This may sound like a silly question, but when using two images, why not just correct the under/overexposed bits. That is, you have two images, im_over and im_under and you substitute all pixels with pure white in im_over with pixels from im_under and all pure black pixels from im_under with pixels from im_over, and take the average of both images in all other pixels?
That's the right general direction. You need to deal with the transition though, jumping straight from all A to an average of A and B will cause artefacts.
Two images with different exposures will have higher dynamic range than can be represented on a (normal) computer screen. To "correct" the over/underexposed bits would require a different colorspace. It looks like the idea in the article is to reduce the dynamic range until it fits the "standard" sRGB colorspace. But once you have the two images, there are many ways to re-combine them. Some are more "realistic", others are garish. The process is called tone mapping. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_mapping
Is that necessarily true? Back when I was into videography I had a $500 miniDV camera, and its dynamic range was horrible. Shooting outside on a gloomy overcast day, the sky would still be completely blown out and people's faces barely exposed enough to see. Yet a good film camera obviously has much better dynamic range. Therefore I would think that, depending on the camera, there would be room for improvement using HDR without seeing any noticeable "HDR effect" at all.
Does anyone else find HDR produces generally ghastly results? I find it gimmicky, and I've yet to see someone use in a way that didn't completely take me out of the viewing experience.
I'm guessing confirmation bias - if you were to see an HRD photo which wasn't ghastly, you wouldn't guess that it is HRD. Hence, thinking that there no non-ghastly HDR photos.
As with any photographic technique, the technique alone doesn't guarantee anything. A good photographer will use the technique as a means to an end, while to a less skilled one the technique may simply be the end in and of itself.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 45.0 ms ] threadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Canyon_HDR_imaging.j...
Or better, one photo, 9 exposures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StPauls_cathedral_tonemapp...
http://vimeo.com/12828140