HDR tutorial – first part

For quite a long time I wanted to add my own HDR tutorial to this site. It’s not completely ready yet, but the first part is. It’s about how to take brackets for HDR photos. I will add more part as I finish them.

I hope this will be useful for some of you, and you find something that helps you.

Please let me know if you find any problems or errors in the tutorial, or if you simply don’t understand something. Any questions are welcome.

You can find the HDR tutorial here or as all other parts of this page, there is a link in the menu on the right.

The very colorful sunset in Bratislava

I wasn’t even planing to take any photo during the sunset. The sky was grey, no clouds, nothing really interesting. So I went out to take some blue hour shots. But minutes before sunset the clouds came and with them all the beautiful colors. It was a very stunning view.

I went for 7 brackets here, as the castle is white, and very bright compared to the hill under it. I even had to go up to 9 for some shots, as the difference was really high.

Cathedral in Madrid

I like taking similar photos of the same subject at different times of the day. Same with this photo. I already posted a sunset photo, and this one was taken around lunch. The difference in colors is stunning.

Church of St. Nicolas

As all photographers, I prefer to take my photos around sunset. But sometime, especially during winter months, the sunsets are quite boring. With a clear sky, they look mostly grey. So what I do, is I wait for the blue hour. Even with a clear sky, the blue is really stunning.

This is one of my older photos, still taken with the Canon 450D. You really can see the difference, when you look closely. The 5D mark II with the Canon lens makes much more sharper images.

Neo-Romanesque crypt

What a place this is. When I first entered, I thought it was endless. The rows of pillars just repeat into the distance. It’s just stunning. And as I was there quite late (around 7 o’clock) it was completely empty. Just me and my camera. It was also a great place for HDR. If you look at the before/after comparison, you will see that the bottom part was quite dark, with the ceiling brightly lit. A perfect example for when to use HDR.

Returning to old places

I took a very similar photo about two years ago (this one – which one do you think is better?). But with the new camera I like to go back to my favorite places and try to take even better photos. And this is one of my favorite places for blue hour photos.

It’s not that close, as you have to walk across the bridge from the other side, continue a little further and then return back. And standing on the rocks near the water it’s also quite dangerous and cold. But I think it’s worth it.

The sunset was quite colorless, as the sky was very clear. So I knew I had to wait for the blue hour, to take a nice shot. I used 7 brackets here, trying to capture the Bratislava castle without it being blown out. For anyone interested in my Photomatix HDR tonemmaping settings, check out my Facebook Fan page. I posted a screenshot, taken right before clicking on process.