High Dynamic Range – As Good As It Gets

Recent member Christopher Pratt gets the credit for this great floor-to-ceiling capture of the entrance foyer of the Belk Library on the ASU campus. He initially intended to shoot only the circular balconies, walls and ceiling but wisely decided to include the bronze statue in the foreground which adds depth to the scene and a very definite focal point. It was this decision that took the shot out of the ordinary.
To achieve the lovely lighting and control the dynamic range, Christopher used a tripod and remote cable release to take five consecutive bracketed shots at 1 f/stop intervals, then loaded all five RAW images into the software program Photomatix to combine all the exposures. He then applied what is called “Tone Mapping” in Photomatix to produce this final image. The result is an excellent HDR capture that doesn’t go over the top but provides a realistic photographic image. The great depth and sharp focus is the result of using a very wide angle 10mm lens.