HDR image of Flathead Lake Montana

View of Flathead lake from Wild Horse Island Montana

A scene I photographed last summer at Flathead lake Montana. This is the view from Wild Horse Island.

This is a good example of a scene where the dynamic range (dark to light areas) of the view was too large to be captured on the sensor.

It was either:

1. Capture the sky and distant water BUT totally Underexpose the Trees in the Foreground … or
2. Have some tree detail but Overexpose the Lake and sky in background

The Benefit of HDR – High Dynamic Range imaging is that you can ‘have Your Cake and Eat it’ – you can capture a wider range of light in one Image.

You do this by taking Photos of different exposure and then combining them.

In this scene I took 3 photos at f/6.3, ISO 200 using a Canon 60D and 16-35mm f/2.8L lens. The exposures were varied by using different shutter speeds (there is a good reason why you vary Shutter speed NOT Aperture – I go into that in my EasyDSLR free sample below). The photos were taken at 1/250 sec (undexposed but sky good), 1/60 sec (normal exposure – some overexposed some underexposed parts), and 1/15sec (overexposed but trees good).

Combine these with your favorite HDR software and presto – an image closer to what your mind perceives on the day.

Get full HDR training in EasyDSLR Gold Course – NOTE: Purchase EasyDSLR and then Choose the UPGRADE TO GOLD Option

or watch a sample from the HDR training Video (I mention the Reason you want to vary Shutter Speed NOT aperture)