Here’s what to look for in a cam­era for HDR pho­tog­ra­phy.  HDR, or High Dynamic Range ‚Pho­tos start  off as 3 or more sep­a­rate pho­tographs at 3 or more dif­fer­ent expo­sures  and then are com­bined with pro­grams like Pho­tomatix.  This process allows one to see the detail in the shad­ows and high­lights that may be lost in a sin­gle pho­to­graph.  It also has the abil­ity to cre­ate some pretty cool spe­cial effects. The first thing we are going to fig­ure out is what cam­eras will be best suited for HDR pho­tog­ra­phy.  The num­ber one cam­era func­tion for this is AEB, or Auto Expo­sure Brack­et­ing.  Many of the new dig­i­tal cam­eras on the mar­ket today have this func­tion. Once you setup this func­tion you can shoot mul­ti­ple pho­tos by press­ing and hold­ing the shut­ter release until all 3 or more pho­tos are taken. All pho­tos will be shot at the same aper­ture but at dif­fer­ent shut­ter speeds.  One with a proper expo­sure, one over­ex­posed and one underexposed.

Before we get into cam­era setup,  we need to under­stand the rela­tion­ship between expo­sure com­pen­sa­tion and the EV, or Expo­sure Value. A +1 EV is equal to +1 stop — that means dou­bling of the time the shut­ter is open. In the other direc­tion a –1EV is equal to –1 stop — that means cut­ting the time the shut­ter is open by one half.

For best results shoot­ing HDR we want a cam­era with a min­i­mum of + /– 2EV for a total of 4EV range.  Also look for a cam­era with a high frames per sec­ond rate (fps). Just remem­ber the best cam­eras for HDR run in the $3000 to $7000 range.  But don’t worry, the lower priced mod­els do a good job as well.  The cam­era I use is my new Nikon D300s that works great and my older Nikon D80 that does a pretty good job as well.

Cam­era Setup

For best results set the cam­era to the RAW file for­mat, if avail­able.  RAW files have all the  infor­ma­tion and will even have more detail in the shad­ows and high­lights that are lost in the JPG file for­mat.  JPG files from your cam­era dis­cards a lot of use­ful infor­ma­tion that can help in HDR post pro­cess­ing.  Set the expo­sure com­pen­sa­tion EV steps to 1 or 2. (2 is bet­ter, if avail­able).  Com­mon val­ues in cam­eras are 1/3, ½, 2/3, .7, 1, 2, 3.  Set the cam­era to auto expo­sure brack­et­ing.  Set the num­ber of expo­sures (most cam­eras have at least 3 but some have 5, 7 or 9).  Just remem­ber, cam­eras with a max­i­mum 1EV or less may require 5, 7, or even 9 expo­sures to achieve a 4EV range or more.  Set camera’s burst rate to high, if avail­able.  This will min­i­mize ghost­ing of mov­ing objects.  Set the cam­era to Aper­ture Pri­or­ity.  For best results install the cam­era on a sturdy tri­pod and con­nect a remote cable shut­ter release.  I do not rec­om­mended hand hold­ing your cam­era.  You are now ready to shoot.

You can com­bine your brack­eted pho­tos in pro­grams like Pho­tomatix or Pho­to­shop among others.

Below is a list of cam­eras that meet the min­i­mum require­ments or bet­ter for HDR.  I only listed Canon and Nikon in this chart.  If your cam­era is not on this list it may still be good for HDR.  Check you cam­era man­ual for the auto expo­sure brack­et­ing spec­i­fi­ca­tions.  Please share your ques­tions or com­ments below and we will get back to you.

Want more infor­ma­tion on HDR Pho­tog­ra­phy, check out these books at barnes & Noble. Books on HDR

Want more infor­ma­tion on HDR Pho­tog­ra­phy, check out these books at Barnes & Noble. Books on HDR