Multi-image spherical panoramic HDR

10 spherical panoramas. Each panorama was taken one f-stop of exposure apart in order to capture the full range of light in this scene.

Equipment: digital camera, tripod, panoramic photography pan and tilt head, shutter release cable, Stitching application, HDR Shop.

1. Photographing the panorama, bracketing each shot
2. Parsing the files by exposure and renaming them
3. Stitching one exposure into a panorama then using the same stitching project to render each exposure
4. Creating a responce curve for the camera
5. Creating, editing and setting the whitebalance for the HDRI
6. Conclusion

Multi-image spherical panoramic HDR

Gear is much more expensive and heavy

Exponentially more files are needed, which means more hard drive space, more file management, more retouching, etc….

Bigger time/manpower investment

High quality results can be used for lighting, reflection maps, and background plates. 
(Side note – You generally only need a very low resolution panoramic HDR file for the actual lighting information. You might need a higher or full res version for the reflections or background plates)

Much more "flexible" in that you have a high quality image that you can always make smaller if needed.