This is the method of taking pictures of something at different exposures and combining the pictures to capture the full range of highlights and shadows. I like playing around with my own photos like this to see what I come up with. Sometimes this look can appear painted or even fake, but these are still regular pictures seen through what would be considered a "Super Eye" If you had the ability to really capture an image from the brightest to the darkest with all colors in between.(Above) I shot a picture of my daughter Kendall posing one Sunday after church. I was able to wash out the yellow outfit a little while bringing out the green in the grass. (Right) This photo was taken at The Veterans Freedom Park in Cary,NC. I actually drove by this memorial and did a u-turn to come back and snap a few shots. This example really comes off as a painting more than a photo. I love how the little flags glow against the green grass. The gun and helmet almost have a halo around them against the cloudy sky. I chose to accent the text in Photoshop with the flag colors to pay tribute to our Military.
(Left) Hey, who's that handsome fella making a guest appearance on Las Vegas Blvd? Oh, that's me! This image is cool because of the way the clouds pop out and the colors seem so rich. As you can see I like over-saturation of color in HDR photos. It makes the pictures look more layered to me.You too, can achieve this look several ways. There is a Merge to HDR function in Photoshop starting with I think version CS3. A program called Photomatix Pro is one I like to use, because it is user friendly and does a lot of the guess work for you. You have to import at least 3 images with different exposures. Darker= -1, Regular= 0, and Lighter= +1. It helps if your camera comes equipped with AE(Automatic Exposure)bracketing, but it's not mandatory. This is when it can snap pictures back to back at different exposures just by holding down the shutter button.The more images the better the range. I haven't gotten into tutorials yet so, you have to search for your own, but take my word for it it's cool. I periodically find images that deserve a little HDRing (I just made that up). The best ones are outdoor on cloudy days but any image can work with the right tweeking.
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