Practical HDR: A complete guide to creating High Dynamic Range images with your Digital SLR
by David Nightingale, Steve Luck
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Book Summary Information
Author: David Nightingale, Steve LuckEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-09-14
ISBN: 0240812492
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Focal Press
Book Reviews of Practical HDR: A complete guide to creating High Dynamic Range images with your Digital SLR
Book Review: Well done book by a master photographer
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I've been using HDR techniques for more than a year, but when I look at the images of really talented photographers who have mastered this process I realize that I still have a lot to learn. That's why I was delighted to learn that two books by two masters were recently released. The other, A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff (ISBN 0321679446) is the other, and has its own review. They are related books with different strengths and weaknesses. I encourage you to look at both reviews (and by myself and others) if you have to choose only one. However, both get 5-Stars and if you can buy both your resulting prints will be better for it.
This book is a broad overview of HDR. The opening chapters say what it is about, how it works, and how to create and series of bracketed images for HDR processing. David takes the time to explain the difference between tonemapping and HDR and looks at the pros and cons of various artistic interpretations.
After those basics are covered, he goes into three programs that can be used to merge the images, Photoshop, Photomatix Pro and FDRTools. He looks at the strengths and weaknesses of each, such as the ability to manage small movements (such as camera shake or slight breezes on leaves) via alignment options or the ability to handle artifacts such as halos or grey skies.
Chapter three goes into more details on these three programs, looking at individual sliders and features. A few images are used as examples, with the original 5 bracketed shots shown for comparison. (Note: Most Nikon cameras can be set to do a bracket of 5, but a series of 3 is more common for other brands, including Canon. Again, strengths and weaknesses of each are explored, especially in areas where one program has a feature that isn't available, or easily available in the other(s). For example, FDRTools can be told to use something that moves (like clouds) from just one image. Photoshop can do that with masking. Photomatix has no equivalent.
Chapters 4 and 5 examine the artistic questions that go into post production. It is easy to make HDR images that look like bad 1960s drug trips. The decision on photo-realism vs hyper photo realism is up to the artist/photographer and David examines the techniques and results without bias. Both of these chapters end with a gallery of images from many HDR photographers (including Trey Ratcliff, the author of the other HDR book mentioned above) in order to display a wide variety of interpretations.
David ends the book with a section on post production, dealing with issues such as reducing noise and halos enhancing contrast and even using the tools on a single RAW image to create a simulated HDR effect. The last few pages include another HDR gallery.
The book is produced on high quality paper which showcases the images. They're a pleasure to look at and you could even leave this book on the coffee table for browsing like an Art-of-photography title. It is very well written, clear, easy to understand and contains many useful insights and techniques. Coupled with strong, captivating images, this book is highly recommended.
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Summary of Practical HDR: A complete guide to creating High Dynamic Range images with your Digital SLR
HDR is both a technical solution to the limitations of digital camera sensors, and a creative tool that can give any image much more impact - but it is not without its pitfalls, and it's essential to understand these if you want to take full advantage of this innovative technique. Practical HDR provides you with an abundance of step-by-step examples that will quickly make you an expert on the theory and practice of shooting and processing HDR images, allowing you to get the best possible results every time.
As well as practical advice on shooting and processing, the book also contains a global showcase of inspirational HDR images - you will quickly find that HDR offers unparralleled opportunities for indulging your creative instincts, from photo-realistic to hyper-realism.
*Create stunning HDR images - from photorealistic to the hyper-real
*Covers in-camera image capture and digital darkroom techniques
*Combines sound, step-by-step advice with an inspirational gallery of images
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