What do you think?
Rate this book
Creating HDR Photos: The Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Photography
Since the days of the first photographs, artists have used various techniques to extend the range of lights and darks in their photos. Photographic masters such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston spent countless hours burning and dodging their prints to create images with extended dynamic range.
With the advent of digital photography, new horizons in extending dynamic range are possible. HDR techniques now make it easy to extend the dynamic range of an image well beyond the capability of the human eye.
In Creating HDR Photos , bestselling author Harold Davis covers the complete HDR workflow, from choosing the subjects that work best for HDR through processing RAW files to unlock the dynamic power of HDR. You’ll learn how to photograph multiple exposures and blend them into a single HDR image using various software programs. Best of all, you will find out how to control the style of your HDR images, from subtle to hyper-real, using a range of photographic and post-processing techniques.
Packed with stunning image examples, Creating HDR Photos brings this essential digital technique within every photographer’s grasp.
With the advent of digital photography, new horizons in extending dynamic range are possible. HDR techniques now make it easy to extend the dynamic range of an image well beyond the capability of the human eye.
In Creating HDR Photos , bestselling author Harold Davis covers the complete HDR workflow, from choosing the subjects that work best for HDR through processing RAW files to unlock the dynamic power of HDR. You’ll learn how to photograph multiple exposures and blend them into a single HDR image using various software programs. Best of all, you will find out how to control the style of your HDR images, from subtle to hyper-real, using a range of photographic and post-processing techniques.
Packed with stunning image examples, Creating HDR Photos brings this essential digital technique within every photographer’s grasp.
- GenresPhotography
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
14 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Harold Davis
149Ìýbooks14ÌýfollowersHarold Davis is widely recognized as a leading contemporary photographer and artist. He is also the author of more than 30 books, including Creating HDR Photos: The Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Photography from Amphoto/Random House and Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Worlds with Harold Davis which is published by Focal Press, and has been called "one of the most beautiful books ever created."
Harold Davis believes that advances in the technology and craft of digital photography have created an entirely new art form. Trained as a classical photographer and painter, his photographic images are made using special HDR (High Dynamic Range) capture techniques that extend the range of visual information beyond what the eye can normally see.
Davis creates and processes his images using wide-gamut and alternative digital methods that he has invented. His techniques combine the craft of photography with the skills of a painter.
Photographic adventures and assignments have taken him across the Brooks Range, the northernmost mountains in Alaska. He has photographed the World Trade Towers, hanging out of a small plane, followed in the footsteps of Seneca Ray Stoddard, a 19th-century photographer of the Adirondacks, and created human interest photo stories about the residents of Love Canal, an environmental disaster area.
Harold is well-known for his night photography and experimental ultra-long exposure techniques, use of vibrant, saturated colors in landscape compositions, and beautiful creative floral imagery.
He makes his over-sized original prints on unusual substrates such as pearlized metallic and washi rice papers. Davis states, "I believe that nothing like my prints has ever been seen before. They simply could not have been created until recently. I've been able to innovate in a domain where many techniques and crafts have come together for the first time. My prints are made meticulously, and have a 200-year archival rating for ink and paper if they are handled properly.
Harold Davis believes that advances in the technology and craft of digital photography have created an entirely new art form. Trained as a classical photographer and painter, his photographic images are made using special HDR (High Dynamic Range) capture techniques that extend the range of visual information beyond what the eye can normally see.
Davis creates and processes his images using wide-gamut and alternative digital methods that he has invented. His techniques combine the craft of photography with the skills of a painter.
Photographic adventures and assignments have taken him across the Brooks Range, the northernmost mountains in Alaska. He has photographed the World Trade Towers, hanging out of a small plane, followed in the footsteps of Seneca Ray Stoddard, a 19th-century photographer of the Adirondacks, and created human interest photo stories about the residents of Love Canal, an environmental disaster area.
Harold is well-known for his night photography and experimental ultra-long exposure techniques, use of vibrant, saturated colors in landscape compositions, and beautiful creative floral imagery.
He makes his over-sized original prints on unusual substrates such as pearlized metallic and washi rice papers. Davis states, "I believe that nothing like my prints has ever been seen before. They simply could not have been created until recently. I've been able to innovate in a domain where many techniques and crafts have come together for the first time. My prints are made meticulously, and have a 200-year archival rating for ink and paper if they are handled properly.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 15, 2012
Whether he is writing a book, giving a webinar, or (presumably, though I have no direct experience of this) teaching a workshop, certain things are consistently true about Harold Davis:
1. He is a skilled, enthusiastic, even passionate teacher.
2. He communicates very clearly.
In Harold Davis you have a mentor, a friend who loves what he does and is eager to share it with you so that you can enjoy doing it as well. And he does this in a clear, informal writing style that never degenerates into condescension or into annoying humor. Quite simply, he wants you to learn. He demystifies what it's all about, assuring you that it's quite easy. Most importantly, in opening up the world of HDR he points out, more than once, that HDR is not an end in itself but a technique to be used in service of your artistic expression. If your first reaction on seeing a photo is awareness of technique, then something is wrong. I find this encouraging, because there are photo websites that pointedly highlight soulless photos that do nothing but show off the photographer's technical prowess. Davis is one prominent photographer who reacts against this (Rob Sheppard is another who comes to mind), and I'm glad to see this happening. If you've dismissed HDR as nothing more than a process of creating unnatural-looking eye-candy images, Davis shows convincingly that this is not true at all--and he has historical evidence to support him as he relates HDR to processing methods used by the great photographers before digital was ever thought of.
As an author, Davis is a publisher's dream. In his Intro he tells you what he will be teaching (to novices as well as to those with some experience of HDR), dispels myths about HDR, explains how his book differs from others on the subject (and, by implication, why it's better), and describes what HDR is--and then throughout the book he fulfills what he has promised. Creating HDR Photos is well organized and designed to encourage the reader to press on. The opening chapters offer a survey of the different methods for creating HDR photos--from capture through to postprocessing--along with summaries of how it's done. The author's own photos on these pages are accompanied by a description of the process he used, and they act as "teasers" to make you want to go further, to read, in later chapters, the details of how to use these techniques. And if one technique strikes you as so interesting that you want to skip and learn more about that one immediately, those intro chapters helpfully provide the page numbers on which to find that detailed guidance. The book finishes with a list of resources, a very helpful glossary of terms, and a well-organized index.
Davis claims that reading this book is the next best thing to attending one of his workshops. I can well believe that. If you want to learn about HDR from a knowledgeable, nonintimidating teacher, then buy Creating HDR Photos.
1. He is a skilled, enthusiastic, even passionate teacher.
2. He communicates very clearly.
In Harold Davis you have a mentor, a friend who loves what he does and is eager to share it with you so that you can enjoy doing it as well. And he does this in a clear, informal writing style that never degenerates into condescension or into annoying humor. Quite simply, he wants you to learn. He demystifies what it's all about, assuring you that it's quite easy. Most importantly, in opening up the world of HDR he points out, more than once, that HDR is not an end in itself but a technique to be used in service of your artistic expression. If your first reaction on seeing a photo is awareness of technique, then something is wrong. I find this encouraging, because there are photo websites that pointedly highlight soulless photos that do nothing but show off the photographer's technical prowess. Davis is one prominent photographer who reacts against this (Rob Sheppard is another who comes to mind), and I'm glad to see this happening. If you've dismissed HDR as nothing more than a process of creating unnatural-looking eye-candy images, Davis shows convincingly that this is not true at all--and he has historical evidence to support him as he relates HDR to processing methods used by the great photographers before digital was ever thought of.
As an author, Davis is a publisher's dream. In his Intro he tells you what he will be teaching (to novices as well as to those with some experience of HDR), dispels myths about HDR, explains how his book differs from others on the subject (and, by implication, why it's better), and describes what HDR is--and then throughout the book he fulfills what he has promised. Creating HDR Photos is well organized and designed to encourage the reader to press on. The opening chapters offer a survey of the different methods for creating HDR photos--from capture through to postprocessing--along with summaries of how it's done. The author's own photos on these pages are accompanied by a description of the process he used, and they act as "teasers" to make you want to go further, to read, in later chapters, the details of how to use these techniques. And if one technique strikes you as so interesting that you want to skip and learn more about that one immediately, those intro chapters helpfully provide the page numbers on which to find that detailed guidance. The book finishes with a list of resources, a very helpful glossary of terms, and a well-organized index.
Davis claims that reading this book is the next best thing to attending one of his workshops. I can well believe that. If you want to learn about HDR from a knowledgeable, nonintimidating teacher, then buy Creating HDR Photos.
Read
May 30, 2012Since the days of the first photographs, artists have used various techniques to extend the range of lights and darks in their photos. Photographic masters such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston spent countless hours burning and dodging their prints to create images with extended dynamic range.
With the advent of digital photography, new horizons in extending dynamic range are possible. HDR techniques now make it easy to extend the dynamic range of an image well beyond the capability of the human eye.
In Creating HDR Photos, bestselling author Harold Davis covers the complete HDR workflow, from choosing the subjects that work best for HDR through processing RAW files to unlock the dynamic power of HDR. You’ll learn how to photograph multiple exposures and blend them into a single HDR image using various software programs. Best of all, you will find out how to control the style of your HDR images, from subtle to hyper-real, using a range of photographic and post-processing techniques.
Packed with stunning image examples, Creating HDR Photos brings this essential digital technique within every photographer’s grasp.
With the advent of digital photography, new horizons in extending dynamic range are possible. HDR techniques now make it easy to extend the dynamic range of an image well beyond the capability of the human eye.
In Creating HDR Photos, bestselling author Harold Davis covers the complete HDR workflow, from choosing the subjects that work best for HDR through processing RAW files to unlock the dynamic power of HDR. You’ll learn how to photograph multiple exposures and blend them into a single HDR image using various software programs. Best of all, you will find out how to control the style of your HDR images, from subtle to hyper-real, using a range of photographic and post-processing techniques.
Packed with stunning image examples, Creating HDR Photos brings this essential digital technique within every photographer’s grasp.
January 19, 2014
This is a nice my written book that demonstrates a wide range of tools and techniques to create HDR photos. It gives great examples on a wide selection of subjects, provides workable instructions. It is great book for beginners as well as middle level photographer.
January 17, 2013
Great book illustrating the concepts of HDR. Approaches the techniques of capturing for HDR and also the different types of processing one can do to create an HDR image. Very informative.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.