Photograph by Trey Ratcliff

It's Round 5 of the week-long Battle of the HDR Photo Tips: Trey Ratcliff vs. Rick Sammon.

Trey Ratcliff is some dude on the internet that runs Stuck in Customs. His mom visits his blog every day. If people leave bad comments, then his mom gets 'em.

Rick Sammon was at Woodstock and still tries to maintain the PLJ feeling of the '60s. He also scuba dived in Lake Baikal, Siberia, where he photographed the nerpa.

Here we go:

Ratcliff: HDR is particularly appealing to landscape and architecture photographers. That means we all, by default, tend to pretty wide-angle with our shots. We keep seeing more and more awesome stuff we want to fit into the frame!

But don’t forget that HDR can also do amazing stuff for tight shots where the compression factor can give its own level of intrigue. This photo above is a 400mm shot (or so) of one of the most famous waterfalls in Yellowstone.

Photograph by Rick Sammon

Sammon: Choose a lens that helps you tell the story that you want to tell. Sometimes, a 400mm super telephoto lens is the best choice, and sometimes a super wide-angle lens is the best choice. For the above photograph, which I took in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, I used my Canon 14mm lens on my Canon 5D Mark II, which is a full-frame image sensor camera.

When working on a photograph in the digital darkroom, remember this: When you remove some of the true color, you remove some of the reality. When you remove some of the reality, your picture can become more artistic.

Bonus tip: Always look up, always look down, always look back. Look and ye shall find - different picture opportunities.

Hey, if you have never tired HDR, you can get discounts on HDR programs and plug-ins by clicking here.

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