Black & White HDR Photography | Landscape Photography in a Cave!

Black & white HDR? I mean, is that even a thing? Well it must be because I have just done it. In a cave! See for yourself.

This week I have been working on a landscape photography commission. My job was to create a black and white photograph of Cathedral Cave.

On my fist ever visit to the cave I took multiple exposures which I could later blended together as an HDR in Lightroom.

0:00 Introduction
0:45 On location at Cathedral Cave
4:03 Processing the image

If you would like to commission me to take a photo just for you see my Ko-fi page for details...

To read about my visit to Cathedral Cave check out my latest blog article...

#LandscapePhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #HDRPhotography

[USABowhunter]

Wonderful Photo. Truly appreciate your work.

[neklamp]

When I tell my friends about HDR photos the first reaction I get is disgust because they think of that glowing effect that most people use on HDR and they don't want to hear a word about it. But when I show them the final result and tell them that this is a HDR photo they look surprised! No glowing! For some of us who don't have cameras that can handle even the slightest difference in dynamic range, HDR is a life saver! This was a very good example and I hope that people will finally understand how much this technique helps! Thank you!

[nigelnewton]

OOOH this is fantastic, Chris. Great result for your client too! Thanks for sharing this.

[timrosenburgh]

Hi Chris,
I found this video very helpful and informative and something i will have to try.
I can imagine how difficult it was for you to complete this task in the conditions with no light and bright light through the opening to the cave.
It was nice to see that the final image after a lot of work came out fantastic.
Really nice job Chris.

[hughwolfe]

Chris this is great, you captured a very dark world, one that few people would ever see unless they had the foresight to bring along a light (torch I believe it is in the UK)...
I’ve done a few HDR shots over the years with varying degrees of success, I’ll have to revisit the technique soon.

[gterefenko]

Big fan of the new format Chris and great photo. bet the photo would have good if you were to leave the green ferns in the image. keep up the great work

[RiccardoPareschi]

Really nice job. A fine use of HDR process, thanks for share !

[tombalaam]

Excellent video Chris, I do like shooting HDR and I think Lightroom does a great job of blending. Interesting point about the safety rope - for me, it screamed out when saw the initial image and I must admit, I would also have removed it. Fascinating that others, you good self included, would have kept it in! But I guess that's the wonderful subjectivity of our passion for photography, and long may it exist and continue.

[jamesphillips]

Great job. I enjoyed the cave photos and as someone else mentioned I never gave much thought to HDR in black and white.

[BrownPeterAnthony]

Super shot, and thank you for explaining how you got to the finish image.

[tonyhales-BigT]

Well that was just awesome. Brilliant and interesting narrative and and a stunning image. I'm sure Joseph will be very happy. 👌🏻

[Bazzo]

My eye was immediatey drawn to the rope in the first shot but, like you, felt it should be part of the scene. I feel it adds a certain sense of mystery (thou shall not go any further :-)). Nice shot with or without rope though.

[peterhewlett]

Well done Chris. I love the final presentation, and you should be very proud of it. Cave photographs are a lot of hard work and very easy to get wrong. Great work. Regards and Merry Xmas

[stuartbarnes]

Great image. It is amazing how clever lightroom can be

[tompetersphotography]

Nice shot mate, congrats on the commission work

[CatMilton]

Funny timing - just a few weeks ago, having ending playing with B&W but historically enjoying HDR in colour, I started to investigate B&W HDR 👍 I think your image is fantastic! 👏👏👏

[robingrant]

Very interesting and concise Chris, thank you.

[jemostrom]

Personally I'm very fond of HDR B&W. I accidentally "discovered" 3-4 years ago using my iPhone and I think it's under appreciated. The result can be amazing given the right subject. In this photo I like how the surfaces came out

[huwalban]

Great description Chris, and a good choice by Joseph on his final image. Having been into the cave many times, and made use of that rope my eye accepts it being there - it is part of the experience for me - however I completely understand why it may appear out of place for your customer. I've got a similar image somewhere - in colour - with some autumn colour in the window and I had to adopt a similar computer processing approach in order to achieve it. Hope you get back there soon. It is one of those locations that really does reward repeat visits. Stay safe. All the best.

[donaldgould]

I had never thought about HDR BW, I am going to have to think about that and work on it. Thanks for the video and the idea.