HDR Images: Part One

           Okay, let's get this new adventure started shall we. I've been sitting here with writer's block for hours deciding what direction to start off in.

          

          Recently I've been in discussions with other photographers about the merits or lack of merits in HDR images. This seems to be a hot button topic these days with the line firmly drawn in the sand. The question I propose is why are so many ready to discount any tool at their disposal so quickly? Perhaps the answer lies in a misunderstanding of what HDR is and can do for us. This by no means is say that you must use or even like the idea of increasing the dynamic range of your images. However, summarily discounting the practice as having no place in photography or as a mere passing fad is quite frankly downright ignorant. Now before you go and get mad at me for that statement please read on.

         HDR or high dynamic range is not a new concept, and to paraphrase an instructor of mine, “There is nothing new under the sun in photography only new ways of applying techniques.” The HDR technique has been around since 1850. Yes you read that right, 1850. Pioneered by Gustave Le Gray to fix the extreme luminance difference between the sky and the sea by combining to negatives into a single positive print showing detail in both areas. Charles Wyckoff took this a step further in the 1930's and 1940's by locally tone mapping images. In the mid 1950's (1954) Wyckoff's nuclear explosion image graces the cover of Time magazine.

copyright Time Life

         Then there is arguably the most famous HDR photographer,Ansel Adams. Mr Adams took dodging and burning to an entirely new level to squeeze out every last ounce of detail in the highlight and shadow regions of his prints. He also gave us the system by which he accomplished this incredible range of printed tones. That system is more familiarly known as: The Zone System.

Ansel Adams 1942

         With the advent and increasing popularity of color photography, tone mapping in the darkroom became impractical. The timing required was beyond the abilities of us mere mortals. Film manufactures continued to improve on the dynamic range their film was capable of capturing but could never achieve the results that black and white film processed and printed in the darkroom could. The limitations on HDR imposed by our technology (or lack of at the time) lead to the acceptance of limited dynamic range images or LDRI, and HDR was pushed to the back burner except for a very few practitioners.

         Fast forward to 1996 and the advent of consumer grade digital cameras. The technology was now coming into range for creating color HDR images, but it still wasn't at hand yet. Some will argue it still isn't at hand. To this I say: What an exciting time to be a photographer. We are in the shaping and formation stage of modern HDR. There are no rules, no guidelines and certainly no set in stone accepted uses. What we are seeing is a wide array of images that range from very well done to just plain awful. That is exactly why it is exciting. You will never know how far is too far until you have gone there. Push the boundaries and then when you learn to recognize what too far is you can back off to just right.

        I'm going to leave the discussion here for the moment and come back to it in my next article. Let your minds be open to what I have written and please continue the discussion. In the follow up article we will delve into the ideas of what is acceptable and what is not in terms of uses for HDR. This is where it will get heated up I believe and yes, I have a strong opinion on the subject.


Continue to shoot and see the wonderful light.