A World in HDR
For those who love urban places or just beautiful landscapes, you’ll almost certainly love High Dynamic Range (HDR for short) photography. This new and evolving art form brings out the best of color and light to produce unique visualizations.
…and that’s not the half of it.
So, if you love HDR, then you’ll also likely love the work of Trey Ratcliff, who publishes the blog Stuck in Customs, and has put out a book on HDR photography titled “A World in HDR.”
This book is not a manual on the various techniques and practices behind High Dynamic Range photography. Then again, I would not read such a book cover to cover in one sitting as I did with this volume. Trey lends the same easy style of writing to this work as he does with his blog, making it accessible and enjoyable. He provides context, perspective and highly effective analogies that draw you into the art and passion behind his photography.
The photos, just as those on his website, are fabulously alluring. In fact Trey assumes (and I think correctly so) that if you’re motivated by the artistry of these photos and the stories he tells that you will try your hand at HDR photography too. As a result his tutorial is far less heavy-handed than a technical manual or textbook.
For those who may be disappointed by this approach I say consider this. The mediums of photography and digital arts are not always best mastered by step-by-step instruction, but rather exposure to principles, tools, and techniques. It is with such a foundation that one must then go out and practice, get your-hands-dirty. This reader finds it especially appropriate that the author was humble enough not to force an otherwise potentially overly narrow perspective on process in what is still emerging field of art. Plus, I am sure that plenty of more technical manuals will eventually follow on the subject. This book however, serves as a fine, accessible piece to inspire and inform.
One of my own experiments with HDR after reading "A World in HDR"
I have been following Trey’s work for a few years now, and it still blows me away that he can make those images look so amazing. I aspire to create work like his some day.
Likewise…I have the humble beginnings of a photo collection on Flickr where I’m posting my HDR and non-HDR shots. I encourage folks to leave any feedback they may have.
It looks like you are off to a great start. I hope to begin doing some HDR in the very near future.
Great, great job. I’m doing tons of hdr’s since I discovered stuckincustoms.com a few months ago. Your pic is awesome. I love it. It could have been a Trey’s work.