First Steps in HDR Photography
In these past couple of months I’ve taken photography as a hobby , as a way to escape from the design world . Although I love what I’m doing and I can’t imagine doing anything else , design and developing is slowly starting to take its toll on me . Spending 8-10 hours a day writing code is not fun . So I thought of doing something different in my free time …and I stumbled upon Trey Ratcliff’s website called Stuck in Customs . That’s when I first heard about HDR and HDR Photography.
Trey’s HDR Tutorial helped me a lot in understanding a few basic rules (levels , AB function , shooting RAW , AP Mode etc) . Next step was to buy a camera so I started reading some reviews. My first choice was a Canon EOS 1000D but then I found something really interesting : for some reason the Samsung GX-20 kit was really cheap here ~680$ .All the reviews were great (here’s a GX-20 review) , it had everything I wanted so I decided to buy one.
My first impressions were great :
- Good , sharp photos using the kit lens
- The Anti Shake feature is great for beginners like me
- Decent photos in low-light situations
The only thing I didn’t like is that it’s pretty heavy . Carrying around my neck for 8 hours a day wasn’t that good but I got used to it .
Trip to London – First HDR Photos
About 10 days after I bought the camera, I went to London (lovely city btw) for a week long trip.I didn’t really had the time to play around with it before the trip, so it was the first real test for me. Bear in mind that I had absolutely no previous training 
. Click to enlarge.
London Eye
London Eye Original Photo
London Eye HDR
Thames Barrier
Thames Barrier Original
Thames Barrier HDR
Big Ben
Big Ben Original Photo
Big Ben HDR
Boy in Kensington Gardens
Boy in Kensington Gardens Original Photo
Boy in Kensington Gardens HDR
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge Original Photo
Westminster Bridge HDR
Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum Original Photo
Natural History Museum HDR
Useful Resources
- A world in HDR Book
- Andrzej Dragan HDR tutorial
- HDR Guide – Vanilla Days
- 35 Expressive Examples of Stunning HDR Photography
- HDR/Photomatix tutorial
Hey – great stuff – glad you are having fun with HDR – I can tell you are way into it and you can appreciate the results – this is all super-impressive for your first HDR outing — really – it’s all very nice!
Keep having fun with HDR – and let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks Trey! Your posts were extremely helpful . Can’t wait to order your book after the holidays(hopefully it will still be in stock
)
Hiya. You linked to my old HDR tutorial there
I’ve got a new one which is much better and much more up to date than the old one. http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr_tutorial/
Enjoy, Pete.
Post Updated . Thanks for letting me know.
[...] some of my HDR photography (If you missed it here’s the post I’m referring to – First Steps in HDR Photography . Now’s time for some HD Wallpapers . These wallpapers are ranging from nature and space to [...]