Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography (A Lark Photography Book)

I actually bought this book partly to improve my HDR skills and partly based on the high ratings it has recieved. If you are looking to read a book about HDR, you probably have tried a few things using either photoshop or free software downloads. You are competitive enough to play with the available sliders, options and other enhancement tools available for each step during the workflow. If you already own an HDR software, like, Photomatix Pro, you probably are looking for a comprehensive guide / tutorial to make your photos look like the ones you have seen on the web, photo books or youtube tutorials. Unfortunately, this book is not of great help in this regard unless you are a total novice to HDR. It explains the basics very well. That's a whole lot of theory probably makes you better informed but not necessarily makes your images stand out. Printing some high quality images (illustrations) in the book with relevant technical information is helpful. But this book has well over 150 images, of which, many are totally irrelevant to what was being discussed in those sections. No doubt, those images are very pleasing and definitely the work of art, however, most of them are in no way help you improve your skills. In other words, they kind a distract you from your reading. The book does not really provide many more useful information than the Photomatix Pro Tips menu that is built in to the program and is readily available for almost every action that you perform using the software. For Photomatix Pro users, whom this book is supposedly a tutorial, there is a bigger disappointment. I guess this was written for older versions of Photomatix. The menu options, as described in step by step tutorial in this book simply do not exist in the current version of Photomatrix Pro. It shouldn't bother readers who are familiar with the recent version of Photomatix Pro, but the learners are the ones who need step by step tutorial! I really was reluctant to write such a critical review. It takes a lot of knowledge, hard work and dedication to bring out a book such as this, while criticizing is very easy. Book has several eye-catching high quality HDR images and explains the fundamentals of HDR very well. At least from my personal experience, it fell short of what I wanted out of this - an in-depth tutorial/guide to make quality HDR images using Photomatix Pro.

High Dynamic Range, (A Lark Photographic Book) HDR is a photographic technique that will improve most of yourTri Pod photography. The area this technique would be used is outdoor scenic photography. The biggest problemmost photographers find in outdoor scenic photography would be light. I know, quite often you could take a well exposed image and for general purposes it will look good under general conditions.Where HDR comes in, is that all light, (except very overcast flat lighting) has highlights and shadows, to improve your image is you take that 1st good exposure, then with cameras still on trip pod, and the f stop set, (with the shutter speed), over exposure one stop, then under expose one shot, (that makes 3 exposures) (some photographers go one step further, they do two over, and two under, making 5 exposures.With these 3 or 5 images you go to your computer, (this is where the book, High Dynamic Range book comes in) it guides you through the entire program. Your computer, (when you follow instructions) takes these, images, the over exposed onesgive your better shadows and the under exposed exposure does a better job on the high lights. It merges all these images toone, with the best of all, to obtain one great image, with better shadows and high lights.High Dynamic Range, guides your through and makes your photography stunning.Great Book, I highly recommend (High Dynamic Range) to any photographer wanting to improve their work, and is not familiar, or knows all thje HDR steps.Robert (25 years CSI crime scene Photography, retired and now doing scene work in the Glacier National Park area)and did not know about this until about 3 years ago. (just old, and it was not done in Crime Scene Photography)!Robert

I've been pretty much serious about photography for a good long time now, but my interest in it was beginning to dissipate. Couple of months ago I ran into a picture of one of the cars on the Angels Flight railway that stymied me. I couldn't tell whether it was a touched up photograph or a photographically real painting done in the style of the Renaissance. I tracked down the photographer and how he did it, and that's where I first learned about HDR (high dynamic range) photography. This technique goosed my flagging interest in photography again!The human eye can only see so much detail. The digital camera sensor can see much less, and the now-almost-extinct medium of film even less. So how do you take a picture where you have bright highlights and deep shadows, and show all of it? Well ideally, you mount your DSLR camera on a tripod, connect a cable release to it, set it to Aperture mode. Then you set the Bracket feature, and you take at least three shots of the same subject. One will be properly exposed, another underexposed and still another overexposed. Then you put them into your computer using special software (see my review on Photomatix Pro) and the software blends them all into one photo. Presto, you have an HDR image that pretty much mimics the detail that the human eye sees. You can do all sorts of combinations from "real" to "surreal."This book is the perfect one for newcomers to HDR photography. It is well written and beautifully illustrated: gorgeous colors made even more brilliant and sharp because printed on slick stock. If the photos in it don't inspire you to try this technique yourself, then HDR photography probably isn't for you.

This book is a very good intro to HDR photography.Easy to understand and well writen. Nice images and photos.

I was expecting a lot from this book. According to the publisher's blurb, "the best way to master this exciting technology is with this thorough, easy-to-follow, and visually spectacular guide." Visually spectacular, I'll grant. Also gaudy and kitschy: the images chosen are very saturated and colourful. Unfortunately, at least from my perspective, the emphasis is on images that are obviously HDR-processed: very saturated and surreal, rather than naturalistic.If you can see past the garishly-coloured pictures, there is some decent technical advice. Some of it is questionable, some of it is good, and sorting the two out requires some experience with HDR.A much better book is  Mastering HDR Photography: Combining Technology and Artistry to Create High Dynamic Range Images  by Michael Freeman. It suffers from some layout errors, but does a much better job of explaining how to make good HDR images. Mastering HDR Photography: Combining Technology and Artistry to Create High Dynamic Range Images

First the negatives:This book appears to be dated, published in 2008 it references Photoshop CS3. The HDR software has also moved on too.It follows a standard pattern adopted by many HDR books, lots of wow images and general guidance on how to create them.I was disappointed in the area I struggle with, movement in merged images. This is covered with bullet point suggestions and a small paragraph. In general, the content is not difficult to comprehend, but I could not absorb the information without the software up and running so I could refer to the program. My eyes just glazed over trying to read it on the train.The plus: It did give me creative ideas, I had not thought of some techniques such as the merging multiple flash images together. It also pointed me in the right direction on how to assess images and a better workflow with PhotoMatix Pro.To sum up: Not a complete guide, if you don't mind reading off a screen then others have posted the same sort of guidance online for free. A nice book to browse and dip into whilst using the software. If you ever spot it on sale for £7.99 ish then snap it up. At £15 if I had seen it in a retail outlet and flicked through it, I would possibly not have purchased.

This book is very cleverly put together. The information you need is presented concisely with plenty of illustrations from the author's catalogue. Your knowledge creeps up on you and suddenly, you have the equipment to go out and try it. The book regularly compares 4 to 5 different software packages along the way and reassured me that it wasn't just me that couldn't get the desired effect in Photoshop. So expenditure, as usual, doesn't stop with the book. I purchased Photomatix Pro and the difference is remarkable. I thoroughly recommend the book as an introduction and developer of HDR techniques. It's also a lot of fun to see your results.

This book is remarkable value for money. The pictures are superb and inspire efforts towards similar results. However, those looking for a complete reference work for HDR should look elsewhere.The author is clear in the areas covered and his enthusiasm for the subject comes across well. There are some good ideas to get you started and is a worthy introduction to the subject and a little beyond. Ultimately though it left me wishing for just a little more depth - hence a rating of one star short of the five.