HDR, or High Dynamic Range imaging, is a method of mixing under exposed and over exposed images together to make a composite. This composite gives you much more vivid colors and gives your outdoor photos more detail.
Today we’ll be looking at a way to take your photos to the next level with Pro HDR, a photography application that specializes in HDR imaging.
How HDR Works
HDR works by taking a few pictures with different degrees of brightness and exposure and combining them. Usually, the process utilizes one darkened version, and one lightened version. Through a merging process, the computer takes details from both and fuzes them together. A dark image might only show a few details due to the darkness, while the light picture will show more but will be too bright to see. By mixing these images together, you are able to see details and colors that normally wouldn’t be shown in pictures.
This give you more realistic photographs of what you are actually seeing instead of pictures where the brightness masks the details underneath. Take a sunny day for instance. When you take a normal picture, the brightness of the sun is going to hide the vivid colors of the sky and the resulting image will be too sunny. But through HDR, you’re able to filter out the brightness of the sun and get the natural colors of the sky behind you. Now you have a beautiful picture of the sky instead of a white blur.
The same works in dark situations where a normal photo will be a bit too dark to see detail. HDR is a great way to improve the quality of your photos
Apple’s HDR
Apple recently added HDR as a feature for iPhone 4 users who want to get more detail in pictures. When your taking a photograph in the Camera app, tap HDR to turn it on. The resulting image will show more detail that the sun would typically mask. This works by taking three images and forming a composite, the resulting image shows more detail and color. It’s a great start, but could be better.
Pro HDR
Pro HDR in action
What if you want a bit more control over the resulting image? Apple being Apple made their method extremely simple and didn’t include advanced controls. If you want more control the HDR process and the resulting image, download and open Pro HDR.
You have two modes in Pro HDR: automatic and manual. Tap automatic and let it snap a few pictures with various exposure settings. Now you get a preview of the HDR image. Below that you will have controls for brightness, contrast, tinting, and much more. You can fine tune exactly how your image looks to get that perfect shot. It’s just as easy as Apple’s method but with a bit more control. Advanced users can tap the manual button to fine tune the underexposed and overexposed images. Pro HDR truly gives you more control over your images than Apple’s HDR method.
The Proof
Taken with Apple's HDR
Taken with Pro HDR
The Left is taken with the built-in Camera app (No HDR) , the Right is another picture taken with Pro HDR
As you can see, the images taken with Pro HDR and adjusted with the built-in brightness and contrast appear more vivid and crisp while images taken with the built-in camera appear more washed out. The clouds in the background of the ProHDR created images seem whiter and sharper compared to the grayish blurs which normally result when taking an cloudy picture on your iPhone.
The real magic to making ProHDR photos stand out is adjusting the image with ProHDRs brightness and contrast, which let you fine tune your photo masterpiece. I’ve found that using ProHDR in combination with their brightness and contrast controls results in some fantastic images.
eyeApps also have a large collection of photographs in their gallery demonstrating how Pro HDR improves your photography. It’s worth a look if you still aren’t convinced: eyeApps gallery.
The Design
The only thing I didn’t like about Pro HDR was the look and feel of the app. The app works fantastic but it doesn’t really feel professional or even like it was built for the iPhone. In fact, it almost reminds me of an Adobe Air application. The developers could greatly improve the application by hiring a professional iPhone UI designer to make it look gorgeous. Also, the app is missing the ability to share images via Social networking, a feature that almost every other photography-based app includes.
Conclusion
If you’re a casual photographer who wants to add a little more detail to your photos, then you’re likely going to stick with Apple’s built-in HDR button for improving your photos. But if you like experimenting with new techniques and want to get that perfect photo, download Pro HDR.
As you can see from the above photos, Pro HDR lets you tweak the exposure settings and other image properties so that the resulting image is far superior to what your iPhone is able to produce on its own. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!