The following scene with a motorcycle in a garage provides an ideal situation for a photographer to take advantage of an extreme dynamic range that a 32–bit file is capable of containing. An HDR file itself was created by merging eight separate exposures of the scene that captured detail from the deepest shadows to the brightest highlights of this very high–contrast lighting scenario.
This first image shows a 32–bit HDR file right after it was created in Photoshop. This one file now contains an immense amount of data covering an entire range of the visible light spectrum. There is so much data that a monitor is simply not capable of showing it all at once, which is why the image looks blown out in the highlights.
Yet the information is there. A simple exposure adjustment reveals all the detail in the windows and parts of the floor.
Keeping the image in 32–bit several adjustments were made combined with very precise masks to bring out a great deal of detail and local contrast in both shadows and highlights to emphasize textures and give the photograph overall shape and dimension. This first version has a look of a very warm late afternoon light coming through the windows and illuminating the interior.
The second version was significantly brightened while preserving the detail in the highlights. The shadows still maintain their textural quality. As long as the image is kept in 32–bit data is never thrown out. This means that an image can be reworked over and over again and will never loose any information on either end of the histogram. The warm light was replaced by the high–noon sun. See a larger version of this final image in the gallery section.
The last screenshot shows a section of the motorcycle with full detail and contrast in both chrome and black metal parts. HDR images tend to look extremely clean. If initial exposures were shot properly, an HDR file will be noise–free in the shadows and will not contain any banding in large solid colored areas—the two most common problems with even the most high–end digital single captures.
After all the work was completed in 32–bit mode, the image was finally converted to 16–bit for delivery to the client.
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All photographs © Gregor Halenda, 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Imaging work by DOT Editions.