High Dynamic Range photography is all about taking an image with a range of brightness larger than your display device can handle and taming it to deliver an attractive and believable image. No matter which HDR software package you use it’s inherent in the HDR process that you will have to make critical decisions about how you want to handle pixels that need to be wrestled back into your display’s dynamic range.

Shooting and teaching pro James Brandon gives us a tip on how to tame muddy highlights that can happen by over processing. This is the first in a series of valuable tips on HDR photography James will be providing us each month for our blog and newsletters. Let’s dive in!

TIP: Don't Let Your Whites Get Muddy!

One of the more common mistakes I see in HDR is the loss of correct color in a photograph. This could be from pushing specific channels too far like your reds, or from trying too hard to get a "properly exposed image." One mistake that I've been seeing frequently are the muddy whites caused by forcing an image’s histogram into submission. If you simply didn't capture full range of light in a scene, but still tell a program like HDR Express to get rid of any white clipping, the program will take your whites and turn them muddy to make you happy. Don't fall victim to this processing fail! Here's a screenshot from HDR Express of what I'm talking about.

Muddy whites are a dead giveaway to a poor HDR image, so avoid them like the plague. It's ok to have blown highlights sometimes! Sure, it would have been nice to have captured the full range of light, but this isn't a perfect world, and that isn't always going to happen. Instead, pull your Highlights slider back until those white start to look clean again. Mess around with the other sliders a bit and you'll be surprised at how much detail you actually may still be able to pull out.

In this version, I pulled back the highlights slider to make the highlights look cleaner. To see if your highlights are blown, you can either look at the histogram which I pointed to in the top right, or you can click the "H" above the histogram to activate the blown highlights overlay which you can now see in red in the image. If you're still hooked on bringing in the detail, take your darkest RAW file and pull the exposure down to see if you can bring out the details. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Cheers, and happy shooting!

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Outback Photo puts on, what could be called, some of the best HDR Photography Workshops available today. As described on their website, attendees will "Learn the best strategies for visualizing, evaluating, and setting up the technical parameters of the (HDR) shoot including the limitations of combining multiple exposure values in a single image."

The workshops are instructed by Brad Polt-Jones & Uwe Steinmueller and are targeted at the intermediate to advanced photographer. The first workshop is conducted at Fort Point in San Francisco. The second workshop is also in San Francisco at an inner city location that lends itself to stylized image making.

We cornered instructor Uwe Steinmueller to get an idea of how he approaches these seminars. The images shown are by Uwe and Bettina Steinmueller.

Q: What kind of photographic student arrives at your workshop door in respect to compositional and technical expertise?

A: We did quite a few workshops at Future Light with beginners and more advanced students at the same time. An up and coming photographer will get lots of new information and I would not be surprised if a very experienced photographer finds something new as well. Our workshops are about composition and technique. It depends on the student what is more in focus.

One workshop is on location at Fort Point just under the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. The other workshop is in an urban area of San Francisco with graffiti and all sorts of different edgy elements. This workshop focus’ more on computers and post processing though we still get out and shoot quite a bit.

If a student is new to HDR we have to teach the technical part before we look at the compositional part. The two always end up coming together. Some students need the technique first and some need help with composition but all come out learning something new. It’s always about the photo. In the end you want to get the technique out of the way and concentrate on your photographic vision.

Q: Your personal work seems to focus on fine art stills and landscapes. Does this affect how you teach your workshops?

A: I would call our (Bettina and I) work landscapes and urban landscapes. For urban landscapes let’s call it nature impacting urban structures. We don’t focus on people shooting much because I don’t feel I do people justice and shoot them they way they see themselves. HDR is not really the best match for people photos. Our images, most of the time, are very quiet. They see something each of sees in a different way. We are open to so many different styles.

If we can teach the student something in our workshops, it’s to trust their own eyes. We don’t want the students to copy what we do but to follow their own vision.

Now, if someone replicates one of Ansel Adam’s shots then I say “good for them”. But the chances of that happening are near zero. They will most likely never be Ansel but they can be themselves. They have to like what they’re shooting.

Q: Do you ever see your workshop students have that “ah-ha” moment when some technique or artistic nuance suddenly makes sense to them?

A: Yeah, when the people see what tone-mapping can do to their images, how it captures gradations in the highlights and opens details in shadows without noise.

In the HDR workshops a powerful moment is usually when they realize that HDR enhances what they’re doing. When a student replicates the “grunge” look in one of their photos it really gets them excited because they’ve replicated a trend look. But, the real ah-ha moment is when they realize that HDR can give them a personal look.

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We finally caught up with the Unified Color HDR Contest winner, the busy Scott Marmer for a short conversation. We wanted to see how a non-professional works HDR photography into their life and how HDR Expose can be the tool to make it happen.

Here's Scott in his own words. And, you can check out his website at http://www.scottanddaria.com/

Q: Are you a full time photographer?

A: It’s a hobby of mine. I’ve been doing it more seriously for the last two years. I started by taking photos on vacation, and I liked how some of them turned out. Then I studied and learned a little more technique. Then, I bought a more capable camera.

Q: What did you end up buying?

A: I purchased a Canon Digital Rebel XSI with an 18-55 and 55-250 lens. I try to travel pretty light because I have my normal luggage as well. For the China trip I ended up bringing a Gorilla Pod which turned out to be a great thing because I used it to make the winning photo.

Q: That winning photo was in a cave in China? Did you know about those caves in advance?

A: Yes. It was a planned stop on the trip.

Q: Is it difficult to travel in China?

A: We went with a tour group because this was our first trip to China. We thought it would be easier to go with a group and it turned out to be the right move.

Q: What were your impressions of China?

A: It was fascinating. They are going through strong growth and it was interesting to see the contrast between dusty old storefronts next to ultra modern skyscrapers. It inspired me to create a video slide show of photos I had taken in China called China: Traveling Through Time, which takes the viewer on a trip from the ancient Terracotta Warriors of Xian through the modern skyscrapers of Shanghai. The national mood seems pretty positive, and they are embracing capitalism despite its strange relationship to communism. I would recommend the trip to my friends.

Q: What got you into HDR photography?

A: I think partly it was seeing cool shots that had been done on the web and also wanting to have the ability to capture a wider range of light and go beyond the sensors range limitations.

Q: Was HDR hard to understand initially?

A: I use HDR as the scene dictates. I guess there was a learning curve because you have to start with understanding how to get the correct captures. Then processing on the computer has to be mastered.

Q: What was your reaction to winning the contest?

A: I was very excited to win and it was a great honor to be recognized by the judges and the being selected by the website visitors. I was surprised. There was a sizable group of finalists and a lot of wonderful images and to be chosen from, so it was great to win.

Q: What’s next?

A: I’m still excited to go out and shoot whenever I can, either in the area or when I can travel further to great locations.

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Scott Marmer of San Jose, California is the Grand Prize Winner of its Unified Color True Vision HDR Photo Contest. Selected by public vote, Marmer’s photo “Reed Flute Cave” received 21% of the total votes cast and was chosen from a carefully curated selection of 45 images created with Unified Color’s powerful HDR technology. Marmer has won the Grand Prize of a photo workshop through National Geographic Expeditions and a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

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