HDR - High Dynamic Range Photography

HDR,

I have been looking at the photos for a while, and wanted to try it...but couldn't make that first step...

A quick summary is- a normal photo averages out the exposure based on what the center of the picture is...if it is something dark, then everything else will be washed out...if it is light (like the sky) everything else will be dark.

HDR photography allows you to capture the details from both those extremes, glue them together via software, and you get a picture as real as you looking at it...or can even be super real...

If you search for HDR on google you will find plenty of good websites.

This is all I needed to know...

...previously I had put CHDK on my Canon A530 to give me control over the camera (actually specifically to do this)

...but the key was what to set where...CHDK has a submenu of its own, and that is where most of the settings go.
--here is the summary...
>Extra Photo Operations
>>Bracketing in continuous mode
>>>TV bracketing value [2EV] ...AV bracketing would be preferred, but my camera doesn't have it.

now to the normal camera menu, select continuous mode, 5 shots...and I use a 2 sec delay for the first shot.

Now sit back while the camera takes shots.

Now that you have the 5 shots, there are many ways to digitally glue them together...I use Photomatix (http://www.hdrsoft.com/)...I haven't bought it yet...hence the watermark.

Here is one of my shots, with my camera sitting on a coffee cup in my hotel window.