Hello HDR

I'm feeling pretty good. Today I went from not having a clue about how to make a HDR picture, to doing (I think) a pretty good job of my first one.

 I'm visiting my family over Christmas, so they got roped into posing for me. =)

HDR stands for high dynamic range.  It is when you combine different exposures of the same scene to create a picture that picks up a wider range of tones.

For all you HDR noobs like me, here's how I did it:

1. I watched a great video tutorial of how to use the bracketing feature on my Nikon D90. 
   
   Bracketing is when you take three separate exposures of the same scene - one properly exposed, one underexposed, and one overexposed.  When you blend them, you can get all the highlights and lowlights of the scene.
   
   
2. I took some bracketed photos.  I got way too ambitious, and tried to include a dog in the shots.  It doesn't work so well when you have to keep him perfectly still for about 30 seconds.  I snapped this cute pic though...
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Merge the bracketed shots using and HDR photo program.  Photoshop allows you to merge images to HDR, but I ended up with a lot of ghosting from movement.  I also found a page of free HDR software, but Photomatix worked best for me by far! Unfortunately, the trial version watermarks the final images, as you'll see.
   
   
4. Tone map the image.  That's a fancy way of saying play with the sliders in Photomatix until you like what you see.  I found a great tutorial, which really helped make sense of all the options.

The results were pretty cool:

This picture is lighter than the one above.

Dark contrast has been replaced with detail.

HDR did a nice job balancing out the different light sources in this dark room,

where there is light from two lamps and a large TV.

 Single exposure and the HDR result. Each has its appeal.

To learn how to make this before and after picture in Photoshop, I watched Adobe TV: Creating a Triptych.

Other tips I learned along the way:

• It is best to shoot using aperture priority mode when bracketing shots.
• Choose subjects that can stay still.
• Photomatix can filter out small movements, such as blinking.
• HDR works well in situations with high contrast, such as deep shadows, or windows in dark rooms.
  
• If you don't know the answer, Google has it!