Mastering HDR Photography was the first book I purchased for my bookshelf on the topic of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. It was one of the first titles on the topic, and I have a lot of respect for Michael freeman's technical writing on digital photography.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The technical content of the book is good. It covers the important topics on HDR photography. It covers three major tools: Photomatix, FDRTools, and PFSTools. It also discusses the Photoshop CS3 tools for HDR.

The book is a small format. There are lots of sample photos. To keep the number of pages down (and the cost, no doubt), the book uses small samples. This can make it difficult to see the effect clearly that's being discussed.

The two-page spread format for much of the book can be constraining. That's an editorial preference that seems common to recent books by Amphoto, Lark Books, etc. Michael Freeman's writing makes the most of that constraint. While the topics come with a stoccato rhythm, an experienced digital photographer who wants to add realistic HDR effects to their photography will find lots of helpful information in Mastering HDR Photography.

Technorati Tags: HDR digital photography