Probably the most impressive part of that process is the fact that if you had shaky hands and moved the camera between the first and second exposure (you don’t have to use a tripod anymore, remember?), the camera will figure out the best way to merge all three images together so that the major features will overlap, resulting in no double-vision. Impressive!

In addition to having the camera choose how much bracketing to do for you, the camera also lets you specify a bracketing range for your HDR images in case you’re not happy with what the camera chooses. Just go to MENU --> 5 -->DRO / AUTO HDR --> HDR AUTO and then use the LEFT or RIGHT cursor buttons to choose specific bracketing strengths: anywhere from 1.0 EV to 6.0 EV.

Please don’t expect this feature to produce some of the over-cooked uber-HDR examples you’ve probably seen online where the image looks absolutely unreal. The purpose of this feature is really to help make the scene look a little more like your eye saw it – but in a natural way. Note also that High Dynamic Range is practically the equivalent of “low contrast”, so don’t be surprised if your HDR images look a little flat right out of the camera. (There’s a REASON the film and digital sensors were designed with a narrow dynamic range to begin with – it’s because anything wider looked too low-contrast, resulting in images that people said looked flat and lacked punch.)

Okay, time for some examples. Figure 14-14 and Figure 14-17 are real-world examples where the HDR function performed admirably.

WONDERFUL TIP: A great fringe benefit of the HDR function is that noise in the image is reduced. This is because the random noise in high ISO images is averaged away in the camera when the three images are merged (the same reason Multi-Frame Noise Reduction (MFNR) works). Fortuitous synergy!

Figure 14-17: HDR Level 3 helps to de-silhouette the foreground. (And, yes, “silhouette” is now a verb. :-) )

TIP: When you think of HDR images, you might think of über-processed unreal-looking images such as this one by Domingo Leiva (image used with permission):

Images like these may be called HDR (and in fact they are), but what you see is a result of a secondary process called Tone Mapping which no digital camera can do. (More of Domingo’s work can be found on his website: http://dleiva.com)

These are all examples where things worked out well. In the course of preparing for this book I tried to take many, many other illustrative examples where HDR didn’t seem to have the effect I was seeking. (See Figure 14-18 for an example). This may very well happen to you, too when you start playing with this feature. Figure 14-15 provides a visual explanation of what’s going on. Both the DRO and the HDR functions work well but only when the dynamic range of the subject is within a well-specified range.

Figure 14-18: Sometimes the scene you’re trying to capture exceeds the dynamic range of what HDR can do. The moral to the story is “HDR will do its best job in only certain situations where the total dynamic range is about 18 stops”.

TIP: I’ve found that it’s best to lock the exposure lock on your highlights before shooting HDR images – otherwise your highlights have a greater chance of blowing out.

Figure 14-19: Here’s a subject in bright light whose dynamic range barely fit into what the sensor could capture. Of the three techniques (DRO Auto, Forced DRO, and HDR), DRO Auto produced the most natural looking image. (That’s why I like this feature so much.) (And really, who paints their house black?)

14.3 DRO vs. HDR

Okay, so these two functions try to do the same thing under similarly bad light but go about it in very different ways. How do they compare? Two examples are below. Figure 14-19 shows a situation in bright light. Figure 14-20 shows a scene with poor light taken three different ways; and Figure 14-22 shows some close-ups of the yellow rectangles so you can see the tradeoffs of both methods.

The upshot? There is no upshot – the two tools work differently and will each be well-suited to different images. In good light, either tool can be the winner. In low light, if your subject is not moving, then HDR produces superior results (mostly in the area of low noise), although the camera will say “Processing…” for several seconds after each image. If your subject is moving and/or you need to shoot rapidly (for example, if you’re a photojournalist shooting at high ISO in impossibly low light of a non-stationary subject), then DRO is really your best option, and you can shoot in B&W mode (see Section 6.26.5) to make the scene look visually more palatable.

Figure 14-20: The same poorly-lit scene taken three different ways. Figure 14-22 shows you close-ups of the yellow rectangles.

Figure 14-21: HDR photography can help balance indoor and outdoor light, like this interior design shot (left, courtesy real estate photographer Jukka Toyli), and make a nighttime scene just come alive (right, courtesy me).