Home  ›  Glossary  ›

HDR

image

High Dynamic Range

1. A technique for producing images that have good detail in both bright areas and dark areas of a scene with high contrast.

For example, with traditional photography, a daytime photo of a bridge against a sky might be exposed so that clouds can be seen clearly, but the shadows of the bridge would be black. Exposing the photo so that details in the shadows could be seen clearly would turn the sky white. HDR would create a photo where both the sky and the shadows under the bridge could be seen with good detail.

HDR typically works by taking 2-3 photos rapidly at different exposures (one over-exposed and one under-exposed) and then digitally combining them to merge the best of both into one image.

Some phones can also apply this technique to video.

This is also known as computational HDR, to differentiate it from the other type of HDR (explained below).

See: Computational HDR

2. A video (or photo) format that defines at least a billion distinct colors, for greater contrast and detail, usually noticeable in the darkest and lightest parts of a scene. HDR generally means at least 10 bits per each of the primary colors (red, green, and blue) instead of the usual 8 bits for non-HDR content.

See: HDR10

Still confused? Spot a mistake? Give us your feedback on this definition.

back to Glossary Index

Subscribe to Phone Scoop News with RSS Follow @phonescoop on Threads Follow @phonescoop on Mastodon Phone Scoop on Facebook Follow on Instagram

 

Playwire

All content Copyright 2001-2024 Phone Factor, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Content on this site may not be copied or republished without formal permission.