HDR
- Thread starter spikydoc
- Start date
juryjone
MobiLurver
- Real Name
- Jerry Jobe
- Device
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
Well, Udit, it seems you have explored using the HDR settings in iColorama enough to have already picked out a favorite. 
I have to agree, I love Preset 8, which I used in this piece, "Rising Tide".
HDR, of course, usually uses several exposures of the same scene to construct images with high dynamic range, allowing you to see into the shadows and recovering blown highlights. Several apps, including iColorama, allow you to achieve the same thing with a single exposure. In bringing up the exposure of the shadows and bringing down the exposure of the highlights, halos are created. It's a look that developers try to minimize, with varying degrees of success.
The algorithms used also tend to bring out grain - which is why HDR is used less for portraits than landscapes. Teresita, the developer of iColorama, is more of a portrait person. She was actually surprised, upon releasing preset 8, how well it works with landscapes. I sent her one the night of the release and she told me then that she had been testing almost exclusively with portraits. Here's a tip: always bring down the opacity of the HDR effect when working with a portrait if you are bothered by the halos and grain. Do NOT try to mask out the changes - you'll get some weird hybrid between HDR and non-HDR that is not pretty at all.
I hope that helps. Many books have been written about HDR and tone mapping. It is capable of subtle changes, but only if you tone it down from its most extreme settings. In iColorama, use the opacity slider - it's your friend.
I have to agree, I love Preset 8, which I used in this piece, "Rising Tide".HDR, of course, usually uses several exposures of the same scene to construct images with high dynamic range, allowing you to see into the shadows and recovering blown highlights. Several apps, including iColorama, allow you to achieve the same thing with a single exposure. In bringing up the exposure of the shadows and bringing down the exposure of the highlights, halos are created. It's a look that developers try to minimize, with varying degrees of success.
The algorithms used also tend to bring out grain - which is why HDR is used less for portraits than landscapes. Teresita, the developer of iColorama, is more of a portrait person. She was actually surprised, upon releasing preset 8, how well it works with landscapes. I sent her one the night of the release and she told me then that she had been testing almost exclusively with portraits. Here's a tip: always bring down the opacity of the HDR effect when working with a portrait if you are bothered by the halos and grain. Do NOT try to mask out the changes - you'll get some weird hybrid between HDR and non-HDR that is not pretty at all.
I hope that helps. Many books have been written about HDR and tone mapping. It is capable of subtle changes, but only if you tone it down from its most extreme settings. In iColorama, use the opacity slider - it's your friend.