use HDRtist with multiple exposures. If you’ve just asked what multiple exposures are, or would like to know how to take multiple exposures; you should read Taking Photos for HDR. [...]
October 1st, 2009 at 11:45 pm
[...] Bilder aufnehmen. Wie man das ideal für diese HDR Technik macht, beschreibt der Autor in einem Tutorial gleich [...]
October 5th, 2009 at 9:43 am
v7wMZv I want to say – thank you for this!
October 5th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
[...] You see an HDR photo is not only brighter, but it contains far more detail than a single photo, also HDR photos can contain less noise! If you’d like to know more about taking an HDR photo, we have a tutorial How to take or shoot photos for HDR [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 6:17 am
In case one owns an inexpensive camera lacking the auto bracketing feature, and in case it’s a Canon Powershot, one might consider taking a look at the alternative firmware CHDK, which not only adds the missing feature, but also allows scripting. Recently a very experienced and clever guy developped a script (http://www.wirklemms.de/chdk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440), that automatically starts taking a series of images with different exposure values and automatically stops when there are enough pictures.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:59 am
For those who do not understand German, I’ve provided a link to a translated version. Please bear in mind that this IS translated and often requires reading more than once before it makes sense. http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wirklemms.de%2Fchdk%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ft%3D1440%29&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate
April 6th, 2010 at 6:21 am
This free program is superb. Thanks for sharing.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:19 am
As a novice I am a bit confused about your information concerning camera shooting options. Is it sufficient to shoot 3 photos with different exposures using “normal” camera settings, or must the 3 photos be taken in RAW format to make “Funtastic Photos” work?
August 29th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Technically, shooting 3 RAW exposures is going to be better than shooting 3 JPEGs. RAW images contain far more information than JPEGs can dream of. However shooting 3 JPEGs is going to be better than shooting a single JPEG or a single RAW for that matter.