This isn’t technically an HDR image…just heavily edited in Photoshop to appear that way. I don’t have any HDR software yet, though I have had my eye on Photomatix Pro for quite some time.
Right now an extra $119 is hard to come by.
For you city slickers, this is a photograph of a grain elevator.
WTF is HDR?
In case you were too lazy to click the link above, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. In short, despite advances in technology, even the most expensive digital cameras are not yet capable of reproducing what the human eye can see. Subtle tonal differences are often washed out or blended together, giving the finished photograph a flat appearance.
HDR software combines 3 or more images into one final rendering. Mid to high-end digital cameras can shoot in bracketing mode, which under and overexposes the photo in an attempt to capture all tonal ranges.
HDR editing is subject to the photographer’s artistic interpretation and can produce very mixed results ranging from realistic to outlandish.
Bordering on the surreal
This grain elevator is located in Sidney, Ohio. While not the biggest I’ve seen, it’s a looming structure that takes up a lot of real estate. At the time of this photo, it was literally blocking out the sun.
One of the cool things about HDR is that it looks incredible on dirty and rusty objects. You can really bring out the highlights and deep shadows of rust, grime, and weather-beaten aging.
Here I wanted to over emphasize everything I just listed above. If you look closely, you can see the rays of the setting sun peering out from behind this enormous building. I tried to show how tall this building is by exaggerating the perspective by getting as close as I could and aiming my camera towards the sky.
