HDR shooting mode - what it is and how it is used

Consider the principles of the HDR function and what it is in practice.

You will learn how to set the mode most effectively and get perfect photos even on a smartphone with average specifications.

That is why in recent years, companies have been improving the result of the camera through programmed "smart" modes.

The built-in camera options, which users often do not pay attention to, will help to significantly improve the quality of shooting.

HDR is one of those functions. Let's take a closer look at how it works and how to use it to take high-quality pictures.

Content:

What it is?

In fact, this is a built-in option that allows you to set a high dynamic range. Activation allows the camera to take quick and sequential shots.

Then the work algorithm automatically assigns a different shutter speed and exposure to each frame.

All further frames will be combined into one image to achieve the best shooting effect.

The hardware principle of operation of DHR is in autofocus, which alternately focuses on several areas of the frame with different levels of illumination.

In a broad sense is a technology of the future that allows you to achieve the best color reproduction and frame depth. A user can find a similar mode not only in the smartphone camera settings, but also in professional cameras, video editing programs, games and LCD displays.

Why is this feature good for smartphones?

For phones and tablets, it allows you to achieve improved image detail, determine the appropriate level of contrast and clarity for a frame or video.

For example, in the usual version of shooting, objects with different chromaticity and a level of distance from .

Only a part of the detected objects will be in the focus of the camera, so it is better to use HDR.

High dynamic range allows you to focus on each of the subjects.

Sharpness settings are saved, as a result you get a high-quality picture.

It is better to use the mode if you are shooting from a tripod (that is, absolutely still), because it is in this state that the phone captures several frames better and compares them to obtain the resulting image.

Advantages and disadvantages

Minuses:

There is no way to shoot objects that are moving. Since the camera in HDR mode takes multiple frames at intervals of milliseconds of time, capturing a moving object will fail. The final picture will be blurry, not focused;
Problems with getting a bright frame. Different frame exposures do not allow obtaining maximum brightness values. The normal shooting options produce a bright picture, while the option prioritizes the background and the central subject in the picture;
The shooting process is slowing down. Working with multiple frames for a single image will slow down even the fastest cameras. If every second counts to create a photo or doesn't process commands fast enough, it won't be the right option for the job.

Settings interface - we select the parameters correctly

It should be noted that HDR is not only a camera shooting mode. Many have seen this abbreviation in the form of video formats that play smart TVs or ordinary computers.

Let's take a closer look at what it is and how it differs from standard formats.

You can understand the meaning of this indicator for video files by the example of how an image from the real world gets on our screens, creating a standard SDR (standard dynamic range).

Traditionally, the process takes place in the following way :

1 An image of the real world visible to the eye, which has a very large range of brightness, modern amateur and even powerful professional cameras cannot capture the full extent. They cannot capture the entire range, but they recognize most of it;

3 The next step is mastering(bringing a video track to a standard digital or analog signal that a technician can display);

4 To fit the resulting wide signal gamut into the device's small standard gamut, have to significantly thin out, shrink and crop the original color. It turns out that although they give an impressive increase in the clarity of the picture, there is almost no dynamic range of the picture.

Modern TVs, which have the ability to display a picture in much larger boundaries, automatically try to enrich and embellish the standard signal.

However, the desired effect is not always achieved, so conventional SDR does not have that unique color depth and exposure.

Unlike the standard range, HDR sets up new luminosity spaces for video. As a result, after camera capture and post-production, the video retains the maximum exposure settings and can then be transferred without any problems for playback on different devices. The quality will be preserved no matter where the video is played.

The mode supports a range up to 10,000 nit ( while regular SDR only supports 100 nits ), and 4K video can only produce a range of 500-800 nit.

By the way, displays that would support all 10,000 nits have not yet been invented, which makes the mode widely used in the future.