My First HDR Photos

I’ve finally managed to get myself out of the house to try taking some High Dynamic Range photos. I’ve known about HDR photography for many years, but never really bothered to try and take any. In the past week, however, I’ve put it on my photography to-do list and thus been trying to plan an outing to the beach or someplace to try taking some. Last week I got the opportunity to go to the Great Lakes International Airshow in St. Thomas Ontario and while I was there saw the chance to finally try my hand at it.

For those who use a Canon SLR like me, you can find the AEB settings under your camera menu in the second settings tab.

I carried along my Canon Rebel XTi and a few memory cards ready to take as many photos as I could. I did not carry along my tripod merely for the sake of being able to move around quickly. I am cumbersome with a tripod so I thought I might try just standing shots.

For the planes on the ground I was shooting with the stock EF-S 18mm-55mm that originally came with the camera, and a polarized filter for good measure. A mostly overcast day made for some great shots and of course amazing sky details. For the HDR photos themselves I had my Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) set to +- 1.7, an aperture f/8.0 and just dialed my shutter speed in to the appropriate setting. These are the resulting photos.

The P-3 Orion was my first group of shots. I actually ended up taking a couple dozen shots on two separate times that day just to make sure I could at least get this shot done. It was tricky with so many people walking around but I was able to get a shot with just one person under the wing. He of course has since been edited out.

The B-25 Mitchell I was able to get in a position with nearly no one around so I quickly snapped a few for this result. It is definitely my least favourite of the three, but I still enjoy it.

The CF-18 fighter for sure was my favourite, and actually an accident. I was on the other side of an American C-130 Hercules when I heard some jet engines firing up. I went around the plane to find these two CF-18′s being fueled and started on the other side of the tape with nearly no spectators in sight. I quickly snapped 3 sets and this photo definitely resulted in my favourite.