HDR Leaf

High Dynamic Range or HDR for short is a term used a lot in photography. Perhaps an overused technique but can be used to make beautiful photography. The human eye has an extraordinary HDR, something that can't be seen by electronic devices. However by using this technique with your camera you can achieve the dynamic range similar to that of a human eyes range.

 Though this technique is used for that purpose, it is also used to exaggerate. HDR allows for a greater dynamic range of luminance between the dark and light areas of a photograph. By taking at least 3 of the same photos at different exposures (by bracketing) then going into photoshop (or other programs) and layering the images together.

If you think you need a tripod for this technique you are wrong. The photo's below where done without a tripod.
(if you look closely at the leaf in the left corner of all 3 pictures you can see that I didn't hold the camera perfectly still)

By tone mapping these 3 images together:

Normal Exposure

-1 stop exposure

+1 stop exposure

Final HDR Image

Click here to see more HDR.