A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

A particularly hot type of photography – really, a type of photography post-processing – these days is HDR, or High Dynamic Range. It’s sort of a misnomer. Let me explain…

Human vision is incredible. In a way, digital cameras are somewhat similar. There is the eye, or the sensor, and the brain, the processor. The sensor just gathers the light and the processor makes sense out of it. Our human vision uses a processor unlike any other. We take in the light around us, but we mix it with the input from our other senses plus our expectations and moving eyes and head and convert it all to what we call vision. We can see all sorts of images unrelated to our subject, and we can instantly tune it out. We see what’s important.

We see over a huge range of light and dark. Technically, this is known as dynamic range. It’s the same term used for audio – the range from the softest flute to the pounding drum of a symphony. In the visual realm, it’s the range of light we, or our cameras, can see and differentiate detail. Human vision has a large dynamic range, but our cameras do not. Not only our cameras, but our displays and printing technology are limited in the range from lightest to darkest.

For HDR imagery, we cheat. We take several exposures which allow us to capture detail from both highlights and shadows, then combine those images using a technique called tone mapping. Remember, we don’t really have a way to show or display the dynamic range our eyes can perceive. Instead, we map the highlights and shadows into this smaller range. Two parts of the image which should be different – one lighter than the other – are shown with the same intensity allowing us show all the detail we wish.

The images can look unreal because, well, they aren’t very real. But they can look very interesting and can be captivating. The term painterly is often used to describe these images.

When I was at Whitewater State Park last Saturday, I took the photograph above. At the time I shot it, the sun had disappeared below the bluffs. The light I was capturing was sunlight reflected by the sky. This light is very even, coming from everywhere in a way. The result is an image with a fairly low dynamic range. The camera is able to capture the entire range of lightness with no trouble. Without applying any postprocessing, the photo will be flat. Another word for flat is boring.

In Lightroom or another photo editor, we can punch up the image to add contrast and color. What we’re doing is sort of the opposite of HDR, but we’re tone mapping just the same. Rather than compressing the dynamic range, we’re expanding it. I nearly always do that with flat images, and the result is often very nice. I liked the photograph I made. (Ansel Adams said, he didn’t take photographs, he made them.)

But we have more options, more possibilities. We can push the limits and see what happens.

When I took this photograph, I saw strong vibrant golds that glowed. That’s what my brain told me. I knew this was a low dynamic range situation, and I knew I would punch it up in Lightroom. But the more I looked at it, the more I wanted. I wanted the colors to jump out at me. I wanted you to feel the golds. I wanted the other shades to work against the gold, providing color contrast, not just lightness contrast. I wanted the dark bark to push the viewer toward the golden leaves and frame them in.

Using mostly Lightroom with a bit of Photoshop help, I think I was able to capture my vision. This image, to me, screams to be printed and printed big. It might not be everyone’s favorite, but it speaks to me. It draws me back to Whitewater in Autumn, to the wonder and splendor of nature. Why do leaves change color if not just for us to see? And to make into a photograph.