HDR without tripod.. 5fps?

[aCiD99]

Originally Posted by WSpruance

Please try to explain to me how the range and tone are greater using +/-2 stops as opposed to one raw image saved as several tiffs in the same manner.
I am a retired engineer and need the next layer of explanation to see the light!
Thanks for your advice,
WSpruance

As a current computer engineer I'll try :P

If I'm taking a normally exposed image, the near black portions of the image, say the side skirts on my car in the example, will have a range of defined colour values which is very narrow. In re-saving a RAW file, we're falsely extrapolating that range. By taking a second overexposed picture (which properly exposes that area) I'm getting another separate file which accurately represents the colour ranges for that area of the picture.

Also, for the clouds in this picture, the normally, or overexposed pictures simply have the sky near completely blown out, no editing of a RAW file can bring back the data, having an underexposed frame now allows me to use that data in the final HDR composite.

Normal (for the glass wall):


Under (for the sky/clouds):


Over (for the tires, lower parts of the car):


TRUE HDR (of course tone-mapped for showing here, but developed using true HDR methods):


Also note for the purposes of this topic, these shots were taken handheld at 5 fps :P