Posts Tagged ‘HDR’

How to Take Natural Looking Landscape HDR Photos

with 2 comments

Author: Max Therry

HDR photography can create some absolutely jaw-dropping effects when implemented correctly. This type of photography, however, can be extremely difficult to perfect. Due to the nature of HDR composite shots, the finished piece can often look artificial and contrived – in short, you can tell that it is an HDR shot. If you want to achieve perfection and create magnificent HDR photos, the finished piece should look natural, and people should not be able to tell that it has been edited.

Landscape HDR photography presents additional challenges due to the high level of contrast in the composition. Let’s look at an example – you have hiked to Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales and want to take a shot of the rocks and surrounding countryside. The only issue is that the sky is hugely over-exposed, whilst the rocks and fields are under-exposed and wreathed in shadow – due to the extreme contrast, an HDR composition of this particular scene could look unnatural.

So how can you achieve perfection and improve your HDR photography? How can you capture stunning landscape photos and create a final effect that looks both beautiful and natural? If you follow the simple steps and guidelines we have formulated below, we are confident you can improve your HDR compositions ten-fold!

Sun shining through the leaves of a lone tree in a field, natural looking HDR image

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Discover Digital Photography

March 1st, 2018 at 9:36 pm

Photographing in dappled light

without comments

Dappled light is often found in woodland, or any time you are shooting under tree cover. As the light from the sun comes down through the trees, it gets broken into areas of light and shadow by the leaves. Depending on how dense the foliage is, the leaves can act like lenses, making spots of out of focus light on the forest floor.

There are a couple of issues when photographing in dappled light that can be difficult to deal with. The first is that the difference in tone between the shadow and highlight areas can be very large. This results in photos where the highlight areas are blown out and overexposed. The other issue is that the uneven pattern of dappled light typically doesn't work well for portraits. In this article we'll look at how you can overcome these issues.

Photographing in dappled light

Read the rest of this entry »

Summer Photography Tips

without comments

Summer can be a bit of a paradox in terms of its suitability for photography. In one aspect it's great for photography - it's nice weather for going out, there's often lots happening to photograph, and there's plenty of light.

On the other hand, the sun spends a lot of the day high up in the sky, creating harsh lighting and strong shadows. The light is very contrasty and capturing an image with detail in both the shadows and highlights can be nigh-on impossible.

In this article I want to look at how you can deal with the problems of photographing in the summer. I'll also look at some of the good points of summer photography compared to other times of the year.

Summer Photography Tips

Read the rest of this entry »

Auto Bracketing Explained

without comments

Auto bracketing is a feature found on most cameras that allows you to take multiple photos in quick succession with a single parameter changed between each shot. Normally auto bracketing refers to exposure bracketing, but it can also be used for white balance bracketing.

In this article we'll look at both exposure bracketing and white balance, what they do, and when they can be useful.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fixing exposure problems – What to do if your photos are too bright or too dark

without comments

Although the auto exposure of modern cameras is pretty good, they doesn't always get it right. This is especially true if there is a large difference in brightness between your subject and the background.

For example, a person in a dimly lit room with the sun shining in through a window behind them. You'd probably end up with a photo where the person is a silhouette, but the window is exposed correctly. Great if this is what you wanted, but not so great if you were trying to capture the person's portrait.

Underexposed portrait photo
IMG_0870.JPG by busbeytheelder on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

There are a few different things you can do to fix this. We'll first look at the camera settings etc. you can use to fix the problem on location. Then we'll look at options for fixing existing shots using image editing software.

Read the rest of this entry »

Why use a tripod?

without comments

One of the most common accessories that most photographers own is a tripod. There are a number of reasons why tripods are so popular, for some types of photography they are virtually indispensable. In this article we cover the benefits and disadvantages of using a tripod.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Discover Digital Photography

August 18th, 2011 at 1:29 pm