People in HDR Photography

According to 'the HDR photography code', you are advised to general avoid sending people through HDR processing. Some photographers take this 'rule' as more of a 'guideline' and proceed to HDR people anyway (to each his own), so I thought that we would talk a little bit about HDR and people in today's post.

HDR "reproduces a greater dynamic range of luminosity than possible using standard digital imaging or photographic technique" (thanks, Wikipedia). In other words, HDR can bring out details that you might not otherwise see in a photograph.

While this might be great for all sorts of subjects, when it comes to people, there are certain details that are perhaps 'better left unseen'. For example, take this HDR image of me, processed from a photo that was shot by my wife:

Wow! Looking at that picture of me, I feel awful! The HDR processing brings out all of the wrinkles, spots, and blemishes on my face. (Sorry, honey, but it's not exactly the most flattering picture of me.)

What I really did like about the HDR image, however, was that it really managed to bring out the reflection on the table, a reflection that was very much muted in the original image:

When it comes to HDR and people, some photographers will employ a 'work-around' trick to mix people into an HDR processed scene, which is what I eventually did with this photograph.

In a nutshell, you create a full image HDR, and then layer your HDR with the original image, and then erase out (or erase in, depending on your perspective) in desirable/undesirable parts, until... voila! You have not-HDRed people in an HDR-scene.

For this photo, I was mainly interested in the HDR for the effect that it had on the surface of the black table. I ran the whole thing through a black and white HDR preset, and then came back and layered my whole torso back in (from the table up), and then I also added in the colored wine bottles over my head from the original image (I liked the black and white, but I wanted a little more color), for this result:

If nothing else, it's a unique portrait. I'm pleased with the result (which, is what really matters, right?)