5 Things to Know Before You Click HDR Photos

Your eyes see a beautifully lit landscape with some amazing colours all around. But you take out your DSLR and click a photo, only to feel disappointed with what you see on the display screen. The picture is simply not what it looks like to naked eye. HDR or High Dynamic Range, is the answer to such “oho” moments.

HDR enables photographers to capture images which have all the components which our eye sees but our camera doesn’t. HDR settings are also available in iPhones and android phones, in addition to DSLRs. This imaging method captures three photographs of different exposure and then enables you to choose the best possible lighting of all objects in the frame.

Many people, however, don’t know yet how to utilize HDR to maximum possible effect. Know these five facts before you blindly turn on HDR settings and see what amazing set of photographs you end up with.

1. Since this imaging technique takes three photographs, it is advisable to not move once you hear the first click. Wait for the camera to finish it’s job, otherwise all three images will be of different frames. Patience pays people!

2. HDR photos are the way to go if you are clicking portraits under harsh sunlight. A photo taken under normal circumstances will produce a lot of dark spots in the shadows, for example under your eyes. But HDR photography gets rid of all those dark spots and gives the best possible light in the photo.

3. You are inside the house and the weather looks absolutely gorgeous through your sitting room window? Well go ahead, click a photo and post it on social networking sites to boast about it. You will notice that clicking a picture from inside the room has a disadvantage – in order to capture the beautiful light outside, the portion of the room in your frame looks dark. Use HDR in this case, where the backlight is more prominent. It will light up the foreground as well.

4. Remember the part where we told you HDR will click three photos taken at different exposure? Three photos require more storage space in your phone. So keep removing the clutter which occupies unnecessary space in your phone memory to make room for HRD.

5. Now that you know when to use HDR option in your smartphone camera, it’s time for you to learn when not to use it. Your frame has a lot of people who are in motion, or cars zooming past you on the street,  or birds fluttering away in the sky? Great photo op isn’t it? But that is the time you don’t use HDR settings. It takes three pictures remember? SO anything in motion is going to come out as blurry and not same in all three pictures.