Book Guide: The HDRI Handbook

High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists

For you dSLR Dad’s looking for a new avenue to try in photography, may I suggest High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI). HDRI is the process of combining photographs at different exposures (typically bracketed at +/- 2 stops). This allows you to keep proper detail in those tricky situations where you have a bright sky (the ‘blinkies’ on your LCD screen) mixed with objects that have shadow detail. One book that looks really promising (after my in-store review) is The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch.

Amazon Editorial Review:

The HDRI Handbook reveals the secrets behind High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI). This cutting-edge imaging technology is a method to digitally capture and edit all light in a scene. It represents a quantum leap in imaging technology, as revolutionary as the leap from Black & White to Color imaging. If you are serious about photography, you will find that HDRI is the final step that places digital ahead of analog. The old problem of over- and underexposure in analog photography, which was never fully solved, is elegantly bypassed here. A huge variety of subjects can now be photographed for the first time ever.

HDRI emerged from the movie industry, and was once Hollywood’s best kept secret. It is now a mature technology available to everyone. The only problem was that it was poorly documented until now. The HDRI Handbook is the manual that was missing.

Many questions remain open even for the computer graphics gurus that have been using HDRI for years. This is where The HDRI Handbook comes in. Included here is everything you need to build a comprehensive knowledge base that will enable you to become really creative with HDRI. This book is packed with practical hints and tips, software evaluations, workshops, and hands-on tutorials. Whether you are a photographer, 3D artist, compositor, or cinematographer, this book is sure to enlighten you.

Topics include:

• Understanding the foundation of HDRI
• Tools for a High Dynamic Range Workflow
• How to capture HDR images: now and tomorrow
• Tone mapping for creating superior prints
• Image processing and compositing
• All 4 ways to shoot panoramic HDRIs
• Image based lighting and CG rendering
• World premiere of the Smart Dynamic Range toolkit
• Creative uses and unconventional applications

There is also a companion website, HDR labs which offers quite a bit of information on the subject.

This book is available at both Amazon Books and the dSLR Dad Amazon Storefront.

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