Winter Photography Projects: Try HDR Photography

43. Try HDR Photography
It seems like the world of photography has gone HDR crazy. HDR involves taking two or more identical frames at different exposures and then combining them using selected software (eg PhotoMatix, or new versions of Photoshop and PaintShop Pro) to create images with an extended dynamic range or, if you really go mad with the sliders, a totally surreal appearance.  here’s a quick guide.

Shooting: Minimising camera shake and movement is essential when looking to get a crystal-clear HDR image. Set up your camera on a sturdy tripod and shoot either bracketed images or manually, using a remote, cable release or the self-timer. Where camera settings are concerned, try to shoot in Raw at all times. This will allow you to both perform any minor tweaks needed at a later date and capture the maximum amount of image data for your final image. To determine what range of exposures to use, set the camera to auto and meter for both the lightest and the darkest areas of the proposed shot, then set the camera to the middle of the two and shoot the required images in either AEB or manually. 

Combining: For those of you who already have Photoshop CS2 or CS3, it isn’t essential for you to indulge in a specialist item of HDR software just yet, as Photoshop allows you to achieve excellent results with its ‘Merge to HDR’ feature.

44. Take a Pic Every Day
Embark on a project to take a picture of a landscape scene every day for a year and upload your efforts to one of the dozens of online galleries dedicated to ‘365 photography’. Or you could take a picture of a member of your family. To see some examples visit:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/365days/

45. Join a Camera Club or Online Photo Community
There’s nothing like the camaraderie and companionship of like-minded people to give your hobby a kick start. The sharing of knowledge, the constructive criticism of each other’s work and the inspiration gained from each other can be a valuable boost to your own photography.

46. Delete 100 Duff Photos & Save Disc Space
Like many people, you save every picture you take, the chances are your hard disc is groaning with the strain. It should be easy to find and dump 100 pictures you’ll never want to print or show the world, and at an average 3MB per file that’s 300MB worth of space you’ll save. When you’ve done that, why not try to find another 100? It will be like buying a new hard disc drive, only cheaper.