Project 365: Day 15

One way to make simple subjects more interesting is to create a "High Dynamic Range" or HDR photograph. HDR images typically combine a range of varying exposure values (EV) from several photos to create a higher range of luminosity in the finished product. My camera has an "Automatic Exposure Bracketing" (AEB) setting that takes three photos of the same scene; one underexposed, one correctly exposed, and one overexposed. These photos can then be merged in Photoshop to create an image where the highlights and shadows are more balanced. For example I wanted the subject in this photo of our living room to be the post in the foreground. Had this been a single image correctly exposed on the post, the shadows in the background would have looked too dark and the highlights in the windows would have been too bright. Instead I set my AEB to +/- 2EV, meaning take three pictures; one underexposed by 2 stops, one correctly exposed, and one overexposed by 2 stops. Merging all three photos brings out the detail in both the brightly lit trees outside and the dark features of the living room, along with the subject in the foreground. These days digital cameras and smart phones have HDR features built in, and spit out a ready to use JPEG, but the principle remains the same.

Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO-100 f/4 @ 2 sec, 3 images +/- 2EV