High dynamic range photography

HDR is a really useful technique to capture detail that you might not get in a normal exposure

Bracketing exposures is the most common approach to creating high dynamic range (HDR) images. You shoot a range of different exposures of the same scene, which then you combine using post-processing software to achieve a wider dynamic range than the camera sensor can capture. You can use the in-camera HDR function to blend two exposures together, however sometimes you may need five or more exposures to capture the full dynamic range in an image. To do this, set your camera to Aperture Priority or Manual mode and set the ISO, aperture and shutter speed so you have a balanced exposure. Now use the exposure compensation button (if you are in Aperture Priority mode) or change the shutter speed (in Manual mode) to shoot a range of images at different exposures, over- and under-exposing the image. Try Normal, -2 EV, -1 EV, +1EV and +2EV – although this will be scene-dependent. You could use the AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) function, which can be found in the Photo Shooting menu on most cameras (some cameras have a dedicated button labelled BKT). Set a number of frames to shoot and then the exposure differential between each frame. 1 EV (or 1 stop) usually works well for a three- or five-frame bracket. Shooting the images is best done on a tripod so the composition does not change between the shots. Once you’ve shot a bracketed sequence of different exposures, software such as Photomatix Pro, Lightroom and Photoshop can create a merged HDR image. This is an automated process, though it can take the software a fair amount of time to process the image. One downside to bracketing exposures is that you cannot have moving subjects in the image as they will appear as ‘ghosts’ in the merged photo. You also do not have a ‘final’ picture to view while at the location; you have to hope that you shot enough bracketed frames to capture the full dynamic range of the scene. If you have a Nikon camera that has a sensor capable of capturing a wide dynamic range, such as a D7500, D780, D850 or any of the Z-series models, you probably won’t need to bracket images unless in real extremes of light. In your post-processing software, reprocess the same single Raw image, moving the Shadows, Highlights, White and Black sliders to create regular, under- and overexposed variations, from which you can create an HDR image in the normal way, and which also allows you to have movement in the image.