Final Thoughts

  • The single most important aspect of HDR imaging is bracketing your exposures to capture the scene all the way through. The imaging and processing technologies are getting better at ghost removal and image alignment, but always try to use a tripod for the best results.

  • HDR imaging is a very exciting imaging technology, and is still in its infancy. In the coming years, there will be more support for 32-bit file formats, and the tonemapping algorithms should improve with each program upgrade to provide even better HDR tonemapping options and controls.

  • You'll soon develop an HDR eye, and recognize scenes that'll work well with HDR imaging, due to the tonal extremes, combined with texture and color contrasts. Not every image turns out amazingly well with HDR, but hopefully after a few tries, you'll find it easier, both in composition and in processing.

  • HDR programs are going to continue to advance in features and processing. This cool new imaging technology is bound to have a major impact on digital imaging in landscape, architectural, fine art, and commercial arenas, as it becomes easier to understand and programs become even more robust.

  • As the programs evolve, and ghost removal processes improve, even more of the world will be open to the HDR view of things. That should offer new opportunities to capture and share your unique vision of the world.

  • You can't go wrong with any of the three programs featured in this book. If funds aren't an issue, buy all three! But if you're ...

Get HDR: An Introduction to High Dynamic Range Photography now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.