Gallery: Sunset
This new sunset image was processed using the high dynamic range techniques I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. A scene like this sunset contains a broad range of brightnesses, from the brightest part of the sky to the darkest shadows by the trees and on the field. A digital camera’s sensor cannot accommodate that wide a range in light, and so either the dark or the bright side will be “clipped” to completely white or completely dark. When I took most of the photos on Friday evening, I choose to let the shadows go completely black on many of the photos. But through HDR techniques, one can get more detail out of the scene.
The process combines images taken with different exposures to capture a greater variety of tones. Here I’ve combined three images: one image that is fairly well exposed (to capture the “middle”), one that is underexposed (to get the brighter highlights), and one that is overexposed (to bring out more detail in the shadows). When processing these images, I’ve chosen to keep the shadows still very dark, but they are no longer completely black, giving a hint of the trees and field.
You’ll see the image much better at a larger size, click on the photo or the link to go to the image in my photo galleries.
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