HDR to the Rescue

Earlier this week I was visiting Galveston Island, Texas and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  As usual I had my camera with me and I wanted to capture the spectacular scenes, but I knew the photographic images I'd capture would not to justice to what I was witnessing so I put my camera up and called it a day. 

Hah, not a chance!  I turned to the photographic technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) to help me deliver an image that was truer to the scene I wanted to capture.  HDR can be used to capture the wide dynamic range of tones in an scene by slicing the dynamic range into three or more exposures and then using computer software to layer the multiple images into a single image that has a wider tonal range than the camera could capture with just one exposure.

What follows are a few images from that day that I captured as three JPEG images at exposures of -2 stops, +2 stops and a proper exposure with no exposure compensation.  The three JPEG images were then combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further adjusted using Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

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The Gulf of Mexico. No oil here thank God.

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My wife painting a seascape as she watched our three boys play in the surf. I particularly like the golden color of the setting sun that illuminated the rocks behind her.


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A large collection of rocks that have been placed at the base of the seawall to protect it from future storms. I believe these rocks were added after hurricane Ike devastated Galveston island in September 2008.

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Looking west down the beach with the seawall on the far right side and the 61st street fishing pier in the far background

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Seawall graffiti
 
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.