HDR Without the Drama

Birch Tree HDR
Birch Tree - June, 2009

There is certainly a great deal of talk these days about HDR photography. Often I hear people carelessly inter-mix the terms “HDR” and “Tone Mapping”. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, a method of capturing a wider-than-normal dynamic range of an image. In photography, this is often done by capturing a range of exposures and then combining them selectively to show more detail in the shadows and highlight than would be possible with a single exposure. Tone Mapping refers more to the process of combining the multiple exposures and how the transitions between those exposures are handled.

Often, people push the effect too far and end up with surreal, fantasy-like images. While there is a place for this look, it has polarized the photo community (no pun intended.) Folks either love it or hate it. However, when the images are combined in a more subtle way, the results can be quite natural looking. The image above is a good example of using restraint in the HDR / Tone Mapping process. I took this in the summer of 2009 at the Kitty Todd Nature Preserve in northwest Ohio.