This is an HDR photo of Penrith Castle in Penrith, Cumbria, UK. (Click to enlarge in new window.) The castle was built over a period of around 70 years, between 1399 and 1470 as a protection against those wily Scots. Today, it's only a ruin. This was assembled from 8 photos shot at 1 stop brackets, tripoded and cable locked, on a Canon 20D with a Canon 10-22 lens. It was assembled and downsampled in Photoshop.
Here is one of the 8 photos used to assemble the HDR. This is what the shot looks like without HDR -- as you can see, you entirely lose some of the shadows.
Did I mention I love Cumbria?
Why not just turn down your contrast in camera? That would leave plenty of detail in the shadows on a day like that.
ReplyDeleteWhen shooting RAW, turning down the contrast does nothing; the RAW file encapsulates everything the camera sensor records. It's kinda like shooting every possible processing setting at the same time. Camera sensors do not record enough information for the contrast setting to rescue the shadows in an image like this.
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