Like any style of photography art there is a certain element to creating a High Dynamic range photo (HDR photo) which offers the great wow factor.
A superb HDR image is immediately jaw-dropping, with the viewer taken aback by the dramatic scenes of storms, wind blowing, sun poking through clouds or perhaps a vintage car, grass growing through it's instruments, left to wither away in a lonely paddock marred by rust and cobwebs.
HDR photography is a fantastic way of uncovering the drama of these surreal situations however only if done correctly.
One merely needs to enter a HDR group on Flickr to see how many photographers are yet to understand the difference between a great HDR photo and a terrible one.
Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, if the photo isn't great then it is consequentially terrible, this is the nature of HDR imagery.
The only way to truly understand which scenario will form a dramatic image in HDR is by gathering sufficient experience and this can be a daunting task.
Therefore I would like to share some of my favourite tips to assist amateur HDR photographers and point them in the right direction.
1) Use a tripod Although most HDR software offers features for image alignment it is not even close to the alignment you would achieve simply by using a tripod to take your photos of different contrast.
This is by far the most import aspect of your image.
2) Use a camera timer or shutter remote Just a slight bump to the tripod can create a fuzzy image which is impossible to fix in Photoshop.
3) Shoot in RAW Often people shoot their HDR images in jpeg format, a compressed format which loses much of the data from your original photo.
Sure, they may look similar to the human eye however when merging your three images this invisible data that had been lost during compression could have been used by your HDR software to create more vivid colours, a sharper image, less noise and the list goes on.
4) Weather conditions Believe it or not, a bright blue sky on a sunny day is not the best day to go shooting in HDR.
The best and most dramatic HDR images which I have seen have been taken shortly after storms, at sunrise or sunset.
Often if your shooting into a blue sky then shining halos will appear around your subjects, this is a common curse of HDR.
Try being inventive, if it's raining then have your gear ready to pop outside once it stops, or try waking up early to shoot the sun rising over a reflective building.
When shooting trees be careful of leaves blowing around in the wind, causing them to un-align.
5) Don't delay due to location HDR is fantastic as it can create something artistic from seemingly nothing.
Whether you live in the countryside or downtown, you should be able to find a subject for your photo, regardless of whether it's an animal, vehicle (I have seen many great photos of tractors), people working in a restaurant or a your every-day office building.
I hope that these pointers assist you, the budding HDR photographer, with your future endeavours.
My next article will be 5 tips for post-processing HDR photos that make you say wow!