HDR = Image Stacking?

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:27 am

When explaining Image Stacking on PlanetNikon, a general forum for Nikon users, somebody asked me if the High Dynamic Range (HDR) facility in Photoshop CS2 was essentially the same sort of software manipulation as Image Stacking. What does everybody think? See:-

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutori ... -range.htm

DaveW

Carl_Constantine · Post by **Carl_Constantine** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 8:25 am

No, it's not the same. This is explaining how to combine the same image to get more of a dynamic light range to see what your eye sees as opposed to how the camera sees it. Often we under/over expose when shooting, particularly against bright backgrounds. so you can use that to get an image with HDR and more like your eye sees it.

That said, you do have to "stack" the images, but the purpose and concept are slightly different. In Stacking, you combine many images to increase your Depth of Field (DOF) as opposed to the lighting.

twebster · Post by **twebster** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:10 am

Hi ya' Dave,

There is an excellent article about HDR on Naturescapes, http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/rh0706_1.htm.

If you go to the home page of my new website I'm working on, Tom Webster Photography, the landscape image on the home page was produced with HDR. It is hard to tell from an image posted on the web but a 13" x 19" print of this image has detail in all of the shadows and all of the highlights. Without HDR it would have been impossible to encompass the entire dynamic range of this scene.

Best regards,

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:08 pm

One deals with how much light there is in the image, the other deals with combinging the sharp parts of different images.