HDR, stands for High Dynamic Rage and as its name implies, is a method that aims to add more “dynamic range” to photographs, where dynamic range is the ratio of light to dark in a photograph. Instead of just taking one photo, HDR uses three or more photos, taken at different exposures. You can then use image editing software to put those images together and highlight the best parts of each photo.
It is a huge advantage if you have a camera with auto bracketing. If you don’t then you can manually change the exposure for each of the shots. You can also just use one RAW image and make copies with different exposures after and put them together into a HDR image.
A tripod or something to rest the camera on is a must (if you don’t use auto bracketing) as you want the exact same image multiple times and so movement between shots will mess this up. I use Software such as HDR Expose or Photomatix to create these stunning HDR images.
Please see below an example of the 3 original images out of my camera and the final result.
Original Image
Same Image one stop underexposed -1EV
Same Image one stop overexposed +1EV
Final HDR Image after merging the 3 images above