During an excursion last summer, one afternoon we passed Rörum southwest of Kivik. In the distance we saw a hill literally bursting with red color. We drove closer and followed a beaten path past some houses while the owners of the houses looked at us disapprovingly. In front of us was a steep hill covered in red poppies. The light was difficult and made the sky very bright and the hill with the flowers dark. As usual I took several pictures with different exposures.
As expected, the images were somewhat disappointing when I worked with them in Lightroom, the digital darkroom. I started experimenting with merging images that were exposed for the sky with images that were exposed for the flowers on the hill. Suddenly, the long-awaited result appeared on the screen in front of me. Very exciting!
The technique is based on combining several images with different exposures, so-called “bracketing”, into one image. The technology means that the an image tonal range is increased by adding detailed information to both ends of the tone curve from the various exposed images, so-called HDR (High Definition Range).
Monitors have started to be equipped with HDR to increase the tonal range, but this is something else and should not be confused with “camera HDR”.
This week’s photograph was a number of HDR images from the colorful poppy-covered hill in Rörum.