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Inspiration: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging

Jun 15th in Inspiration by Sean Hodge

HDR images are composed of multiple shots that each capture a greater or lesser range of light. Typically these images are composed of a darker image, a medium range, and a lighter image. HDR combines these shots into a final image that has a broader range of light to dark. Often, the results are striking, visually rich, and full of details. Let's take a look at some great HDR images, tutorials on how to create HDR, and articles that explain this popular technique.

Author: Sean Hodge

Hi All! Tutorials are awesome. I'm really into writing them, visit AiBURN. I'm from the US, but living on the beach in Venezuela. My studio is Connection Cube. Thats where I get to do graphics, web design, and write for some great companies! I love working on creative projects!

Digital Art

  • 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures

    A great collection of HDR images. Many of them take on fantasy qualities. Of course Photography enthusiasts may feel that some of these shots are overdone. As with any style, it really depends on your purpose and personal taste.

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  • 20 Beautiful HDR Pictures

    This article features some great HDR shots. Here is a quote from this beautiful HDR post, "There are some photography techniques that really give me the goose bumps, but the good ones. HDR is one of those techniques... and you'll probably love these as much as I do." Abduzeedo has written quite a few posts on HDR. Do a search over on their site and you'll find quite a few image roundups on this topic.

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  • HDR Images Of Japan Are Beautiful, Stunning

    The artist behind these images of Japan likes the HDR look. He feels that, "A lot of the pictures turn out unworldly, and I think they look like they were rendered for a video game." Some fun HDR inspiration here.

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  • HDR Flickr Group

    There are over 140,000 images in this group's Pool. Also, there are over 1,000 Discussion Posts in this group. It's a really active Flickr Group. A great source for an HDR enthusiast to get involved, or to look for HDR inspiration.

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  • HDR Photography - What Do You Think About It?

    Digital Photography School is a popular photography blog. This post showcases some inspiring HDR photography and points to some forum posts on this subject.

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Tutorials

  • Adobe Photoshop CS3 Tutorial - HDR - High Dynamic Range

    This is an advanced Photoshop tutorial that results in a superior midtone contrast image. It does not use Photoshop's Merge to HDR (High Dynamic Range) automated feature. If you want more control over your HDR images try out this tut. It also accounts for images where some objects are in motion, while multiple range shots are used.

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  • Merging HDR in Photoshop CS3 Tutorial

    This tutorial shows you how to use the Merge to HDR feature available in both CS2 and CS3 version of Photoshop. It also covers the Photomartrix Pro Tone Mapping Plugin that will give more dramatic HDR results. The results of both processes are compared in the conclusion.

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  • HDR Photos and Photoshop

    This tutorial at the Photoshop Tutorials site covers the Merge to HDR feature found in CS2 & CS3 in Photoshop. It also reviews converting the final 32-bpc file into a 8-bpc or 16-bpc image. This site also has an HDR tone mapping tutorial as well.

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  • HDR Photo Tutorial

    This tutorial shows you how to fake HDR. It doesn't require multiple images, but rather just one JPEG image. This tut gives a cool painterly HDR result.

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  • Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2

    This tutorial covers the features in Photoshop CS2, and demonstrates a workflow to create HDR photos. It also delivers a wealth of information on HDR photography and HDR images.

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Articles & Resources

  • Wikipedia: High dynamic range imaging

    The Wikipedia entry on HDR gives some historical perspective on the subject. You'll also get a good technical understanding of what HDR is and how it is created. Issues such as tone mapping and merging multiple exposures are explained.

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  • HDR - High Dynamic Range - Workshop

    This article covers numerous details on HDR. It explains what it is and how to create HDR images. It gives advice on how to shoot the images. For combining the images, the article takes the Photomatix route, and doesn't use Photoshop methods.

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  • High-Dynamic-Range Photography: A Guide

    This article reviews how easy it is to create great HDR images. You don't have to be a professional photographer to learn how to create this style of photo with a high dynamic range of detail.

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  • HDR photography

    This article has an easy to understand introduction to HDR photography. It gives a simple explanation of photos the author took of the same sky scene with different aperture settings. Then shows them combined into one HDR image.

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  • HDR photography explained, definition and realization.

    This article covers a lot of ground. It explains definitions and specification of HDR and describes how to create these images. It gives a quick Photoshop workflow for HDR as well.

    Visit Article


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  1. Jarand June 15th

    Really nice collection there! It will be very useful when i’m going to try to make my own HDR image.


  2. Jake June 15th

    Alot of them are over edited hdr images, giving a flat plastic rap feeling… some people love them like that… others don’t.

    Two photographers i’d reccomend are Pete Carr and Marcin Stawiarz, they do some good hdr images, Pete carr does a mix of the ‘real’ and the ‘fake’ looking hdr, and Marcin Stawiarz images are varied, some have a little too much lense distortion, but one picture utilised the lense distortion and it works well [:


  3. Xphic June 15th

    Great Inspirations and tutorials thanks


  4. PannonDesigner June 15th

    Wow. Amazing. Thank you.


  5. Bye Tom June 15th

    Really cool, I actually though HDR meant “HD Resolution”. I finally learnt. :) Thanks.


  6. D. Carreira June 15th

    Now the word QUALITY make senses…

    Amazing images!

    David Carreira


  7. Carlos June 15th

    Wow, these are some great images. Though I do think some of them are over done or are not right for the technique, but some just look amazing, and really make me ‘Wow’!


  8. Shannon June 15th

    I was just looking for resources on this the other day. Thanks! :)


  9. jerry June 15th

    In my opinion, the “WOW” pictures aren’t as wow as you may think…

    It is just colorful photo - have more of it and you will totally BE SICK of it.


  10. Davy June 15th

    I hate it that most of these images look so fake…


  11. Andrew Pryde June 15th

    Some of these look breath taking!

    Andrew


  12. LOSWL June 15th

    Excellent set of photographs and tutorials, thanks for digging up all of these resources, HDR artwork can be very beautiful and can add a special element of detail to any graphic designers work, so look at it as something to add to your skills, some of them may seem over done and others just perfect, but that is the nature of art :o)


  13. Zach LeBar June 16th

    thanks a bunch for the awesome HDR Roundup. some really good stuff in there.


  14. Htoo Tay Zar June 16th

    Wow!! Really amazing images!!


  15. Ben Griffiths June 16th

    I love HDR, and some great links there, thanks :D


  16. Constantin Potorac June 16th

    I really appreciate it Sean for the article.

    I myself got very touched by the HDR effect and also this is what made me decide to start transforming myself into a photographer. ;)

    Great articles and very useful. Thanks


  17. crazyhunk June 16th

    really nice stuff up there…. very informational..

    Thanx a lot ..:)


  18. SwissSniper June 16th

    WOW Thanks!!! A great summary of HDR related stuff in the Web…very helpful


  19. MONSTER June 16th

    Great images!


  20. FrankCrank June 16th

    Great compilation.
    Thanks


  21. ZaFaR June 16th

    Wow, these are some great images. Though I do think some of them are over done or are not right for the technique, but some just look amazing, and really make me ‘Wow’!


  22. Shane June 16th

    Wow! Some amazing images. Whenever I’ve gone off to other sites to see them, they’ve been 1024×768 max, but some found on this link pages are higher resolution! Fantastic stuff - desktop fodder!

    Cheers.


  23. DMoghi June 16th

    Very beautiful images.

    Thanks


  24. Alex Beltechi June 16th

    Yesterday I was wondering if PSDTUTS was ever going to have something about HDR… Thanks for reading my mind. :)


  25. FrankCrank June 16th

    Is that Locomotive image from a different stock??
    I couldn’t find it in flickr!!


  26. Ralph June 16th

    FANTASTIC!!! Actually recently I started to practice that kind of photo edition thanks a lot for the links!!! In the PDSTUTS wall i have posted an HDR that i made by my self….. ok with a little help of Photomatix LOL.


  27. photoshop June 16th

    nice


  28. Joefrey Mahusay June 16th

    Awesome. thanks for this very useful article.


  29. lifeHwaa June 16th

    good


  30. web design company June 16th

    HDR articles, resources and tutorials


  31. goldenthunder June 16th

    Awesome awesome. I wanna do some of this later this summer - looks really fun!


  32. Engage Interactive June 16th

    Some great examples. Will be looking to give this a go in the next few weeks :)


  33. Lamin Barrow June 16th

    What a coincidence… I was thinking about writing a tutorial on how to use CS3’s HDR merging for psdtuts.. ah well.
    Thanks for the posts. :)


  34. Andrew June 16th

    Really nice collection. I love this style!


  35. MD June 17th

    Awesome! Thanks! :)


  36. Jessica June 17th

    I LOVE HDR photography.


  37. Kevin Crafts June 17th

    Sean, thanks for using my locomotive photo for the Flickr Group.

    FrankCrank - the photo is located here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightdark/2575706792/ but it is part of the Flickr HDR pool.


  38. Mikko June 17th

    Thanks! This collection is truly appreciated, and really provides good resources as requested. Great! :)


  39. mausyo June 18th

    it will be good if we could see a tutorial about how to make a HDR in phtoshop.
    I’m really intrested in that.


  40. Jake June 18th

    Photoshops HDR features are a bit naff still, although still evolving it’s at a far slower pace than anyone really wants =/

    Most people use photomatix, or something similar, although the anti ghosting tools can create a ‘halo’ effect.

    Anyone interested in these should look at pete carrs tutorial over on vanilladays.com, alls you needs is a camera where you can manually adjust the exposure compensation (or preferably AEB function), a tripod and an eye for composition [:

    I’d LOVE to see a tutorial on achieving HDR with an IR filter, that’s something i’ve been working with for a while to try and perfect, and i’m still finding it very hit and miss.


  41. Creatived June 19th

    These are some unusual but great resource for HDR, Some of the best I have ever seen, though some fall short, still an amazing skill!! :o)


  42. Natalia Sokolova June 20th

    Hello…Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts ! it was a great Thursday .


  43. The Floating Frog June 25th

    Absolutely love this form of Photography. For those people based in the sector it may seem like old hat but when you show this stuff to someone who has never seen it before, they are AMAZED.

    “I never liked using photographs as Art before, but these are truely stunning….. …..where can a buy one?”

    This is one of the most important posts on this website to date, keep pushing that bar higher! ****


  44. nischal July 1st

    great tutorials, also great articles.
    seriously motivates you.


  45. Abdo September 8th

    I like this collection. Thanks a lot.


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