by David Tong

Level: Intermediate

Most good landscape shots relies on dynamic range. The amount of details in the highlights and shadows play an important role with the shot. Not all of us (myself included) are readily equipped with filters that'll help balance out the exposure and while high-dynamic range (HDR) photography seems to answer that issue, most HDR attempts attempts by newbies result to very unrealistic effects that look downright tacky. It takes a lot of skill during capture and post-processing to create HDR photographs.

Naturally, it's important to capture a proper image to begin with. It's best to retain highlight details when using a digital camera or slide film while it's better to retain shadow detail if you shoot with negative film. Regardless, we'll attempt to balance out a single exposure from a high-contrast scene and get a more balanced and dynamic photo with this simple post-processing technique. Continue Reading