HDR in architectural and interior photography

Architectural and interior photography often presents the challenge of capturing scenes with an extended dynamic range (HDR: High Dynamic Range), where very bright areas (such as windows) are next to dark areas dark areas (such as the corners of a room). The risk is of losing detail in the highlights or lowlights. This is where HDR management comes in very useful.

Dynamic range and its limits

Dynamic range is the difference between the lightest and darkest tones that a camera sensor can record. Our eyes are capable of perceiving a much wider dynamic range than that of a standard camera. In architectural and interior photography, this limitation often translates into overexposed windows (white and lacking in detail) or underexposed interiors (black and indistinct).

Capturing the full light spectrum with HDR

HDR is a technique that overcomes this limitation by combining several exposures of the same scene. Each exposure captures a different part of the dynamic range, from the deepest shadows to the brightest highlights. By merging these images using specialised software, we obtain a final image that retains detail in all areas, both highlights and lowlights.

HDR capture technique for architecture and interiors

The capture technique is exposure bracketing. This involves taking several photos of the same composition with different exposures (generally three, five or seven). One photo is taken at ‘normal’ exposure, one or more are underexposed to capture highlight detail, and one or more are overexposed to capture shadow detail.
These photos need to be perfectly aligned, so it is mandatory to use a stable tripod to perform this operation.

Merging images

Once the bracketing images have been captured, the photos are merged in an image processing software. There are several merging options.

- Automatic merging, which merges the photos into a single HDR image. The software automatically aligns the images and combines the information from each exposure.
- Manual merging, which involves creating a layer for each photo in Photoshop and using masks to select only the desired parts of each photo.

HDR, an essential tool for architectural and interior photography

Managing HDR is an essential skill for architectural and interior photographers who want to produce high-quality images. By mastering these HDR capture and processing techniques, you can produce immersive, detailed images.