HDR photography and seeing
Commenter “Harold” alerted me to a type of photography I’d never even heard of before, although I’d probably seen it and not known what I was looking at—HDR photography:
High dynamic range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a set of methods used in imaging and photography, to allow a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging methods or photographic methods. HDR images can represent more accurately the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, from direct sunlight to faint starlight, and is often captured by way of a plurality of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter.[1][2][3]
In simpler terms, HDR is a range of methods to provide higher dynamic range from the imaging process. Non-HDR cameras take pictures at one exposure level with a limited contrast range. This results in the loss of detail in bright or dark areas of a picture, depending on whether the camera had a low or high exposure setting. HDR compensates for this loss of detail by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels and intelligently stitching them together to produce a picture that is representative in both dark and bright areas.
The photos that result are simply astounding. They seem a hyper-focused rendering of what we humans ordinarily see when we look at a scene, a sort of platonic, revved-up version of it.
It puts me in mind of the world of the main character in Jorge Luis Borges’ wonderful short story, “Funes the Memorious,” the man who sees and remembers—everything:
We, in a glance, perceive three wine glasses on the table; Funes saw all the shoots, clusters, and grapes of the vine. He remembered the shapes of the clouds in the south at dawn on the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised in the Rio Negro on the eve of the battle of the Quebracho. These recollections were not simple; each visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, etc. He could reconstruct all his dreams, all his fancies. Two or three times he had reconstructed an entire day. He told me: I have more memories in myself alone than all men have had since the world was a world. And again: My dreams are like your vigils. And again, toward dawn: My memory, sir, is like a garbage disposal. A circumference on a blackboard, a rectangular triangle, a rhomb, are forms which we can fully intuit; the same held true with Ireneo for the tempestuous mane of a stallion, a herd of cattle in a pass, the ever-changing flame or the innumerable ash, the many faces of a dead man during the course of a protracted wake. He could perceive I do not know how many stars in the sky. These things he told me; neither then nor at any time later did they seem doubtful.
Here’s just a single example of HDR photography from the link I gave above. I offer it because the relative simplicity of its subject matter highlights the complexity and beauty of just about everything we look at (as Funes knew):
Glad I could introduce you to a new element for your visual palette.
A few more links to HDR photos:
–this person has a set of Trey Ratcliffs HDR photos
webdesignledger.com/inspiration/hdr-photos-by-trey-ratcliff
–Flickr is a site where a lot of people store their photos for display.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hdr&f=hp
–a professionally oriented site. You can purchase the photos on display here. Search on HDR. You can purchase these photos.
http://www.smugmug.com
I’m not sure that is really an HDR photo. As I understand it, HDR relies on taking three photos of the same scene: one with a nominal under exposure, one with a “correct” exposure, and one with a nominal over exposure. These three are then combined, by the magic of computer processing, to produce one image that covers the full dynamic range from all three photos.
But, that requires the photos to be of stationary objects, so that they can be combined. Since this is obviously not of stationary objects, I don’t see how it can be the combination of three photos.
Maybe there is a new development that I’m not aware of, but this doesn’t seem like it could be HDR.
I hate to admit it, but these photos remind me of shlock paintings.
That’s amazing.
I’ve been seeing these and haven’t liked them but I thought I’d look a little closer since you do. They aren’t natural because the world disappears into grey’s and dark tones and details fade near the horizon. And that’s interesting, how the earth and sky blend together.
Funny, I’d not thought of it before, but once I *heard* the term HDR, I knew how to do it, and that it was eminently possible with modern digital cameras, to the point where it should be possible to easily make cameras that can make HDR photos automatically, with only a small uptick in electronic power needed.
mizpants: I would say that in some cases they are more like a form of surrealism than “schlock”, but they do have an enhanced color quality in some cases that isn’t realistic.
This looks surreal to me.
This does not
}}}}} I’m not sure that is really an HDR photo. As I understand it, HDR relies on taking three photos of the same scene: one with a nominal under exposure, one with a “correct” exposure, and one with a nominal over exposure.
If the CCD that takes the pictures is fast enough, then the exposures can be quick enough that the motion isn’t there — movement 1/60th of a second apart can be dealt with in the assimilation process, too. More critically, the computer can “pick” one of the pictures as the baseline, and deal with the small amounts of motion/change between them using various rule sets.
In all fairness, in the film era some – Ansel Adams in particular – learned how to get the maximum dynamic range into his prints. They are pretty amazing in reproduction but when you see an original in a gallery, they have some of the surreal quality digital HDR produces. We are actually quite accustomed to seeing quite compressed dynamic ranges in most reproductions. But yes sometimes HDR looks like overly dramatic schlock, but done with a bit of subtlety it really opens photography out into new territory.I was initially interested in it but realized straight photography was my sport of choice.
There’s just a cheeziness factor in them i can’t seem to look past.
SteveH, I grant you some of them certainly have that, but the one I gave example of earlier, that wasn’t to my eyes, does not strike me as having that “cheesiness” at all.
I would be interested if you could actually differentiate between legit pics and ones that were HDR pics if they were selected to avoid the excessive color range.
nikon cameras have a version of it. but theirs is not with multiple pictures added together. it tends to cost you in contrast… of course the post production is always an option
I went through the HDR phase but it is, with the rare exception, behind me now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navilor/sets/72157605269488003/
I focus more on natural light photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navilor/sets/72157627837497179/
And flowers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navilor/sets/72157626422663064/
The new iphone has an HDR option for the camera, didn’t know what it meant until I read this post. Thanks.
Two things come to.mind: Maxfield Parrish, and Amber. Neither really appealed to me beyond the age of 20 or so,but isn’t it interesting that “seeing,” as you say, can be so very subjective? It makes me wonder what I’m missing now… and what I see that others don’t.
HDR photographs don’t have to be surreal or otherworldly, that is entirely up to the person doing the post processing.
Goto the link below and you’ll see a photographers work done deliberately to make the photos look natural. You will see the before/after photos giving you a clearer idea of what is going on.
Of course you have to remember that increasing the tonal range of a photo will inevitably make it look different from traditional unprocessed photos.
Good seeing.
http://allindaphotography.com/2011/11/techniques-for-creating-natural-looking-hdr-images/