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Barefoot HDR Photos 2

April 18th, 2007

The problem with conventional camera’s (digital or analog) is that they can only capture one level of exposure, and are not as sensitive to variance in lighting, compared to the human eye.

This means that when one is photographing outdoor scenes for example, it’s impossible to get the right level of exposure for both bright and dark areas of the photo.

Consider the following photographs: All three show the same scene, at different levels of exposure (the shutter was open for different amounts of time):

(Click each image to view a larger version)

Fastest shutter speed

In this image, the building (top right) is correctly exposed, but the rest of the photo is quite dark.

Medium shutter speed

Here, the foreground is reasonably exposed but the building in the background is overexposed.

Slowest shutter speed

At this setting, the darkest areas of the photo are clear but all brightly lit areas are overexposed.

So, what if you could combine the best of the photos?

Well, you’d get something like this:

This photo is (somewhat) close to what you would see with your eyes. Well, except for the extremely oversaturated colors!

Add a little bit of (insane) tone mapping, and you get this:

And that is a very simplified overview of the concept of HDRI (High dynamic range imaging).

Here are a few more photos from Barefoot. Some have been processed using HDR technology as well as tone mapping:

(click each photo to view a larger version)

Alternate version of above photo, with some extreme tone mapping.

Another version of above photo: can you spot the difference? Believe it or not this HDR is made using a single image with different gamma settings!!

PS: Thanks Naz!

Entry Filed under: Photography