High Dynamic Range - HDR

Our eyes work much better than any photographic film or digital sensor. This is obvious when we are looking at a scene that mixes bright lights and darker shadows. While our eyes can see the details in both the highlights and the shadows, when we try to record that scene in a photography the results are often disappointing. This is because the dynamic range of the digital sensor (that is the range from shadows to highlights) is more limited in the sensor than in our eyes. If we try to capture the details in the shadows, the light areas come out all white. If we try to capture the details in the light areas, the dark areas come out all black.

High Dynamic Range photography (HDR) comes to the rescue. HDR is based on taking several pictures of the same scene, each one with a different exposure value and then combine them all into a single photograph. This way, at least theoretically, the result is a picture with a level of detail in both, the highlights and the shadows. At the same time, this gives the photography a new feel, different from traditional photography. These are my first attempts at HDR. The location is Ricketts Glenn State Park in PA. And somehow, while taken these pictures, my neck managed to get in touch with Poison Ivy… no fun!

evening by the lake

getting darker

i like the reflections of the clouds on the water

our morning hike