Get the highest possible dynamic range out of your image.

Ever wonder why even the best photographs can’t compare to the real thing? The human eye has the remarkable ability to adjust light sensitivity on the fly. Cameras, however, can only record a scene using a single exposure. In a scene with high contrast (that is, lots of dark and bright areas), both highlight and shadow details are going to get lost. So suppose you could take several pictures at varying exposures and blend the exposures together? That could make for a very impressive image.

WHAT YOU NEED

• A digital camera with aperture priority mode or manual control
• A tripod or other device to keep the camera still Photomatix Pro ($99, www.hdrsoft.com)
• A high-contrast scene

1. Get to Know Your Camera

To capture the full dynamic range of a scene, you need to take several shots at varying exposures. The simplest way is to use a technique called bracketing. Classic bracketing is simply taking three exposures of the same scene, one normally exposed, one underexposed, and one overexposed. Most DSLRs and high-end point-and-shoots have an automatic bracketing feature. You can bracket manually by using aperture priority mode and adjusting the shutter speed to achieve the various exposures. A rich HDR photo typically requires three images separated by two stops each.