Hey everyone!! I have noticed A LOT of people have questions regarding HDR photography and how to do it. So here is some info for you. High Dynamic Range photography or HDR photography is an advanced set of photography techniques that play on image’s dynamic range in exposures. HDR Photography allows photographers to capture a greater range of tonal detail than any camera could capture thru a single photo. The most fundamental of all HDR photography theories is to take multiple shots at varying exposure levels of a particular subject. A special computer program will then combine the images together into a single image. The best way to capture HDR is in aperture priority mode with AWB off. A lower ISO is also recommended as to lower noise in your final image. As they say good things come in threes, you can take picture with three different exposure settings: EV 0, EV -2 and EV +2. You can experiment more on these but generally speaking, the more exposure versions you can have, the better your final image will be.
It is recommended to use a tripod when taking HDR photo. This is because tripod stabilizes the camera and you need to get the clearest image you can get since you are experimenting on exposure values. The best way to do this is to use a shutter remote or if your camera doesn’t have one, just make sure you press the shutter button lightly, or you can do what I do and use a timer, however, you want to take the pictures as close together as possible to reduce movement and shifting of the subject. Since the images will be aligned on top of each other you want to try and take the EXACT SAME IMAGE 3 times in a row. If you don't you will get a very blurry image with ghost effects. The FZ-35/38 also has a built in High Dynamic mode. If you set the dial to SCN and scroll down to the bottom in will be there with 3 options, B&W, Art (which saturates all the colors in the photo), and standard. This is a great feature to use if you don't have a computer program. While you won't get the same effect as an auto bracketed image it is a very good start. You can find many computer programs on-line that will generate HDR images, but the 2 best I have seen are photoshop, and photomatix. Photomatix does have a free trial that does not expire, but will leave a water mark on your image after processing. Here are some examples of HDR images I have done with the FZ-35 auto bracketing feature. I hope this helped clear up some questions! Post here if you have more and I will help out best I can and enjoy HDR!!!

*** Side note: The MOST important thing about HDR is choosing the right subject, and lighting!!! Mid day with completely clear skies is the worst time. 1 hour after sunrise/ before sunset are preferred. Make sure and choose a subject with a high dynamic range in the first place to photograph. Something with lots of color play, and shadow/highlight variations!! GOOD LUCK!