HDR photography. How to?

I just need a simple explanation on the photographin part of hdr photography… I have a Nikon d3100. Do I just take the same photo but change the shutter speed each time?

To do this you have to first is determine what the correct exposure is in the darkest area and lightest area (shadows and highlights)

You then make the correct exposures as indicated for the shadow, mid-tone and highlights, using the shutter speed to make those changes.

This means that you have to have your camera mounted on a tripod and use it in the manual mode so you can set it to the exact shutter speeds necessary to get the right exposures.

Try to set the aperture to two stops down from wide open, since this is the sharpest aperture for most lenses.

Then of course you need a program like Photoshop that has a HDR merging tool

Since your camera doesn't offer the bracketing option you will have to change the shutter speed manually, make sure to use a tripod and a remote control to avoid shaking. Also you can use the exposure diagram/histogram on your D3100 to help you setup your shutter speed properly in order to be expose correclty for the shadow and the highlight.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/...grams1.htm

Let say your correct exposure (exposure histogram show most of the information in the midtone) give you 1/250.

To get more info in the highlitgh, you will need to get a lower shutter speed, drop it by. + -)1 stop (1ev) or 2 stop (2ev. It should give you 1/125 for 1 stop or 1/60 for two stop.

To get more info from the shadow you will need faster shutter speed, so add. + -)1ev or (2ev.

Since our correct exposure was 1/250, you will need 1/500 for 1 ev or 1/1000 for 2ev.

When there's allot of contrast in the scene, try using 1ev and shoot between 5 to 9 frames to get the best out of it.

Let say we start at 1/250 again and we want to take 5 photos with 1ev and -1ev.

1 shot at 1/250, 1 shot at 1/125, 1 shot at 60, 1 shot at 1/500, 1 shot at 1/1000.

Let say the correct exposure is 1 sec, we will take 3 frame.

1 shot at 1 sec, 1 shot at 2 sec (for the highlight), 1 shot at 1/2 (for the shadow)

Try using those exposure value, you will get less confuse.
15s 8s 4s 2s 1s 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000 1/2000 1/4000.

You can also use another method call "exposure blending", result look more real, you can take a look if you want.

http://photocascadia.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/the-basics-of-exposure-blending/