HDR Photography

Wassup? Miss me? No? Meh, whatever. I get that a lot. Anyway... Has anyone here heard of HDR? ...? Wait... I can't exactly see or hear you... never mind, I'll just assume you haven't. Anyway, if you haven't, click this helpful link right here. That saves me a lot of time.  But in case you're lazy and don't want to read that article, I'll sum it up. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and it allows you to change things like the exposure, gamma, realism, etc. It's used in many different ways. Sometimes it's used to make photos "pop", or it can make the photo look like a painting, (I discovered this feature on my own.) or make the photos look Lighter or Darker. It has many other uses, but so far, I haven't fully explored the possibilities. I really like it because it makes my photos look just plain AWESOME! But that's just my opinion.

I made this one kind of look like a painting/drawing

You might, (or might not, Idc) be wondering how to create a fabulous HDR photo. It's really (not) simple. All you have to do is take a camera, and edit the exposure compensation so it's at minimal exposure. Then you gradually bring it up taking 7 photos without moving the camera AT ALL. Not even slightly. Once you have 7 photos from minimal exposure to maximum exposure import the files onto your computer. Then, you open photoshop, (If you don't have photoshop, look up instructions online) and go to "File", then "Automatic", then click "Merge to HDR pro" and select you're seven photos. Photoshop will then take about 2-5 minutes to merge the photos. Then you'll get a whole bunch of setting on the side of the screen, and you can fiddle with them until you get the desired effect. Finally save the photo as a .JPEG instead of .psd. There! HDR photos in only- um- 7? No... 9? No... 13 easy steps! YAAAAY!!! Or you know, if you have that type of camera, just click the auto-take HDR pics button... that brings it down to 8 steps... But, since I've never tried it before, I wouldn't know if it has the desired effect or not. I do think it makes the shots steadier though.

Attempt at surrealism, looks like an alien world...

Another attempt at surrealism, Still looks a little out of this world...
Especially the bamboo! (in the background) 

So, see that alien world over there? (and by there, I mean left.) That, my friends, (if I can even call you guys friends...) is the effect of HDR photography. (and a camera that emphasizes the color blue...) (man, what's with all of these parentheses?) Anyway, I was told to make it look surreal. I attempted to make it blurry and very colorful, kind of like (my) dreams. However, the camera I used resulted on the color matrix being mostly blue, so that resulted of the stuff being blue. Below, the surrealist portrait, is also an attempt of HDR surrealism. (just in case you have no idea what surrealism is, here you go!) I had my brother Threy sit REALLY still so I could take the HDR Experiment's 7 photos. Then, I made it pretty colorful, messed with the gamma, shading, and saturation, and made the insanity below.

Superimpose! Added experiment onto landscape.

Then, below THIS text, is a new thing that we here at Awesomeness Inc. call SuperImposing. If you didn't just click that link, then you're probably really confused. Basically, Superimposing is moving a portrait of someone, (in this case Threy,) onto a different background. (in this case, my Landscape photo.) Anyway, the first thing I did was move the entire experiment photo on top of the landscape photo in photoshop. Then, I used the "Quick selection" tool to select Threy. I also used this tool to refine it a bit. Then, I clicked the button that said "Refine Edge.' This brought me to a white screen with nothing but the selected pixels. I then fiddled with the feathering, and refine edge tool, and other stuff till I got the desired look. I then positioned him, copied the selected pixels, and hid the other layer. Finally, I had to add text. The text had to be inspirational, and fit with the overall theme. Once I picked my word, (Create, in case you're blind.) I found a font that fit. One that was all said and done, I used layer effects to make it really "pop". Finally, I faded the text to make it blend in. Then, of course, I saved it. Bam! 3 "amazing" HDR examples!








Adios!
-Linden.