HDR Before and After - Kissed By The Sun

If the light is right

Golden Hour in Venice is quite a sight. With the right weather conditions, everything seems to sing. No matter what direction you look, there are stunning golden highlights and long dramatic shadows. It’s truly a wonderful time to be walking the streets.

If you view the before and after comparison you will notice that the neutral exposure has a blown out sky. Since the sun is so low in the sky, the overall brightness increases by quite a bit. Even though there are beautiful clouds and atmospheric details, you lose them in a single exposure. That alone makes this shot a perfect candidate for HDR Processing.

If your camera has Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB), enable it and set it to capture -2, 0, +2. That’s 2 stops (of light) darker and 2 stops lighter than the neutral (0) exposure. Like this photo, those 3 exposures, some Tone Mapping in Photomatix & a bit of Photoshop magic should give you some nice results.