In another topic (Enhanced photos...) there was a discussion about HDR. Just to show what HDR does in the real world I made a very quick, very rough example using only vendor supplied software (comes with all Canon cams in my case, other vendors have similar stuff). I deliberatly took one with good lighting to show an effect similar to a shot from a scale model with proper lighing/light box etc.

Equipment:

EOS1100D (Rebel T3 in the US) DSLR, 12.2MP entry level DSLR
Tamron 28-75/f2.8 lens (that is a bit more than a kit lens)
Canon DPP software version 3.14.41 (free from the Website)

Setup

A three shot exposure bracket (-2EV/Base/+2EV) freehand from my window in the backyard. Used the "burst" mode from the cam and auto-bracketing. Lens set to 50mm and f3.2 using "AV" mode (set appretur, camera sets exposure duration)

Processing

Mark the three shots, say "Make HDR" to the program, export as JPEG.

Pictures have been straightened and cropped but nothing else. If I'd use more advanced stuff or played with the sliders I could get more results both from the "normal exposure" shot and from the resulting HDR. Or even a better HDR

And that is it (All four)

And the HDR

Being involved in the HDR discussion I felt this needed a little more of an example. Here are some shots of a diorama that I think shows things a little better.

Equipment:
EOS1100D (Rebel T3 in the US) DSLR, 12.2MP entry level DSLR
Cannon EFS 18-55 (bone stock kit lens)
Canon DPP software version 3.14.15.0 (free from the Website)

setup:
All shots were taken from a tripod, no fancy lighting was done other than opening the curtains and turning all the lights on in the room. Auto was used for all the shots with a -2EV/Base/+2EV used for the HDR.

processing
Same as the first post. I clicked the auto align for the HDR and cropped the photos so you see the main subject.

So here is the first shot to get an idea of what the camera can do in full auto:


This is the center shot of the HDR trio (I like it better than the full auto image)


And finally the HDR image..


Like the other example no sliders were touched on any of the images. This was just done to show what HDR can do for a model where the tiny details are the important things.. and from the looks of the pictures I should have dusted the diorama first... oops.

Thanks for this. Always wondered what HDR did as I have that option on my phone's camera. To me, though, it just doesn't look very real. More akin to sort of "Photoshopping" the image to make it look better IMO.

I never knew what HDR did until I saw the other post here about it myself. It is the same as Photoshopping since you are using a program to enhance the photo. I could have played with the settings and made it look a little better but the non HDR images were not messed with so I did not mess with the HDR shot either. I do prefer the HDR shots in the end, they show the details so much better and have a much deeper depth of field.

Definitely a useful technique, but I prefer when it's possible to do it directly with the camera, without using software afterwards and my Nikon D300S and D700 don't have this feature. It will be something I look for next time I upgrade my equipment.

Cheers,

Christophe

Took a look at the EOS 700D "automatic HDR" feature when I tested the 700D last December. Well, it works but it only delivers JPEG (and seems to use JPEG for the starting pictures). Compared to doing the same with DPP (Canons basic image processing / RAW development tool that comes with the cam) I got better results starting with RAW and doing it on the computer.

Oh and HDR works the better, the more difference in light you get:

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa374/khmeier/Nightshots/bayer2-1_zpswigoirne.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa374/khmeier/Nightshots/bayer-1_zpsf07bao2g.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa374/khmeier/Nightshots/innenhafen-hdr8-1_zpsidwucfci.jpg