Sunday, June 17, 2012

"Do you do HDR?"

I occasionally get this question from prospective clients, and I always feel as though I have to be on my guard a bit when responding, because there are so many misconceptions about HDR among non-photographers, and even among many photographers. Even experienced photographers use the term HDR to refer to different kinds of processes, although always to refer to a process to deal with a very high-contrast scene, and usually to a process that involves digitally combining multiple exposures.

Some people are under the impression that HDR produces superior results and some that it produces awful, garish results. Actually, neither of these is inherently the case with any process that might loosely fall within the definition of HDR. Rather than confuse non-photographers with a discussion of what HDR is or is not and what its characteristics are, I would simply suggest that those who commission professional photographers determine whether or not they like a particular photographer's work and whether that photographer can satisfactorily handle the assignment.

For those who would like to learn more about the various techniques and definitions of HDR, I have several blog articles on the subject in the techniques category:

  1. "HDR has More Pop?"
  2. High Dynamic Range Imaging, Supplementary Lighting and Real Estate Photography
  3. Michael Freeman Revisits HDR

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