Experimenting

I’m fascinated with HDR photos.  For those that may not be familiar with what exactly that is…..check out this Flickr group to see some of the many photos posted on there.  The definition of HDR as per Wikipedia…..

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance’s between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, which in turn are known as low dynamic range (LDR) (also called standard dynamic range (SDR)) photographs.

Tone mapping techniques, which reduce overall contrast to facilitate display of HDR images on devices with lower dynamic range, can be applied to produce images with preserved or exaggerated local contrast for artistic effect.

Photoshop Elements 7 does not have the ability to process images in HDR, but you can mimic this by processing your images in Adobe Camera Raw.  I discovered a free technique and have been playing with it this evening to see how it does.  Here is an example ~

I’m still experimenting….I will share the technique with you later this week….I want to work with it a bit more.