Series of Four #12 – Autumn scenes – with muted HDR

Series of Four

 This is the twelfth Blog in the “Series of Four” series. Each blog focuses on a different aspect of photography, either technical or creative.  To see the full set of “Series of Four” blogs, click here.

Autumn scenes – with muted HDR

Here is a set of four images taken yesterday near Cheltenham in England.  Autumn has come late and this was a bright, mild, mid October  afternoon.  I have used a technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range) which uses a series of bracketed images taken at different exposures (+1, 0, -1 in these images) to achieve a greater range than is possible with the sensitivity of a normal digital sensor.  Using software it is possible to integrate the images (usually 3 or 5) to achieve a very sharp image with details across the full range of the image.  If overdone this can begin to look very artificial and many photographers are deliberately pushing the method as a creative technique.  I prefer to mute the effects.  There is a great deal of experimentation to be done!!