How to Make a High Dynamic Range Photo With HDR Darkroom Pro

This is a tutorial to introduce new users to the basics of how to make an HDR Photo with HDR Darkroom Pro. If you're ever spent a little time browsing an online photography gallery, you'll probably have encountered some examples of HDR photos. The technique has become very popular over the last few years, no doubt in part because of the availability of apps such as this one.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and such images display a wider dynamic range of tones than a digital camera can currently capture. This is achieved by taking a number of photos of the exact same subject, but using different exposure settings. These photos are then blended together, using software like HDR Darkroom Pro, so that there is information throughout the image, in both the highlights and the shadows.

HDR Darkroom Pro is an application for Mac OS X users and is available to purchase and download from the Apple App Store. You can find out a bit more about the app by taking a look at my review of HDR Darkroom Pro.

In the following few steps, I'll give you a basic introduction to how to use the app and start creating your own HDR photos. In order to follow this, you should probably have a little experience of using a photo editor, such as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop, as you will need to understand how to use some of the image adjustment tools to finish off the image. However, if you're a newbie, feel free to follow along and then just spend some time experimenting with various settings until you start to understand what they do.

You will require two or more bracketed exposures of the same scene for this tutorial, but don't worry if you shot them hand held, rather than on a tripod, as HDR Darkroom Pro does include an effective auto alignment feature.

• How to Make a High Dynamic Range Photo With HDR Darkroom Pro
• Open Some Images in HDR Darkroom Pro
• Tone Map Your Photo for a More Naturalistic Result
• Tone Map Your Photo for a Stylized HDR Effect