What HDR photography is
HDR stands for high dynamic range. Dynamic range is the span of brightness from the darkest to the brightest parts of a scene, and cameras can only record a limited portion of it in a single exposure. A bright sky behind a shaded foreground is the classic case: expose for the foreground and the sky clips to white, expose for the sky and the foreground goes very dark.
HDR photography solves this by combining information from more than one exposure (or by stretching a single raw file) so that both highlights and shadows hold detail in the final image. Done carefully, the result looks like what your eyes saw, since your eyes adapt quickly to different parts of a scene.
When HDR is worth using
HDR is most useful for scenes with a wide brightness range that is too much for one shot:
- Landscapes with a bright sky and darker land
- Interiors with bright windows
- Sunrise and sunset scenes where you want detail around the sun
- Backlit architecture
It is usually unnecessary for flat, evenly lit scenes, and it is a poor fit for subjects that move, since the frames being merged need to match.
How HDR works
The usual method is exposure bracketing. You take a series of photos at different exposures: one at the metered exposure, one or more darker to protect highlights, and one or more brighter to reveal shadows. Software then merges these into a single high dynamic range file, and a tone-mapping step compresses that range so it can be shown on a normal screen or print.
Understanding how your camera measures light helps with picking the middle exposure; see our guide to camera metering modes.
What you need
- A camera with manual or aperture priority control. Almost any interchangeable-lens camera works, and many phones have an HDR feature.
- A tripod. It keeps the frames aligned. Handheld bracketing can work when your software aligns images and the burst is fast, but a tripod gives cleaner results.
- Editing software. Lightroom, Photoshop, Affinity Photo and various dedicated HDR programs can merge brackets. Use whichever you have.
- A remote release or timer. This reduces the chance of moving the camera between frames.
Camera settings for bracketing
- Shoot in raw where possible, which preserves the most tonal data.
- Use aperture priority or manual so the depth of field stays the same across frames. Vary shutter speed, not aperture, between exposures. Changing aperture changes depth of field and can add visible differences between frames.
- Set a low ISO (your camera’s base ISO) to limit noise.
- Turn on autofocus-and-lock or use manual focus so focus does not shift between shots.
- Enable auto exposure bracketing (AEB). Choose the number of frames and the step between them. Three frames spaced about 2 stops apart is a common starting point for scenes with strong contrast, while five or more frames may help for very high contrast scenes. Check your camera, as the options differ.
- Use continuous or burst drive mode so the bracket fires quickly.
- Turn off image stabilization on a tripod if your lens manual recommends it.
Check the histogram on your darkest frame to confirm the highlights are not clipped, and on your brightest frame to see that shadows have detail.
Single-image HDR
You can approximate HDR from a single raw file by lifting shadows and recovering highlights in editing. This avoids alignment and ghosting issues and works well for moderate contrast. It is limited by your sensor’s dynamic range and may add noise in the lifted shadows. Multiple exposures generally give cleaner shadows in difficult scenes.
Merging and tone mapping
- Import the bracketed raw files and select them.
- Merge to HDR (or to a merged raw file, if your software offers it).
- Enable auto-alignment, and use ghost reduction if anything moved, such as leaves, clouds or people.
- Adjust the tones: lower highlights, lift shadows, and then set white and black points.
- Add contrast and local contrast sparingly.
How to keep HDR looking natural
The over-processed look that gives HDR a poor reputation usually comes from pushing local contrast, shadows and saturation too far. A few guidelines:
- Keep the sky darker than the foreground, as it would normally be.
- Watch for halos around edges, especially along horizons and rooftops.
- Keep some real shadows and some real highlights. A scene with no deep tones can look flat.
- Avoid heavy clarity, texture or detail sliders.
- Compare to a single exposure to see whether you actually improved the picture.
Thinking in terms of tone and tonality can help you decide how much compression of light and dark areas is believable.
Camera and phone HDR modes
Many cameras and phones have an HDR mode that captures and merges frames automatically and outputs a finished JPEG. This is convenient, particularly for handheld shooting, but gives you less control over the result. Whether “HDR on” is right depends on the scene and your goals; for high-contrast scenes it is often helpful, while for scenes with moving subjects it can cause artifacts. Leaving it on auto or testing both is a reasonable approach.
Common questions
How do you shoot an HDR photo?
Put the camera on a tripod, shoot a bracketed series of exposures with fixed aperture and focus, and merge them in software.
Should HDR be on or off for photography?
For high-contrast scenes with static subjects, it is often helpful. For moving subjects or when you want a particular contrasty look, turn it off.
How do you make any photo HDR?
You cannot add dynamic range that was not captured, but you can edit a single raw file to compress tones, or use software’s tone-mapping filters on a regular image, with more limited results.
How does HDR photography work?
It merges multiple exposures to capture more of the scene’s brightness range, then tone maps the result for display.
Key takeaways
- Bracket with shutter speed, keep aperture and focus fixed, and use a tripod when possible.
- Shoot raw and merge with alignment and ghost reduction.
- Restrain tone mapping so shadows, highlights and contrast stay believable.