Recently I discovered that all of the hifalutin camera gear in the world can be of little value when working fast against creeping sunrise light and without an assistant while in the steep, sandy dunes of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Typically, I keep on hand eight Nikon Speedlights (strobes I use for off-camera lighting) and half as many tripods, plus assorted umbrellas and light modifiers for all types of shoots ranging from architecture and real estate to portraits and cars. But in the case of the 2013 Jeep Wrangler I recently shot for the fall issue of Seven, the New Orleans-based men’s style magazine, I had little choice but to forgo my trusty Armada of lighting gear.

Here’s why: attempting to keep a quartet of tripods upright in hilly, mushy-wet sand is nearly futile. Ditto for the umbrellas and strobe lights that affix to the tripods. I know what you're thinking but, no, a simple camera-mounted flash wouldn't work because light coming from atop the camera in this instance would be too harsh and direct (even with a ringflash, which I've used on occasion during auto shoots). Sure, I thought about merely shoving a few off-camera strobes strategically in the sand or atop a few dunes, but the prospect of running back and forth to adjust the illumination output of each Speedlight would have eaten up precious time since I was racing to capture early morning light. And the sun waits for no one, least of all me.

So I turned to my other trusted friend: the HDR (or high-dynamic range) image. Back in the day HDR photography was considered the vanguard of a brave new world. In a nutshell, it enables the shooter to combine several identical images, each taken at different exposure settings, into a single photograph that can be manipulated to optimize the highlights, midtones and shadows. This so that the resulting photograph looks more or less how the human eye it. (For an excellent tutorial visit www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/high-dynamic-range.htm.)

Today, however, the phrase “HDR” rolls easily off the tongue of virtually every professional shooter, as well as many amateur photographers -- the latter due in no small part to the fact many point-and-shoot cameras now come with built-in optional HDR technology. Simply find the HDR setting on your $100 pocket hero and  – viola! -- the dark and shadowy nightclub you’re attempting to photograph on vacation as a memento of late nights ill spent is now an eye-catching image worthy of hanging on the wall.

Following is a quick example using Cava, my Cocker Spaniel, and two exposures -- one too bright; the other too dark -- I took when Her Highness was relaxing atop my Natuzzi leather sofa she has claimed as her own, as seen below:

The top photograph is intentionally overexposed and "blown out" due to too-strong highlights coming mainly from the background lamp. In the intentionally underexposed image above, where I used a faster shutter speed to dampen the effect of the lamp light, Cava's face is obscured by shadows. While the human eye doesn't see Cava this way in real life, the camera does. Digital cameras have incredible technology but they still can't compete with the human eye. The beauty of HDR technology is that it allows you to blend together the two images (or three, or four, etc.) to create a better overall balance of highlights, midtones and shadows -- basically to generate an image that is more like what the human eye sees in the real world, as you see in the image below:

(Disclaimer: If Cava looks a little mangy it's because we can't get her groomed until her inner-ear infection clears up.)

For the Jeep shoot I scoured the Bonnet Carré Spillway for just the right setting. Concept-wise I wanted to shoot the Wrangler from behind and preferably while descending a hill in order to best capture the boxy ruggedness of the rear bodylines, full-sized knobby spare tire and removable canvas top – signature elements that imbue this off-road roustabout with the air of a take-no-prisoners 4x4 gladiator. (Plus, you’ve simply got to love the high-perched fenders on this baby not to mention the dayglo-green bodypaint reminiscent of Lennon’s Sgt. Pepper’s uniform.)

A slight haze settled over the Spillway, which convinced me all the more that HDR was the way to go. I parked the Wrangler, set the emergency brake (hoping my Jeep wouldn't slide down the hill), and scooted behind the vehicle to compose my shot while finding just the right height (I wanted to also capture the exhaust muffler) and rattled off my multiple-exposure shots.

Following is what the three different lighting exposures looked like raw (nothing Photoshop’ed here):

Simple enough, right? Back home, it was time to combine the images using my long-time personal HDR software of choice -- HDR Efex Pro -- and set to work tone-mapping the photo to not only draw out the highlights. midtones and shadows, but also to pop the color of both the Wrangler and the surrounding sand. Plus, I Photoshop'ed out some power lines and the red pickup truck in the upper right. As simple as the process may sound, it took about two hours to make the finished image ready for a glossy magazine feature page.  

Following is the final HDR image:

See the difference HDR can make?

To view the final image as it appears in Seven (with overlaid headline and kicker), plus to read the story, visit the online flip version of the fall issue at www.sevenmensmag.com; pages 22-23. Meantime keep a sharp eye peeled for my future car reviews and automotive photography in Seven. To paraphrase Betty Davis, fasten your seatbelts, with some vehicles it's going to be a bumpy ride.