In issue 84 you explained about Nikon SLRs that have an HDR shooting mode. Can I emulate this with my older camera, to keep detail in pale skies?

Harry Battle

Jason says... Traditionally, you would do this by attaching an ND grad filter (neutral density, graduated) to your lens. An alternative method is to take two shots with different exposure settings to suit the land and the sky. It’s best to mount the camera on a tripod or other fixed support to avoid any movement between the two shots. You can then blend the two images together using an image-editing program that supports layers, such as Photoshop. It’s also possible to work with a single exposure captured in Raw image quality mode. Be careful to avoid blown highlights in the sky, then you can process two versions of the same Raw file, creating light and dark versions that you can merge together, rather than needing two separate shots. Both produce perfectly acceptable HDR shots.

Thanks to the good dynamic range of Nikon DSLRs, you can often process light and dark versions of the same Raw file, then merge them into a single image with extended dynamic range