How do you use HDR in photography?

Question

How do you use HDR?

How do you set exposure on your camera?

Answer 1

You need to bracket, i.e. get several (at least 3) exposures of the same subject. One that is normal, one under exposed, one over exposed. If you have even more range, you may get a better result.

Then you use those exposures in the HDR software of your choice - it will combine them to give you the biggest possible range.

How to do it depends on your camera - DSLRs have bracketing functions, some P&S cameras do, too.

If not, you can set the different exposures manually.

Use a tripod so your scene doesn't change from one shot to the next.

Answer 2

i suggest you set you meter mode to spot meter that way you are more precise in your metering. then place your camera in aperture priority mode. meter the brightest portion of your scene (this will be your starting point) and make a mental note of the shutter speed your camera gives, then meter for the darkest portion (this will be your ending point). now all you have to do is make exposures for everything in between and including your starting and ending points in 2 stop increments. i find it is better set your exposures manually, rather than use the auto bracket mode. it is very important that you do not change your aperture, only your shutter speed or your depth of field will get messed up. you are going to need a tripod when creating your exposures so that you do not move the camera's position and mess up the alignment, also helps with camera shake :). after you have all of your exposures and you are ready for editing: use photoshop cs3 or photomatrix pro to combine all of your exposures to create your HDR image. i found the hdri handbook to be very helpful in understanding the technique; therefore, i am recommending that you obtain a copy. it even comes with a companion dvd.  

Answer 3

Here's some HDR tutorials for Photomatix and Photoshop: http://tutorialblog.org/hdr-tutorials-ro...