Let's start with an explanation of dynamic range since it's pretty likely
that it'll be easier to understand what a lot of it is if you know what it is in
the first place. Dynamic range is much like a contrast ratio, a measurement of
the difference between the brightest part of an image and the darkest. Unlike
contrast ratios, which use linear numbers to represent the luminance of
the brightest whites and darkest blacks in an easy way that anyone can
understand, dynamic range is measured in f-stops. Each of which represents this
difference in powers of two. Okay, so let's do an example. A pocket camera
rated at six f-stops of dynamic range can correctly capture an image that has
bright spots that are 64 times brighter
than the darkest shadows. This, according to Wikipedia anyway, is about
what our eyes could perceive if they operated like a still camera and just
took snapshots as we went about our business. But they don't. Instead, when
we look around, our eyes are adjusting constantly to achieve an estimated
maximum dynamic range of as much as 20 stops. To put that in perspective, the
best cinema grade digital cameras top out in the neighborhood of 14 to 16
stops of dynamic range today. And while that allows their operators to capture
beautiful images that have a mixture of bright light and deep shadows without
clipping or losing so much detail that all the camera captures in a given
region is complete blackness or blown out pure white. It would appear that to
achieve what the eye can more is basically better and we've still got a
lot of work to do, right? Enter HDR or high dynamic range imaging. This
technique attempts to make the image on your phone or camera look more true to
life by revealing more details in the shadowy areas of an image and in blown
out bright areas by exposing the image multiple times to compensate for the
limited dynamic range of your capture equipment. It's not a new technique by
any means and basically all HDR implementations work in pretty much the
same way. The camera records an image multiple times in rapid succession at
varying exposure or brightness levels. Then software techniques are either
automagically or manually applied to blend them together into one image,
borrowing the details in the shadows from the brightest image and the details
in the bright light from the darkest one and putting them all together in an
attempt to recreate what the eye would see if you were just looking around
normally at the scene that you're trying to capture. In theory, it's great. And
there are certainly situations where an experienced VSSLR user with a tripod and
a very still subject can tastefully use HDR to produce very pleasing images. But
there are some challenges. Number one is motion. A moving subject will not look
good with HDR because whether you're capturing three images the way most
smartphones do or whether you're capturing 20 plus the way a manual DSLR
user might, someone moving through the shot or even something as subtle as
leaves blowing in the wind will usually completely ruin the image. Number two is
scenes with vivid colors or interesting looking contrast. While HDR
post-processing may bring more color into a dull image, it can have the
opposite effect in an image where you've already got vibrant color. And of
course, if you're looking for like artful high or low contrast, by its very
nature, it will reduce that effect. In fact, the situations where HDR might be
legitimately useful are pretty few and far between. A backlit skier in the
shadow of a tree with a beautiful mountaintop brightly lit landscape
behind her might be better captured with HDR. But this is mostly only true if the
objective of taking the image is to get a more practical image where you can see
the details in the skier's face as well as the landscape because often HDR
counterintuitively ends up looking surreal rather than more natural. But I
think there's a place for that. While many purists may disagree with the use
of HDR entirely, this is the kind of argument that I often have with my
production crew where they might want a super sexy shallow depth of field shot
on a product and I might just want to close the aperture, boost the gain to
high hell and produce an image that allows the viewer to look at any part of
it and get a clear idea of what the heck they're looking at as opposed to
creating something that is better art or more natural looking. Speaking of better
art and more naturally looking, what in the heck were those? You may have
noticed some absolutely stunning examples of HDR landscapes just there.
All of which were downloaded from shutterstock.com using our account,
which we love because of how much easier it's made finding graphics and images
for use in fast as possible. Shutterstock.com has over 35 million
stock images to choose from. All the way from simple little vector graphics that
we use to illustrate the points that we're making to shots of models
depicting emotions that we want to express to beautiful HDR images like the
ones that you just saw. And the best thing about it is that it's hassle-free.
You grab images alakart or in a monthly subscription bundle like us and you
never think about royalties or usage rights again. They've got plans designed
for small groups like us all the way up to enterprisegrade plans suitable for
broadcast television. And it's absolutely free to try. Head over to the
website and use their incredibly powerful search tool to start browsing
their entire image library and pick the ones you want. Just make sure when it's
time to check out, you use offer code techquicky 514 so you can save 20% and
so they'll know who sent you. Thanks Shuttertock for sponsoring today's
episode. Thanks to you, the viewer, for watching. I'd also love to hear your
comments on this topic. Please mash those like and share buttons if you
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Leave a comment on whether you use HDR, what you use it for, and whether you
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