SheilaG Loc: Central Arkansas

Been there, done that!! Thanks for the update.

SheilaG Loc: Central Arkansas

Thank you Don. I agree, this is something that I want to apply some time and practice to and develop the skill to make it work. I have seen some outstanding work done with HDR on landscape pictures.

azi Loc: Columbia, Marylamd

Sheila
i can think of two ways to get the effect you want since you do have photoshop.
first one is bracketing - 3 to 5 photos. The manual for your came (ra will tell you how to do auto bracketing, otherwise you will have to do it manually. then open photoshop file menu and go to automate. click on that and you should get a dropdown menu. on that drop down you should see Merge to HDR Pro. this will allow you to do HDR by merging the photos into one. Google HDR and you should find utube videos giving you step by step.
the other way is by stacking in which you focus on different parts of the image. load these images into photoshop as separate layers (i use adobe bridge which i got with photoshop to do this using the bridge tools menu (makesure all the images are selected then go to photoshop on the tools menu then load into photoshop. Once the images load into photoshop, select all the layers. then open the edit menu in photoshop and select auto - align and select auto. then on the same edit menu select auto - blend and select stack layers and photoshop will do the work. again you can probably google stack layers and you'll be able to get a utube video showing you step by step.
you should have a tripod for both HDR (high dynamic range) and stacking. some sort of remote shutter release is also useful so you don't cause any camera movement.
I know this seems complicated but it's not when you actually do it.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

For digital i only have a D90. You dont need a good flash, just A flash. I use the cheapest possible.

Here is one for $35.00.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mint-Condition-YONGNUO-Speedlite-YN-560-II-Shoe-Mount-Flash/162836856779?epid=170392101&hash=item25e9d53fcb:g:io8AAOSwlpZaT09c

Learning to use a flash to balance ambient and flash is a valuable skill, much better than buying some software and slapping HDR on a bad exposure.

DMGill Loc: Colorado

I photographed home interiors for a real estate company in the film days so it had to be done in camera without HDR. Try setting your camera in manual and adjust the exposure to over expose the outside by one stop. Set your strobe for TTL auto and point it at the juncture of the wall and ceiling behind you. It requires a fairly powerful strobe but give it a try. I f you don’t overexpose the outside a little bit the windows will look like paintings hanging on the wall.

SheilaG Loc: Central Arkansas

Thanks Azi! I like all the steps written out! This seems like the two common themes and I actually would like to try them both. Weather is a bit ugly right now and I have Dr. appts with my Mom next week. So hopefully by week end the weather will be better and I want to get a few shots to try this out!!

I appreciate all the good advice and will post pic of my first efforts.

Shutterbug57

The classical approach would be to set the ambient exposure for the background outside and light the inside with strobes/speedlights.

kcooke Loc: Alabama

For shots with a high dynamic range it can be dealt with several ways. I’m putting in a link to an article where the photographer exposes properly for the bright area and then brings the shadows up in PP. he did this instead of using hdr as a quick and dirty method. this article is for darktable software but I believe the concepts would apply in other software packages. Maybe this will help you

https://www.darktable.org/2012/02/shadow-recovery-revisited/

SheilaG Loc: Central Arkansas

Thanks Kcooke,

It will be good reading for me tonight!

kcooke Loc: Alabama

Sure thing!

SheilaG Loc: Central Arkansas

Looks like a great option. So much to learn and try!!!!