High Dynamic Range photography is a popular form of photography that involves capturing a wider and more natural range of colors and illumination. To say it in plain English, High Dynamic Range technique or simply HDR (as it is often referred to as) produces surreal images that blur our sense of the difference between reality and fiction. They are produced by combining a set of images (usually 3 or more images) into a single photo, and adjusting the contrast ratios using HDR software program to do really incredible things that are not possible with a single exposure. Believe it or not, these photos are all the same shot. However each shot is taken with a slightly different aperture and shutter speed. To stabilize camera between shots photographers usually use tripod. These images are merged together using a program such as Adobe Photoshop CS2 (this program comes with a ‘Merge to HDR’ feature) or Photomatix Pro 3.1.
So, basically anyone with a digital camera (with ability to adjust aperture and shutter speed settings), tripod (or any other stationary support) and HDR software can create original High Dynamic Range photos.
This post features 20 surreally beautiful and highly professional HDR images of cityscapes. Most of these photographs are award wining photos; they are not just standard panoramic images.
Have I missed any? And which ones are your absolute favorites? Sound off in the comments bellow.
01 Huston, USA
Source: Huston at Dusk
02 New York, USA
Source: New York City at Night
03 Sydney, Australia
Source: Sydney Landscape
04 Pudong, China
Source: Pudong Landscape
05 Hong Kong, China
Source: Hong Kong Skyline at Night
06 Posantino, Italy
Source: Positano, a dream place
07 Boston, USA
Source: Boston Harbor
08 London, United Kingdom
Source: London Skyline
09 San Diego, USA
Source: San Diego Skyline Reflections
10 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Source: Kuala Lumpur Blue Hour Skyline Panorama
11 Phoenix, USA
Source: Streets of Phoenix at Night in HDR
12 Shanghai, China
Source: The Megalopolis
13 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Source: A Cloudy Day – Marina view
14 Paris, France
Source: Panorama
15 Bern, Switzerland
Source: Bern – Switzerland
16 Chicago, USA
Source: Hancock Observatory – blue hour
17 Edinburgh, Scotland
Source: Edinburgh Princes Street
18 Dallas, USA
Source: High Over Dallas
19 Seattle, WA, USA
Source: Seattle Skyline
20 Pittsburgh, USA
Source: Downtown Pittsburgh
Hi Natasha – Thanks for including my Seattle skyline shot. Glad to be part of Urban City Landscapes collection.
Why “Edinburgh, Scotland” but “London, United Kingdom”? Both Edinburgh and London are in the UK. Or if you’re going to put Edinburgh as Scotland, then London is England.
Hi Sathya – you’re welcome. that’s one of my favorite photos…
waooo
Thanks for including my pictures of Paris 🙂
@pascal What can I say.. It’s an amazing photo! 🙂
For me number 13 is the greatest one. I am also a big fan of urban photography and I try to find as much information about its development as possible. All these photos prove that a talented photographer can find beautiful subjects practically anywhere. And it’s much more easier today when most of us live in urban environments each of which exemplifies its own characteristics. What I like above all is the transformation of urban landscapes by photographers giving the images a completely crazy look .
@Steve Hi Steve, thank you so much for your comment, and I’m glad you like my post. 🙂
Wow a Visual Treat….Awesome HDR Images….:)
So amazing image – dramatic scene color, thanks for many effort of photographer to take great picture.