What is HDR Photography? A Quick Primer

HDR Photography stands for high dynamic range photography. It's created by combining multiple (usually 3-7) differently exposed shots to create a single photo that's closer to what your eyes can see in real life.

Since most cameras can only capture a small amount of what our eyes are able to take in, HDR "stretches" and combines these ranges of light to let us see a truer version of the original photo.

Often these HDR photos appear surreal because of the adjustments an artist can make using specialized software. The two best known programs for creating HDR photos are Photomatix and Photoshop CS2/CS3.

HDR has really taken off in the last few years. Its emergence was helped by Adobe's support of the process starting with CS2 version of the Photoshop software. Now, just about anyone can create their own HDR photos and there are growing communities of artists online that share this new hobby.