What Does HDR Mean on a Camera?

If you are taking interior photos in backlit conditions or exterior photos on a bright sunny day, there are chances of losing details in the shadowed regions. Understanding what HDR on a camera means can help you capture well-exposed photos by rebalancing the highlights and shadows.

What Does HDR Mean on a Camera?

In cameras, HDR means high dynamic range, which is the ratio between the darkest and brightest regions in a photo, ranging from the darkest dark to the whitest white. In most cameras, the HDR setting aims at improving details in the darker parts of the frame instead of improving the whites.

Human eyes have an excellent dynamic range that allows them to see the colors and tones, even in shadows and highlights. The camera HDR aims at bringing out similarly truest colors.

How the Camera HDR Works

In cameras, the dynamic range is measured in f-stops, usually with a difference of powers of two. A digital camera has a limited dynamic range compared to the human eye. For instance, professional cameras have a dynamic range of around 12 to 15 stops.

That means a camera with a dynamic range of 12 stops can take a photo where the highlights are around 4,000 times brighter than the darkest regions. On the other hand, a camera with 15 stops can take a photo where the highlights are around 32,000 times brighter than the darkest regions of the photo.

Due to the limited dynamic range in cameras, the HDR setting makes the camera take several images of the same scene using different exposures. The camera then combines them using the built-in processing software to create one well-exposed image.

When to Use HDR

Keeping in mind that HDR helps to improve the image exposure and tones when the difference between the highlights and shadows in the image is more than the camera’s dynamic range, you might need to use it in the following situations.

Shooting Interior Photos in Backlit Conditions

There are high chances of flares and ghosting when shooting real estate interior photos in backlit conditions. With the HDR setting, the camera reduces the exposure when capturing the background and increases exposure when capturing the main subject and then combines the photos to create a well-exposed image.

Capturing Exterior Photos

When taking real estate exterior photos, you may capture some parts of the sky as you get the suitable composition. Usually, the sky is brighter than the property, especially on a cloudless day.

As a result, the massive light difference between the building and the sky can make you lose some property details. HDR can help take a well-exposed photo of the sky and a well-exposed photo of the property and create a well-exposed final photo.

Taking Portraits in Shadowed Areas

If you are shooting portraits against the sun, there are chances of dark shadows obscuring the face. As the camera struggles to balance the whites and the darks, the camera might lose some details in the overexposed background and the underexposed face.

As a result, the skin colors might look unrealistic even if you try to improve the exposure and do some retouching using photo editing applications such as Lightroom. Fortunately, HDR can help to balance the lighting and get a photo with truer skin colors. 

When to Avoid HDR

Although the HDR can help to enhance tones and reveal details from shadowed regions, it’s not the best setting to use in the following situations.

• When the subject is in motion: When the subject is moving, it means the camera won’t capture the same scene in the subsequent exposures. As a result, the software will try to combine photos of different compositions, making the final image look unrealistic.
• High-contrast scenes: If the photo aims to showcase high contrast, such as different color combinations in the wall paints of a real estate interior, HDR might try to rebalance the colors and lose the high contrast you wanted.
• When shooting silhouettes: Silhouettes look better with the subject’s dark image against a brighter background. HDR can balance the highlights and shadows and make the silhouette less aesthetically pleasing.
• When shooting handheld: There are high chances of camera shakes when shooting handheld. Usually, these shakes create a similar effect as when the subject is in motion, leading to blurry photos.

Related Questions

Final Thoughts

Even if you have a low-end camera with a limited dynamic range, understanding what a camera HDR means can help you use it to shoot sharper and well-exposed photos, even in trying lighting. Generally, HDR helps to reveal the details in shadowed regions.