Stairs

High Dynamic Range(HDR)photography is both challenging and rewarding. It´s challenging because you really have to know how to set your camera for HDR and once you set it correctly you have to really know when is the right condition to take HDR especially when you are hunting for cloud effects like you see in my photo. Some days there are too little clouds and some the sky is all covered with clouds.
For those of you who are new to HDR photography, the simple way to explain it is making 2 or more photos with different light exposures into one photo. For this particular photo I used 3 different light exposures, -2, 0 and +2. I then process the tone mapping of the 3 different light exposure with a software called Photomatix Pro 3, by then I should have a very rough HDR result but still needs some smoothing to do which I do with Photoshop CS4. Originally this photo is in color but I´ve decided to convert it to black and white to show you how dramatic black and white HDR photos can be. Please refer back to my older posts for more HDR photography and the best way to convert color photos to black and white to not lose the quality of your photos.
HDR is so rewarding once you get the perfect result, somehow it´s like a surprise because you can never predict how the photo will look like until you see the end result. A very important tip though, you should always use a tripod as you will be taking 3 different light exposures meaning the camera will snap 3 times. The camera needs to be stone rock steady. You should change your camera setting from single shot to multiple shot.
Please feel free to contact me if you want to talk more about your camera setting or if you are having problems producing your HDR, I would be glad to help you out.